Religion–COVID-19 Interplay in Romania

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically influenced the whole of human society, from the least significant of its components to fundamental ones, such as religion. The present chapter aims to explore how this global event altered the religious landscape in Romania. The main goal is to investigate how religious institutions and individuals affected and were affected by the legal and social changes provoked by the pandemic. Considering the local historical, political, and cultural particularities, it observes how religious behaviour changed, at the group level as well as individually, following the imposition of pandemic restrictions; how public authorities succeeded (or not) in ensuring an acceptable level of (collective) religious freedom; how religious institutions succeeded (or not) in continuing to structure social life, from the personal context to the public or legal one; and how religious groups facilitated or hindered the adherence to public health measures and what public opinion was to their public actions. The Romanian case shows how important it is to have clear legislation as well as a structured dialogue among the main social actors in order to ensure that all rights and freedoms are exercised in a fair manner in a moment of maximum stress caused by a global medical issue.