Religion and state in Montenegro

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Vladimirskiy State University named after the Stoletov brothers

RELIGION AND STATE IN MONTENEGRO

Dudorov V.A.

Montenegro is a country in southeastern Europe, in the West of the Balkan Peninsula. Prior to the proclamation of full independence on 3 June 2006 the country was part of the confederal State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, occupying 13.5% of its total territory. In 2010 he acquired the official status of candidate country for EU membership. 2017 -- a member of NATO.

The capital and largest city is Podgorica. Historical and cultural capital of Montenegro is Cetinje. orthodox religion islam muslim

Montenegro is a multi-religious country, but Orthodox Christianity as the dominant religion with adherents 74.24% of the population. The other major religions are Islam with 17.74% followers and Roman Catholicism which has 3.54% adherents. Only two lesser-known minority religions exist in the country. They are Protestantism and the Judaism.

All religions are equal, visible differences between members of different faiths is not observed for all of that carefully monitors specially created Council on the rights of ethnic and religious minorities.

A large part of the Orthodox population of Montenegro lives on the plateau and in the mountainous areas of the country, and almost all the Catholics in the coastal areas. Muslims for the most part, live quite apart, taking the border with Kosovo and Albania land and the area under the name of Sanjak, part of which is located on the territory of Serbia.

The point about religious affiliation was included in the census of 2003. According to its results, the population is distributed on religious identity in the following way:

Orthodoxy -- 460 383 (74,24 %)

Islam -- 110 034 (17.74 %)

Catholicism -- 21 972 (3.54 %)

Protestantism -- 383 (0,06 %)

The occult -- 58 (0,01 %)

Judaism -- 12

6 003 person (0,97 %) said that not adhere to any religious beliefs, 2 424 people (0,39 %) positioned themselves agnostics, 13 867 (2,24 %) refused to answer the question.

Criminals Orthodoxy mostly Montenegrins and Serbs, but Montenegrins are divided between the Serbian Orthodox Church and Montenegrin Orthodox Church, which are present in the country. The Montenegrin Orthodox Church is regulated by a Charter of the Holy Synod of the Principality of Montenegro and by a law on parish clergy. It also finds church canons and regulations of the Holy Ecumenical Synod as its bases for its activities and services.

Islam is the largest religion minority in the country, formed by the Muslims. It is divided into Slavic Muslims, who, in turn, divided between the Bosnian-speaking Bosniaks, Montenegrin speaking Montenegrins and ethnic Albanians. It is, however, the dominant religion in the northern municipalities, and a majority religion in Plav, Rosaje and Ulcinj. Roman Catholics are generally present in Boca Kotorska area where a large number of ethnic Croats and ethnic Albanians. Despite their multi-religious society, the Montenegrins of all faiths and beliefs co-exist and live together peacefully in an environment of many shared values, supported by the Constitution providing for the freedom of religion and freedom to practice such religion, and other laws and policies that contribute to generally free religious practices. Another important Constitutional provision is the protection of all persons regardless of their national or ethnic origins.

More details on some aspects.

No doubt, Orthodoxy - the main religion in Montenegro. She confesses about seventy percent of the population. At the same time among believers is no jurisdictional unity. One part of the population belongs to the Serbian Orthodox Church, a member of the so-called family of canonical Orthodox churches belonging to the Byzantine tradition. Another part profess their faith, while in the national legal framework of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church, are not recognized as canonical aforementioned community. On the basis of the ethnic composition of the population are Orthodox Montenegrins and Serbs.

Another one is Catholic Church. Multiculturalism - features that characterize Montenegro. Religion thus plays an important role, not only as ideological system, but also an ideological mouthpiece and attribute nationality. This fully applies to the Catholic community and the state. Catholic - a religion of Montenegro and Croatia, so in most of Montenegro it is necessary basically are Croats, and Albanians. The percentage of Montenegrins Catholics is somewhat smaller, but still high - about twenty percent of the total number of supporters of the papacy. Regarding the country's total population, the latter not so much - only about four per cent.

Unique in Montenegro for the rest of the Christian world (especially the Orthodox part) that is very peacefully coexist Christians of various denominations. If, for example, in Russian Orthodox anti-Catholic personalized underlined, Montenegrin villages and towns you can often find churches that are members of these two traditions share the same roof and under perfect Byzantine and Latin worship.

With regards to non-Christian religions, in Montenegro there is Islam. Muslim Ummah - is the second largest community, which forms the religious picture of the state of Montenegro. Religion of the Prophet Muhammad is prevalent among the twenty percent of the population. On a national basis the foundation of the Islamic community of the country comprise mainly Bosnians, Albanians and Slavic Muslims. About ten per cent of them, however, the share of Montenegrins.

However, as mentioned above, tolerance is a trait which characterizes Montenegro. Religion of Mohammed in the country - the traditional belief of many people, but unlike, for example, from Western Europe or the Middle East, it will not cause any social problems. Christians and Muslims coexist peacefully, without going to extremes extremism and radical proselytism.

As for Jewish communities, they are also present in Montenegro, although in very small amounts. However, the attitude towards them is quite favorable. There is even a project according to which Judaism should become the state religion in Montenegro.

And now something about religious policy of the country. From the foregoing it is clear that poly-confessional - a feature that distinguishes Montenegro. Religion in its policy plays an important role since it fulfills an important function in the everyday life of its citizens.

Under current law, the Church (that is, all religious organizations) is separated from the state. At the same time, however, the government is responsible for the material well-being of all the religious communities in the country. Importantly, besides paper, this law is implemented.

It is obvious that main religious holidays are the main communities of the state - Christianity and Islam - are marked on the state level. The first is, of course, Easter, Christmas, Eid al-Adha, and others.

So, Montenegro - a small state of the European type, located on the south-eastern Europe on the territory of the Balkan Peninsula. The main factors of differentiation of citizens that is different Montenegro - religion, language and nationality.

Overall, the country is characterized by the religiosity of its citizens. Thus, according to the 2011 census, the proportion of atheists is less than two percent of the subjects. The rest of the population consists mainly of the followers of Christianity and Islam.

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