RELIGION AND VIOLENCE IN ROMANIA. RELIGIOUSLY OR ETHNICALLY MOTIVATED ANTISEMITISM?

Abstract

Religion and Violence in Romania. Religiously or Ethnically Motivated Antisemitism?
This article proposes an analysis of the forms of violence in the post-communist Romanian religious market, with a focus on the types of aggression directed against Jews. The text is a continuation of the research published by L.Tănase & C.Dascălu entitled “Religion and Violence in Romania: The Impact of Secularization on Interreligious Conflicts” (2024), which provides an x-ray of the conflicts between Orthodox vs. Greek-Catholics and Orthodox vs. neo-Protestant denominations in Romania after 1990. Using a similar methodology, the research starts from the hypothesis that the antisemitism manifested in post-communist Romania is mainly motivated by ethnic and conspiracy factors, rather than religious ones. In this process, we analyzed official documents (the reports of the US State Department on religious freedom in Romania, the State Secretariat for Religious Affairs, the Center for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism in Romania (2003-2015), INSHR-EW, etc.), as well as about 70 articles from the local and national press. Subsequently, we conducted a semi-structured interview with a Jewish community leader. The types of violence examined include verbal, psychological, physical, and spiritual forms, the legal framework being provided by the Criminal Code and special legislation (Law no. 157/2018, GEO no. 31/2002). The results reveal that antisemitism in Romania is expressed mainly through symbols, rhetoric, and stereotypes, without being correlated with religious motivations, religious proselytism, competition between cults, or patrimonial claims.