The role of religion in several Roma communities

Rezumat

After falling of communism, in Romania, different religious denominations came in order to find new followers. Most Roma in Romania are Orthodox Christians. Roma have generally adopted the religion of the country and they are strongly influenced by religious beliefs of the majority. The data show that the number of converted Roma people to these denominations, as a percentage of the total declared Roma ethnics is larger than the number of converted Romanians. For converted communities, several social implications have emerged: an increased birth rate, but also a positive decrease of crime rate. The article presents several communities as case studies for these conversions, based on qualitative data gathered in 2010 and draws conclusions upon social effects in these communities.