Religious Behavior of Romanian Migrants Living in the State of Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Abstract

The aim of the study is to present the religious behavior of the ethnic Romanian migrants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg located in the South-Western Germany. Tle land is one of the most important destinations for migrants settling and working in Germany with its high living standards (even for the German context), high population density, and large job offers on a wide-range scale. In the case of the Romanians, the relative geographical proximity to Romania is also a factor that explains a large number of Romanians in the area. Several studies throughout the last decades have repeatedly shown that the Romanians are one of the European ethnicities with the highest level of religiosity. My aim was to conduct a research, based on qualitative methods, which reveals whether this high level of religiosity (and its reflection in the behavior of the individuals) is present in the case of the Romanian diaspora in Baden-Wurttemberg. Even if there are several Romanian priests and churches across the state, I could identify some major differences. First, there seems to be a strong link between the religious attitudes and the general social life of the Romanians and their area of origin within Romania. This also determines the typical recruiting patterns and the micro-social structure in which the migrants start their lives in Germany. Other factors that influence the religious behavior are the length of the time spent in Germany, and whether their command of German is good or not.