Christianity, Islam, and human rights in Bulgaria

Abstract

In Bulgaria, as in other post–communist countries of Eastern Europe, the restoration of civil and religious freedoms has often been accompanied by the rediscovery of religious roots. Southeastern Europe is involved in new types of networks of transnational relations, discourses and currents in which the influence of religion is expanding and becoming ever more visible. Within that process, the majority have preferred to return to traditional religious denominations after the fall of the iron curtain. Most Bulgarians are members of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, but there is also a group of self–identifying ethnic Turks (about 10%). Today, there are tensions between the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the state especially concerning issues of education and family and also in dealing with the Muslim community of Bulgaria. The article mentions statistical findings about the relevant denominations in Bulgaria and explains the core problems of the relation between church and state.