In: Ninna Mörner (Ed.). A World Order in Transformation?: A Comparative Study of Consequences of the War and Reactions to These Changes in the Region. (37−43). Huddinge: Centre for Baltic and East European Studies, Södertörn University. (CBEES State of the Region Report)., 2024
From the perspective of Baltic societies, the referent object of securitization, i.e., that which... more From the perspective of Baltic societies, the referent object of securitization, i.e., that which is perceived to be threatened and requiring defensive action, has been the state and the political nation, not religious doctrine or religious tradition. (Russian) Orthodoxy has been securitized not because of its ecclesiastical characteristics (dogma, liturgy, religious practice), but due to its political connections to the Russian Federation that is conducting an unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine.
The recognition or construction of security related threats focus most on the citizenship, residence permit, nomination, public messages and behavior of local church leaders. As a rule, the process of securitization and desecuritization takes place in waves; each wave lasts for a period and is accompanied by controversies overindividual and collective religious freedom vis-à-vis the legitimate right of the state to protect public order and lives of its citizens at times of war. It is likely that waves of securitization of (Russian) Orthodoxy will continue to occur in all Baltic countries in the near future.
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The recognition or construction of security related threats focus most on the citizenship, residence permit, nomination, public messages and behavior of local church leaders. As a rule, the process of securitization and desecuritization takes place in waves; each wave lasts for a period and is accompanied by controversies overindividual and collective religious freedom vis-à-vis the legitimate right of the state to protect public order and lives of its citizens at times of war. It is likely that waves of securitization of (Russian) Orthodoxy will continue to occur in all Baltic countries in the near future.
The recognition or construction of security related threats focus most on the citizenship, residence permit, nomination, public messages and behavior of local church leaders. As a rule, the process of securitization and desecuritization takes place in waves; each wave lasts for a period and is accompanied by controversies overindividual and collective religious freedom vis-à-vis the legitimate right of the state to protect public order and lives of its citizens at times of war. It is likely that waves of securitization of (Russian) Orthodoxy will continue to occur in all Baltic countries in the near future.
Key issues
• Religious associations opposed the extension of the right to marry to LGBTQ+ persons before the adoption of the law ensuring marriage equality.
• Religious associations expect the preservation of state protection for religious autonomy following the legalisation of marriage equality.
• The issue of maintaining the principle of state neutrality and non-interference in the internal affairs of religious associations (as religious freedom) arose from February 2022 onwards, amid a changed security situation, where government representatives, on several occasions, expected politically loyal positions, particularly from Metropolitan Eugene, the head of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Kilp, Alar (2021). The Influence of the European Union’s Liberal Secularist Policy on Religion upon Religious Authority in Estonia Since 2004. In: Riho Altnurme (Ed.). Old Religion, New Spirituality: Implications of Secularisation and Individualisation in Estonia (71−85). Leiden and Boston: Brill. (International Studies in Sociology and Social Anthropology; 137).
Unlike Western European countries, where the family life of same-sex unions was legally recognized primarily due to pressures from below (due to changes in public opinion and shifts in cultural values), governments and legislatures in most Central and Eastern European Member States are encouraged more from above (by the European Union and the Council of Europe). Therefore, the prospects for legal recognition of same-sex unions are slim in countries where the European normative agenda meets no significant support from domestic social values or religious and political actors. This conflict of national and EU forces is most likely to persist in Member States which are post-Soviet, culturally Orthodox, not shifted from materialist to post-materialist values, and governed by right-wing governmental coalitions.
https://www.routledge.com/Religion-and-Soft-Power-in-the-South-Caucasus/Jodicke/p/book/9781138634619