Remus Cernea
Encyclopedia
Remus Cernea (ˈremus ˈt͡ʃernea; born June 25, 1974) is a Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

n activist against discrimination based on faith and religion
Religious discrimination
Religious discrimination is valuing or treating a person or group differently because of what they do or do not believe.A concept like that of 'religious discrimination' is necessary to take into account ambiguities of the term religious persecution. The infamous cases in which people have been...

, an advocate of the separation of church and state
Separation of church and state
The concept of the separation of church and state refers to the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state....

 and the founder of the Solidarity for Freedom of Conscience Association.

He ran in the 2009 Romanian presidential election
Romanian presidential election, 2009
The first round of 2009 Romanian presidential elections was held in Romania on 22 November and a run-off round between Traian Băsescu and Mircea Geoană was held on 6 December 2009. Although most exit polls favored Geoană in the runoff, the authorities declared Băsescu the narrow victor with 50.33%...

, and was a candidate for Green Party
Green Party (Romania)
The Green Party , often shortened to The Greens is a Romanian political party centred on green politics. It is a member of the European Green Party.-Policies:...

, gaining over 60,000 votes, or a share of 0.62% of the votes. In October 2010, he left the Green Party over ideological differences and created the Green Movement (Mișcarea Verzilor).

Biography

Born in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

, he lived in Hunedoara
Hunedoara
Hunedoara is a city in Hunedoara County, Transylvania, Romania. It is located in southeastern Transylvania near the Poiana Ruscă Mountains, and administers five villages: Boş, Groş, Hăşdat, Peştişu Mare and Răcăştia....

 for 14 years, where his father worked as a geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...

, then moved back to Bucharest in 1988. In 1998, he founded the Noesis Cultural Society
Noesis Cultural Society
The Noesis Cultural Society is a Romanian organization that produces and markets CD-ROM-based works pertaining to Romanian culture and thought. They are based in Bucharest, Romania...

, an organization which edited the first Romanian e-books and multimedia encyclopedias dedicated to subjects of the Romanian culture: a CD-ROM containing 50 ebooks and encyclopedias about Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale was a Wallachian-born Romanian playwright, short story writer, poet, theater manager, political commentator and journalist...

 and Constantin Brâncuşi
Constantin Brancusi
Constantin Brâncuşi was a Romanian-born sculptor who made his career in France. As a child he displayed an aptitude for carving wooden farm tools. Formal studies took him first to Bucharest, then to Munich, then to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris...

. These projects earned the Noesis Society the prize for the best educational product (2002 edition) given by the Presidency of Romania.

Cernea studied philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 at the University of Bucharest
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...

. He graduated in 2002, but he refused to get his diploma, as he claims he studied at the university just out of his passion for philosophy.

In 2003, he founded the Association "Solidarity for Freedom of Conscience", a secularist and humanist organization which militates for freedom of thought
Freedom of thought
Freedom of thought is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints....

, separation of church and state and against discrimination based on faith and religion.

Cernea published in 2007 a book of essays and articles named "Manifest împotriva becalizării României" (A Manifest Against the Becalization of Romania), in which he argues that the "Becalization" (derived from the name of Gigi Becali
Gigi Becali
George Becali is a controversial Romanian politician and businessman, mostly known for his involvement in the Steaua Bucureşti football club.He has been a Member of the European Parliament since June 2009.-Biography:...

, a nationalist politician who stresses his allegiance to the Orthodox Church) is threatening the values of an open society
Open society
The open society is a concept originally developed by philosopher Henri Bergson and then by Austrian and British philosopher Karl Popper. In open societies, government is purported to be responsive and tolerant, and political mechanisms are said to be transparent and flexible...

.

Views

Cernea argues that in Romania there is an "unacceptable collusion between the politicians and the Church", and that although officially there is a separation of Church and state, practically, the Romanian Orthodox Church
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...

 and the state are "intimately linked". He considers himself a "freethinker
Freethought
Freethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that opinions should be formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason, and should not be influenced by authority, tradition, or other dogmas...

", which he describes as being more encompassing than the term of "atheist", considering the term of atheist a bit too limited and wanting to retain an "area of speculation and openness".

His 2009 electoral platform was based on 10 points which he details on his blog and include: supporting conciliation and dialog within the Romanian society, supporting human rights and fight against discrimination, closer ties with Romania's neighbours, supporting green technologies
Environmental technology
Environmental technology or green technology or clean technology is the application of one or more of environmental science, green chemistry, environmental monitoring and electronic devices to monitor, model and conserve the natural environment and resources, and to curb the negative impacts of...

, sustainable development
Sustainable development
Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come...

 and green agriculture, increase in funding for education and research to 10% of the Romanian GDP, freer election system that is more fair to smaller parties, full separation of church and state
Separation of church and state
The concept of the separation of church and state refers to the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state....

 and a national dialog on social issues such as legalization of prostitution, the problem of drugs and the recognition of heterosexual and homosexual civil union
Civil union
A civil union, also referred to as a civil partnership, is a legally recognized form of partnership similar to marriage. Beginning with Denmark in 1989, civil unions under one name or another have been established by law in many developed countries in order to provide same-sex couples rights,...

s.

Political activity

In 1997, as a protest toward the nationalism found in Romanian politics, Cernea joined the ethnic Hungarian party, the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania
Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania
The Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, is the main political organisation representing the ethnic Hungarians of Romania....

, despite being ethnically Romanian.

Cernea announced his intention to run as a Green Party candidate in the January 17, 2010 by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

 for the Chamber of Deputies seat (in the Sector 1 of Bucharest), vacated after the appointment of Bogdan Olteanu
Bogdan Olteanu
Bogdan Olteanu is a Romanian politician and lawyer. He was the president of the Chamber of Deputies between 2006 and 2008....

 as deputy governor of the National Bank, however, the Bucharest Central Municipal Bureau rejected his candidature, because he is not a member of a parliamentary party, as the law requires in case of a by-election. The appeal of the decision and of the constitutionality of the law were rejected and Cernea announced he wants to dispute the law at the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...

.

2009 Presidential election

In August 2009, Cernea announced his intention of running for presidency as a candidate of the Green Party
Green Party (Romania)
The Green Party , often shortened to The Greens is a Romanian political party centred on green politics. It is a member of the European Green Party.-Policies:...

. He and the Green Party gathered the needed 200,000 signatures and submitted them to Electoral Bureau on the last day before the beginning of the electoral campaign, October 23, 2008.

In an interview for Evenimentul Zilei
Evenimentul Zilei
Evenimentul Zilei is one of the leading newspapers in Romania. Based in Bucharest, the Romanian-language daily has a paid daily circulation of 110,000...

, Cernea said that he wants to offer an alternative to the mainstream politics and he tries to attract the 60-70% of the voters who are disappointed by the politicians and do not want to go to the polls. Although Cernea tried to obtain a debate, no candidate from the top three parties accepted a debate involving him.

Cernea's political campaign was especially visible on the Internet, having the most Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

 supporters of all the candidates. He says that unlike the top candidates' campaigns, his campaign was exclusively based on the enthusiasm of some young volunteers who helped him purely through pro-bono work.

Cernea was the 8th out of 12 candidates, gaining 60,539 votes, or a share of 0.62%. The highest percentages were in the Bucharest sectors 3 (1.13%) and 6 (1.04%), Cluj County (0.9%) and among the voters abroad (1.0%).

Church in the University courtyard

In 1998, the Philosophy and Law departments of the University of Bucharest
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...

 shared a building and in its courtyard, it was decided to build a church. After the place was hallowed, Cernea, who was studying philosophy at the University, together with three other students, wrote a letter of protest, organized a conference about the subject and gathered 150 signatures against the building of the church. The Association of Christian Orthodox students gathered a list of 3000 signatures supporting the building of the church.

As the scandal was booming, the rector decided to defuse it by banning any conference on the subject. The project of the building of the church was cancelled and the Orthodox icons in the University classrooms were removed.

Icons in schools

According to Cernea, following the fall of Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...

, in schools, his portraits were replaced with Romanian Orthodox icons. In 2005, Emil Moise, a philosophy teacher from Buzău
Buzau
The city of Buzău is the county seat of Buzău County, Romania, in the historical region of Wallachia. It lies near the right bank of the Buzău River, between the south-eastern curvature of the Carpathian Mountains and the lowlands of Bărăgan Plain.The city's name dates back to 376 AD when the name...

 began a campaign against the display of religious items in schools. Cernea's association supported his case for the removal of icons from schools, arguing that the religious symbols represent a discrimination against non-Orthodox children and an infringement against the neutrality of the state. Additionally, as 90% of the schools held religious services, Cernea argued that this practice was also illegal, as the Romanian penal code bans forcing anyone to participate to any religious ceremony.

The movement against icons in schools generated a large debate in the Romanian society and media. In CNCD Decision 323/2006
CNCD Decision 323/2006
CNCD Decision 323/2006 is a decision of Romania's National Council for Combating Discrimination regarding the display of religious symbols in public schools...

, the National Council for Combating Discrimination
National Council for Combating Discrimination
The National Council for Combating Discrimination is an agency of the Romanian government, established in 2001 and responsible for applying Romanian and European Union anti-discrimination laws and managing the National Anti-Discrimination Plan. The legal status of the CNCD was established by the...

 ruled that the display of religious icons was discriminatory. However, the Ministry of Education argued that it cannot remove the icons because they were not the ones who put them there in the first place and that local communities should decide whether to keep the icons or not.

Romanian People Salvation Cathedral

The Romanian People Salvation Cathedral is a large-scale cathedral construction project envisioned by the Romanian Orthodox Church. The government of Romania originally wanted the cathedral to be built it in the place of Carol Park
Carol Park
Carol Park is a public park in Bucharest, Romania, named after King Carol I of Romania. For the duration of the communist regime, it was called Liberty Park ....

, but following protests, including those organized by the Solidarity for Freedom of Conscience Association, it changed the plans.

Finally, in 2007, the state gave the Orthodox Church about 11 hectares of land in central Bucharest, next to the Palace of the Parliament
Palace of the Parliament
The Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, Romania is a multi-purpose building containing both chambers of the Romanian Parliament. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Palace is the world's largest civilian administrative building, most expensive administrative building, and...

 and it promised it will pay partly the construction costs. Cernea argued that both the donation of the terrain and giving the additional funds represent a misuse of state funds and illegal.

The Solidarity for Freedom of Conscience Association also contested the name "Romanian People Salvation Cathedral", arguing that it has nationalistic overtones, by linking being Romanian to affiliation to the Orthodox Church.

School curriculum

In 2007, Cernea's association announced that the new curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...

 of Romania had quietly removed the requirement of teaching Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution from biology textbooks, as well as the debate on the existence of God (the study of Voltaire
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...

, Camus
Camus
-People:* Albert Camus, French author, philosopher and journalist* Charles Étienne Louis Camus, French mathematician* Jean-Pierre Camus, French bishop and writer* Louis-Auguste Camus de Richemont, French military chief and baron d'Empire...

 and Nietzsche), from philosophy textbooks.

Cernea argues that the current curriculum lacks the scientific and philosophical points of view, but in the same time, in religion classes, the seven-day creationism
Creationism
Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...

 is taught, distorting the children's understanding of how the world came into being.

In February 2008, his association asked the Ministry of Education to re-introduce explicitly the theory of evolution in the biology curriculum, arguing that Romania is the only European country in which it is not studied in detail and organized a protest in front of the headquarters of the Ministry of Education for the reintroduction of evolution in the curriculum.

In a 2009 interview for Dilema Veche
Dilema Veche
Dilema veche , formerly Dilema, is a Romanian weekly journal of culture, criticism and opinion.- History :It was founded as Dilema in 1993 by art critic Andrei Pleşu and up until the end of 2003 it was edited by an independent cultural body, Fundaţia Culturală Română...

, Cernea says that there are not only textbooks that do not describe evolution, but there are some approved textbooks that teach creationism
Creationism
Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...

. He argues that the school curriculum is particularly important, since it influences the high school students' choice of university study and that this is why in Romania there's a huge number of those studying theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

, with a dwindling number of students studying sciences.

Other initiatives

In 2006, the association organized a concert against the new law regulating religion in Romania, which banned "religious defamation". In the concert participated Luna Amara
Luna Amara
Luna Amară is a Romanian alternative rock/grunge band. The name means "Bitter Moon" in Romanian, and is borrowed from the Roman Polanski movie of the same name, inspired by the eponymous novel written by Pascal Bruckner.-History:...

, Vama
Vama Veche
Vama Veche is a village in Romania on the Black Sea coast, near the border with Bulgaria, at 28.57 E longitude, 43.75 N latitude. It is part of the commune of Limanu and in 2002, it had a population of 178....

, Sarmalele Reci
Sarmalele Reci
Sarmalele Reci is a Romanian rock band that was formed in 1993 in Bucharest.-History:The group was formed by Florin Dumitrescu in 1993...

 among others. In May 2007, he organized a small-scale protest against president Traian Băsescu
Traian Basescu
Traian Băsescu is the current President of Romania. After serving as the mayor of Bucharest from June 2000 until December 2004, he was elected president in the Romanian Presidential Elections of 2004 and inaugurated on December 20, 2004...

's racist and sexist affirmations, and in August 2007, the association argued against the practice at the national radio station of beginning the programme with a reading of Lord's Prayer
Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer is a central prayer in Christianity. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, it appears in two forms: in the Gospel of Matthew as part of the discourse on ostentation in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Gospel of Luke, which records Jesus being approached by "one of his...

.

In August 2009, he protested against a law project made by the Romanian Government, which would have increased the number of signatures needed for running in the presidential elections to 500,000 and also required a €300,000 sum to be paid as a bail, only to be returned if the candidate gets a certain percentage. Cernea argued that this breaks the free and fair election standards found in Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters of the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...

 and that it would monopolize the elections to those "rich and corrupt". Prime Minister Emil Boc
Emil Boc
Emil Boc is the Prime Minister of Romania, having served since December 2008. In June 2004, he was elected Mayor of Cluj-Napoca, the largest city in Transylvania. Boc is also the president of the Democratic Liberal Party, who designated him as Prime Minister in 2008. On October 13, 2009, his...

, however, announced that the law project would be dropped.

Books

  • Remus Cernea, Manifest împotriva becalizării României ISBN 978-973-733-192-2, Tritonic 2007

External links

remuscernea.ro: Official site Romanian Humanist Association
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