Religion in Belgium

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Historically, Belgium has been heavily influenced by Catholicism ; an area that roughly coincides with today's national territory once formed the " Catholic Netherlands ". In the last few decades, however, the importance of the Catholic Church and religion in general has declined sharply. According to a 2006 survey by the Belgian weekly Le Vif / L'Express, the majority of the Belgian population declared themselves to be atheists , agnostics or non-believers. For this part of the population, relationships with family and friends and the search for self-fulfillment are important. Most of the inhabitants of Belgium nonetheless belong to a denomination or worldview , mostly the Roman Catholic Church (around 75%; other surveys, however, give this number much lower, 40–60% of the population, see below). On the one hand, this has to do with the historical character of Belgium. On the other hand, it also has to do with the fact that in Belgium the commitment to a religious community is not accompanied by an additional tax such as the church tax , but the religious communities including the atheistic free-spirited ideological community are financed from the general state budget.

Religion and state

history

In the early 19th century, the liberal and Catholic Belgian bourgeoisie had united against the authoritarianism of Wilhelm of Orange in the Union des Opposition (1828, dt. "Union of the Opposition"). This association of the opposition concluded an agreement on the relationship between church and state , the principles of which Félicité de Lamennais had established in France . Félicité de Lamennais' principles were only applied in Belgium: the state does not recognize any religion as official, but recognizes all religions within the framework of pluralistic secularism . For example, there are no concordats between Belgium and the Holy See . The word God does not appear in the Belgian constitution of 1830, although the country was more than 90% Catholic and the clergy were very influential.

In 1830 these principles were not criticized by Rome, although they were contrary to official doctrine . They allowed for a political agreement between freethinkers and Catholics called unionism . The motto Belgium unity makes strong ( French L'union fait la force - Dutch Eendracht maakt makes ) was adopted in 1828 by the liberals and the Catholics in a spirit of tolerance, pluralism and secularization .

The broad lines of Lamennai's principles have long shaped the relationship between state and religion. The Catholics have expanded their influence through various organizations (trade unions, political parties, schools etc.) within the framework of liberalism and democracy, in the spirit of Lamennai. However, with the secession and the recognition of other religions such as Judaism, the Protestant and Anglican churches, the situation has changed significantly since then.

present

Today cults in Belgium can get official recognition if they meet certain criteria. The criteria for recognition are as follows:

  • have a large number of followers
  • have a representative body to administer relations with the authorities
  • be established in the country for several decades
  • have a social benefit
  • do not develop activities contrary to the social order

Applications for recognition are examined by the Minister of Justice. On August 26, 2005, the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch submitted such a request. The Belgian Buddhist Association has also contacted the Minister of Justice

Recognized cults

designation Share in the
total population		 Representative body Recognized since Web presence
Roman Catholic Church 38-81% Archdiocese of Mechlin-Brussels
and suffragan dioceses		 April 8, 1802
Islam 350,000-420,000 Executieve van de Moslims van België
Exécutif des musulmans de Belgique		 July 19, 1974
Protestant Church 100,000-250,000 Administratieve Raad van de Protestants-Evangelische Eredienst
Conseil Administratif du Culte Protestant-Évangélique		 2003
Orthodox Church
( Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople )		 40,000-70,000 Métropole Orthodox grecque de Belgique April 17, 1985
Judaism 12,000-40,000 Consistoire Central Israélite de Belgique
Centraal Israëlitisch Consistorie		 March 17, 1808
Anglican Church 21,000 Comité central du culte anglican
Centraal Comité van de Anglicaanse Eredienst		 March 4, 1870

Recognized ideology community

designation Share in the
total population		 Representative body Recognized since Web presence
Free spirited belief community 28-48% Conseil central laïque (CCL)
Centrale Vrijzinnige Raad (CVR)		 May 5, 1993

Belgium subsidizes the recognized cults on Belgian territory. This peculiarity is recorded in Article 181 of the Belgian Constitution:

Article 181 § 1 - "The salaries and pensions of the servants of the cults are borne by the state ..."

Belgium spent almost 580 million euros on cults in 2003:

  • Roman Catholic Church: 458.62 million euros
  • Association of Freethinkers: 75.36 million euros
  • Islam: 20.33 million euros
  • Protestant Church: 18.80 million euros
  • Judaism: 3.21 million euros
  • Orthodox Church: 2.36 million euros
  • Anglican Church: 0.46 million euros

Provinces and parishes are also obliged to provide pastors and bishops with apartments.

The subsidization of the recognized ideological community is based on Article 181 § 2 of the Constitution.

Christianity

Roman Catholic Church

(See also main article Catholic Church in Belgium )

The Roman Catholic Church is the most traditional and numerically largest church in Belgium. Their recognition by the Belgian state was already established when Belgium was founded in 1832. Before that, it had been recognized in France (1801 Concordat between Pope Pius VII and the first consul, Napoleon Bonaparte ) and the Netherlands since 1802 .

The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Belgium is the Belgian primate Archbishop Jozef De Kesel. Archbishop De Kesel heads the Archdiocese of Mechlin-Brussels , which is subordinate to seven suffragan dioceses , which together comprise Belgium.

Only around 8–10% of the Belgian population are practicing Roman Catholics.

Catholic teaching

The Catholic Church has the largest non-state school system in Belgium. At the top of the system are the various Catholic universities, faculties and colleges such as:

See also the list of universities in Belgium

Protestant Evangelical Church

The Protestant Evangelical Church is also a very traditional but numerically far less significant church in Belgium. Its recognition by the Belgian state, like that of the Roman Catholic Church, was established when Belgium was founded in 1832. It was also recognized in France and the Netherlands before Belgium was founded. In 2003 the recognition was transferred from the United Protestant Church of Belgium to the Administratieve Raad van de Protestants-Evangelische Eredienst / Conseil Administratif du Culte Protestant-Évangélique .

The Protestant Evangelical Church of Belgium is characterized by its diversity. There are over 500 Protestant-Evangelical churches in Belgium. In addition to the Protestant Church in Belgium , the Reformed Church in Belgium and the Dutch Reformed Church in Belgium , Evangelicalism , the Pentecostal movement and other charismatic movements are also finding more and more followers in Belgium.

Protestant teaching

Baptists

Baptists have existed in Belgium since the late 19th century. The 23 autonomous local congregations with around 1100 members belong to the Union des Baptistes en Belgique (Dutch: Unie van Baptisten in België ; German: Union of Baptists in Belgium ), which was founded in 1922 . The Union of Baptists in Belgium is part of the Evangelical Protestant Church. Until 1997, Baptists were often viewed as a sect.

Anglican Church

The Anglican Church of Belgium was recognized by the Belgian state in 1870 by King Leopold I. King Leopold I wanted to please Great Britain through the recognition of the Anglican Church and thus consolidate Belgian sovereignty.

Since 1875 the Anglican Church is represented by the Central Committee of the Anglican Church in Belgium (English Committee of the Anglican Church in Belgium ) in the Belgian state.

Orthodox Church

The Orthodox Church of Belgium, which has been officially recognized since 1985, has around 50,000 believers. The head of the Orthodox Church Province of Belgium is Metropolitan Panteleimon of Belgium.

Metropolitan Panteleimon (Kontogiannis) of Belgium

Panteleimon Kontogiannis was born in Chios in 1935 . In 1974 he was elected assistant bishop to Metropolitan Emilianos Zacharopoulos of Belgium. The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate unanimously elected him Metropolitan of Belgium and Exarch of the Netherlands and Luxembourg on December 23, 1982 .

The Archdiocese

In 1963, after the death of Archbishop Athenagoras (Kavadas) of Thyateira, Europe was divided into independent archbishoprics. Belgium and Luxembourg belonged to the Archdiocese of France from 1963. In 1969 the Ecumenical Patriarchate created an independent Archdiocese of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, based in Brussels . Metropolitan Emilianos Zacharopoulos became the first metropolitan of Belgium. In 1982 Emilianos Zacharopoulos became Metropolitan of Kos and Panteleimon Kontogiannis became the second Metropolitan of Belgium. Metropolitan Panteleimon has been working on recognition of the Orthodox Church by the Belgian state since his ordination. On January 23, 1985, the Orthodox Church was recognized by the Belgian state by royal decree. The Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople or his deputy is recognized by the Belgian state as a representative body of the entire Orthodox Church.

The Orthodox Cathedral is in Brussels.

Free thinkers

The freethinker (also humanists ) set according to the survey in 2006 the major part (about 50%) of the Belgian company. In 1993, as a free-spirited ideological community, they became the youngest ideological community recognized by the Belgian state. The Belgian freethinkers are supported by the Central Free Spiritual Council ( French Conseil central Laïque , Dutch Centrale Vrijzinnige Raad '; long form: Central Council of the non-denominational ideological communities of Belgium VoE , French Conseil Central des Communautés Philosophiques non Confessionnelles de Belgique (CCL) asbl , Dutch Centrale Raad the Niet - Confessionele Levensbeschouwelijke Gemeenschappen van België (CVR) vzw ) represented to the state.

Islam

Grande Mosquée de Bruxelles

The Islam is the second largest with about 400,000 faithful Belgium religious community. Most of Belgium's Muslims (around 90%) are immigrants or their descendants. About 10% of Muslims have converted. About 40% of Muslims live in the capital, Brussels, where they represent 17% of the population.

About one third of the immigrant Muslims in Belgium are of Turkish and about two thirds of Moroccan origin. Other countries of origin are Albania, Pakistan, Egypt and the other Maghreb countries (Tunisia, Algeria etc.). Most of Belgium's Muslims are Sunnis .

The executive of the Muslims of Belgium ( Dutch Executieve van de Moslims van België , French Exécutif des musulmans de Belgique ) is the representative body of the Muslims towards the state. The executive of the Muslims of Belgium was renewed in a general election in 2005. Due to disputes between different ethnic groups, the Turkish community is now overly represented in the executive branch.

Judaism

The Jewish religion has been recognized by the state since Belgium was founded in 1832. The representative organ of the Jewish religion is the Central Israelitische Konsistorium (French Consistoire Central Israélite de Belgique , Netherland. Centraal Israëlitisch Consistorie ). Belgium has around 31,400 Jews . There are currently 16 recognized Jewish communities:

Further information on the history of the Jews in Belgium is available from the Fondation de la Mémoire contemporaine.

Buddhism

Buddhism has 30,000 to 50,000 followers in Belgium. The Association of Belgian Buddhists established contacts with the Minister of Justice in 2005 in order to obtain state recognition. An application for recognition as a Weltanschauung community was submitted on March 20, 2006, and the federal government began the process on March 30, 2007. Since 2008 the association has been granted provisional subsidies by law.

Sects

In Belgium there have been laws against sects since 1998. An advisory body has also been set up, the Center d'information et d'avis sur les organisations sectaires nuisibles (CIAOSN) . This institution is commissioned to study the damage caused by sects and their international networking. About 20% of the questions to the CIAOSN come from government organizations (police, judiciary, etc.), the rest of the questions to the CIAOSN come from private individuals.

The Belgian law defines “harmful sect” as:

"Any group of a philosophical or religious nature, or posing as such, which, in its organization or exercise, develops illegal, harmful activities against individuals or society, or develops activities that harm human dignity" .

There is no official list of dangerous sects in Belgium. However, in order to facilitate the policy in matters of harmful sects, there is a parliamentary investigation into matters of illegal activities of the sects and their damage. The report of the investigation can be consulted at the Belgian Chamber.

Web links

  • Further information on the history of the Jews in Belgium is available from the Fondation de la Mémoire contemporaine.

Individual evidence

Commons : Religion in Belgium  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  1. ↑ a b ( page no longer available , search in web archives: Les Belges sont devenus. ) Makr.roularta.be April 7, 2006.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / makr.roularta.be
  2. ↑ a b lachambre.be ( Memento of the original from July 21, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lachambre.be
  3. ↑ Peter Vanvelthoven, Minister of Labor, in response to a question from Clotilde Nyssens ( Center Démocrate Humaniste ) on "Inquiries on the recognition of cults" , Belgian Senate, February 9, 2006.
  4. ↑ a b uvv.be ( Memento from August 21, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Wallonia (French) - Flanders (Dutch)
  6. ↑ embnet.be
  7. ↑ cacpe.be
  8. ↑ aartsbisdom.be
  9. ↑ jewishcom.be
  10. ↑ holytrinity.be
  11. ^ Wallonia (French) ( Memento of June 15, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ Church tax ( memento of January 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ Cultes ( Memento of August 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  14. ↑ protestafac.eu ( Memento of the original from January 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.protestafac.eu
  15. ↑ etf.edu
  16. ↑ ctsem.edu
  17. ↑ UBB.be: Date des statistiques (2013) PDF; accessed on May 6, 2016.
  18. ^ Conseil Administratif du Culte Protestant-Évangélique: Lieux de culte (search with "Union des Baptistes en Belgique" in "Et / ou recherche par denominiation")
  19. ^ Adventist Press Service: Baptists in Belgium officially recognized (December 30, 1997) ; accessed on May 6, 2016
  20. ↑ Information ( Memento of the original from January 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on holytrinity.be @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.holytrinity.be
  21. ↑ orthodoxwiki.org
  22. ↑ Information on orthodoxwiki.org
  23. ↑ Information ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on aartsbisdom.be @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.aartsbisdom.be
  24. ↑ Brussels Studies: Concentration des populations musulmanes et structuration de l'associatif musulman à Bruxelles (PDF; 846 kB).
  25. ↑ Herman De Ley: L'Islam belge au XXIème siècle: affranchi ou bien “ala Turka”? ( Memento of the original from June 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 1999. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.flwi.ugent.be
  26. ↑ Exécutif des musulmans de Belgique - Executive of the Muslims of Belgium.
  27. ↑ Information on jewishcom.be
  28. ↑ a b Fondation de la Mémoire contemporaine (French).
  29. ↑ ciaosn.be
  30. ↑ ciaosn.be
  31. ↑ Investigation report Part I. (PDF; 40.6 MB) and Part II. (Both in French and Dutch; PDF; 29.7 MB)