The difficulties had as a source the refusal of the orthodox priest from the town in which she lived to let her bury her father in her family's tomb from the local orthodox cemetery.
The refusal was "motivated" by the fact that the man became many years ago a member of the Penticostal Church . Unfortunately this is not a isolated case , religious discrimination is a issue which the romanian society faces for many years and very few initiatives were taken for solving it .
Being positioned in a cultural crossroad , Romania was blessed with a vast and diverse culture , do to the many historical events that shaped our history many churches , denominations and cults came and go , but a few stayed and resisted over centuries .
Romania is a predominant orthodox country , with more then 80% of it's inhabitants claiming to practice the eastern (byzantine) form of Christianity , other christian groups present are roman-catholics , protestants and even small numbers of Jehova's Witnesses .
Coming back to the article that I was talking about , the refusal of the priest had as argument the fact that the man wasen't a member of the orthodox church anymore so he coulden't be buried in the cemetery in the vault where his parents were put to rest. Actually the story is more complicated then it seems and to truly understand it we have to analyze it from a few different points of view.
When we take the case of Romania and talk about religious discrimination we must mention the fact that the most effected religious organizations by this phenomenon are neoprotestants : baptists , penticostals , adventists and jehovas witnesses. This groups first appeared in Romania a few years after the regime change , the first group that started it's activity here was a baptist one and the first church was in a town in the western side of the country . People became very hostile to members of this groups for a number of reasons , do to this members of this groups started to become true social outcasts for the communities in which they lived. Segregation and hostility were generated by a number of factors :
1. The absence of saints , icons , religious art and complex rituals from the practices of protestant denominations - There's a thin line between folklore and religion and many times one is incomplete with out the other , taking this in to consideration the members of this denominations couldn't follow many traditions those making there lifestyle very different from the other members of their community .
2. The cult (sect) label that the orthodox church puts on some denominations : Even though some of this denominations have a considerable number of members they are labeled as cults , there are cases in which small groups braked from this denominations which practice a sectarian form of organization and worship .
3. The relationship between national identity and the orthodox church - Your romanian only if your orthodox. This is a notion that many romanians heard maybe once in their life , the orthodox church claims to be "protector" of the romanian national identity and that it had a crucial role in its formation . The Romanian Greek-Catholic Church played as also a crucial role in the conservation of our heritage , being a weapon in the way of magyarization . Our identity is based firstly on our unique language that defines us more then any of the religions which we practice , we can find across Romania romanians of catholic or greek-catholic faith who feel their identity in the same way a orthodox romanian wold .
4. Membership for money - There are cases of people who became members do to the fact that many denominations give material support to their members in the form of food , clothing and money. As a result we can see a bigger popularity regarding protestant denominations in rural and poor areas.
5, Indoctrination - There is a common perception that members of this religious groups are somehow "brainwashed" in order to follow the new rules of the religious community .
6 .Religion in school - Religion in Romania is compulsory from the 1st to the 12th grade . Children learn at religion class how the orthodox church is the single "true religion" and that all the other cults teach heretic doctrines . Even more they are thought to discriminate or no socialize with kids of other religious background especially the ones who come from protestant homes. Religious symbols are icons are present in every general school classroom those creating uncomfortable space for children of other religious backgrounds.
This are only the few factors that contributed to the now existing hate between the orthodox and protestant community.To make things even worst the romanian state is financing many of the projects initiated by the orthodox church even though Romania is a secular state that has no official church. The church enjoys a big amount of popularity in the romanian society , increasing poverty and low life standards turned people's head to their faith in search of a solution for a happier life.
This facts can make us understand the case presented in the article , the situation could had been avoided if there were more mixed cemeteries in the area next to the town . In major romanian cities you can find cemeteries which belong to a single religious group or mixed cemeteries in which each cult has a space reserved or graves are just arranged randomly . Even with his said , neither of the subjects involved in this case had the power to interfere in the well development of the funeral because the romanian law system protects the privacy of the deceased's family and the deceased''s wish for his or hers final resting place/
This case was quite controversial do to this fact , as a conclusion to this post I can say that the reasons for banning the deceased's daughter to bury her father in the orthodox cemetery were very clearly based on religious discrimination and it killed the individual's right of respecting his final wish.
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