11 April 2013
Media, politicians and, of course, the Orthodox Church, have been frantically debating proposed changes to the public funding of religious institutions in Romania, in recent weeks. New legislation, proposed by Remus Cernea MP (Green Party) and inspired by the German “church tax” model, would allow all citizens to direct a part of their income tax to the churches or other organisations of their choosing. This would replace the current system in which groups are funded… read more »
7 February 2013
Civic organizations are asking for the state to stop giving generous annual donations to churches in Romania. Twenty-three civic organisations on Tuesday asked parliament to end the public financing of religious denominantions in Romania, saying the money would be better spent on health or education. “Under the constitution, Romania is a secular state and has no state religion. So, there is no legal ground for churches in the country to continue receiving public money,” Toma… read more »
2 October 2011
Remus Cernea of the Asociaţia Umanistă Română informs us of a new case from Romania to the European Court of Human Rights regarding religious symbols in schools (case number 54529/09, Moise (3) c/Romania). He writes that it is quite different from the Lautsi case for at least three reasons: – the Lautsi case was lost in the Italian courts, whereas the Moise case was successful in the Romanian National Council for Combating Discrimination. The… read more »
31 May 2009
Remus Cernea and the Romanian Humanist Association have won the 2009 Nordic Rainbow Humanist Award for their advocacy for LGBT people in Romania in the face of considerable hostility. See the citation (in English) on the Association’s website.
9 March 2008
When we heard that the Romanian government had removed evolution from the school syllabus and similarly had dropped teaching about non-religious lifestances from the high school philosophy curriculum, we consulted the Romanian Humanist Association and then wrote to the Romanian Minister of Education. This brought an intervention by a conservative group called the Alliance of Romania’s Families, to which we responded so as to put our reaction on record with the Ministry. To Mr Cristian… read more »