Tatiana Podolinská and Thomáš Hrustič
Statistics and Stereotypes
According to a thorough 2013 sociographic mapping of Roma communities in Slovakia, there are approximately 402,000 Roma in the country (http:// www.minv.sk?atlas_2013). Half of these Roma live integrated with the majority population, and the other half is concentrated in settlements with various degrees of segregation and marginalization from the general population. Roma in Slovakia live in isolated rural settlements and urban ghettos impoverished to various degrees of generational and segregated poverty.
An anti-Roma mood is on the rise in Slovak society, which is undoubtedly fueled by the predominantly negative image of Roma presented by Slovak media. Several field research studies also have affirmed that the general population has little information about the actual life of Roma, and has the tendency to accept the characterization of the group as “lazy” and “unadaptable,” living at the expense of the majority.
The Research Project
In 2010, the Institute of Ethnology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences conducted a research project focused on mapping the impact of religious missions on the social inclusion of Roma in Slovakia-Social Inclusion of Roma through Religion (SIRONA 2010). The project was implemented by a team of 20 researchers managed by Tatiana Podolinská, PhD., and Thomáš Hrustič, PhD., from the Institute of Ethnology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. In the framework of the 2010 research project, we contacted 30 churches and organizations with potential religious activities in the Roma communities in Slovakia, and we found that 19 of them are active among Roma. At present 14 registered churches and five non-registered religious movements are actively involved among Roma in Slovakia, conducting missions in about 130 localities in total and reaching about 10,000 Roma (actively participating members).
As for the number of persons influenced by the different missions to Roma, the following five churches are most relevant: the Roman Catholic Church; Jehovah’s Witnesses; the Greek Catholic Church; Maranatha Christian Mission; and the Apostolic Church. According to internal estimates of the Roman Catholic Church, its mission concerns about 5,000 religiously active Roma; Jehovah’s Witnesses reach around 2,000 Roma; the Greek Catholic Church and the Maranatha movement actively work with about 1,000 Roma each; and the Apostolic Church reaches about 500 Roma.
Indicators of Social Inclusion
Since the 2010 research project focused on the impact of religious missions on social change and potential social inclusion of Roma, we established a fixed set of 14 indicators of social inclusion:
- Increased school attendance of children
- Decline in indebtedness
- Reduced usury
- Increased activity in seeking a job
- Higher capacity to stay on the labor market
- Decline in petty crime
- Less problems with alcoholism and other narcotics
- Less gambling and less addiction to hazardous games
- Increased literacy rate
- Enhanced communication skills
- Enhanced social skills
- Increased frequency of positive contacts with other Roma from other municipalities
- Increased frequency of positive contacts with the general population
- Elimination of common stereotypes.
Evidences of Success
In particular, research findings documented reduced addiction to alcohol and other narcotics (98 percent), significant decline in petty crime (97 percent), and lower indebtedness (96 percent) among Roma who became members of religious movements. We gave those surveyed the possibility to characterize in their own words social changes that occurred as a result of religious change. The most frequent responses included: improvement of marital relations, improvement of relations between children and parents, change in consumer behavior, and change in family financial management. Municipal councils in several studied localities affirmed that converted Roma make efforts not to go into debt.
Social change is often the condition of membership (entrance and staying) in a religious group. In the case of some missions, social change (visible change of behavior) is the sign of spiritual change. There is a tendency to assume that believers who do not show signs of gradual social change have not gone through religious change. Thus, community social pressure is exercised on believers which has an important impact on the stabilization of social change.
The social change that Roma believers witness in their communities proves the possibility of change. Since individuals cannot change the environment in which they are born, and the possibilities to change their external world are also limited, personal change is perceived as the type of change that is available to all. (In this case, it is in the hands of every believer.) An actual change in people within the Roma community (family members, neighbors, or friends) provides proof that religious and social change is possible. (“If my neighbor has been able to change in a very short time, then I can also change, too, for sure!”)
With the increase in the number of conversions and examples of positive change, the attractiveness of change to others in the community (nonmembers) increases, too. As well, it works as evidence for members that they have made a correct decision on their path to change. In hard situations, or where believers subjectively think they cannot manage to make the desired change on their own, the group constantly gives them strength and affirms that the achievement of such change is possible. Under circumstances where it is hardly possible to offer Roma immediate external material or social benefits, faith provides not only immediate internal guidelines, but also internal benefits in the form of psychological satisfaction.
The Role of Priests and Pastors
Priests, pastors, and religious leaders have great potential to become motivators of internal change and positive external activity. The charisma of a priest or a pastor appears to be one of the key factors of positive social change in communities in which a religious mission has been conducted. Considering Roma poverty patterns transmitted from generation to generation, pastors and priests are aware that a mission must have a long-term, intensive, and highly personalized character.
Religious leaders in Roma localities work with Roma not only in spiritual matters. In effective Roma missions, they also solve many problems produced by the social exclusion of Roma. Leaders work as psychologists, marital, educational, and financial advisors, as field social workers, and even as sexologists. The bonds between converted Roma and their religious leaders are therefore very strong.
Pastoral intervention can also have a positive impact on improvement of Roma school attendance and can motivate an increase in the education level not only of children, but also of adults. Moreover, it can positively influence a more responsible approach to parenthood. It can be stated in general that in a relatively short time perspective and with the use of minimum input costs, pastoral intervention can make a community socially sound and provide not only concrete guidelines but also concrete positive examples to people who have long lived in social need. The research showed that many pastors and priests provide comprehensive assistance to Roma in socially excluded communities, thus largely substituting the lack of social services directed to these communities. In addition to spiritual pastoral outreach, the majority of pastors and priests act as social mentors providing Roma with social counseling.
God as Mentor
In the eyes of Roma believers, the changes they have experienced came not through pastors or priests, but through God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Believers who have gone through a religious change leading to a social change are convinced that God sees everything, not only what they do, but also what they think, and therefore they constantly seek to realize and prove their change in real life. For Roma believers, God works as a permanent, full-time mentor. God can be with them whenever they need Him. In weak moments and hard life situations, which can occur at any time, they can immediately ask for internal consultation with their Mentor who is not only empathetic, but also omnipotent.
The Advantages of “Non-Traditional”
Missions Our research showed that so-called “nontraditional” missions are highly effective in generating positive social change in the Slovak context: both Pentecostal and charismatic Christian missions and charismatic movements working within the framework of large, traditional churches. The pastoral intervention of these missions reduces Roma indebtedness, alcoholism, gambling, drug use, and thefts. Pastors and priests also teach Roma how to manage finances and adapt their family spending to the amount of available money. They motivate them as well to seek employment. Roma are attracted to Pentecostal and charismatic non-traditional rites and experiential forms of worship—personal contact with God and spontaneously experienced faith demonstrated by singing and emotional (up to ecstatic) manifestations.
The Disadvantages of Dominant Churches
From the point of view of positive social change, large, local, traditionally dominant churches were the least effective in working with Roma. Our research determined that the pastoral intervention of these denominations is usually not focused on achieving social change and inclusion of Roma. Rather, these churches stress doctrinal issues and the elimination of “defects” in Roma converts: The emphasis is upon regular attendance of masses, making marriages official, first Holy Communion, vows made during confirmation, etc. Typically, traditionally dominant churches consider it an optional matter whether or not priests choose to also assist Roma in developing social skills, in overcoming alcoholism, drugs, truancy, and gambling, in seeking employment, and in furthering their education.
Locally dominant churches are often passive in their missions among Roma, and because of their conservative approach, they contribute significantly to the creation and spread of stereotypical opinions about Roma, representing them as religiously passive, unstable, and “incorrigible.” In contrast, according to the results of our research, local minority churches and religious groups (usually with smaller membership, non-registered, non-traditional, or unknown religious organizations) have significant potential to generate stable and comprehensive positive social change in their Roma converts.
Positive Social Networking for Roma
Currently, religious groups are often the only institutions in Slovakia which provide inhabitants of Roma communities with an actual possibility of active engagement in a functional social network. Our research demonstrated that one of the reasons why, in general, religious missions are highly effective in bringing social change to marginalized Roma communities is the fact that they come with a special offer of social networks. The unique nature of the social network brought by religious groups to Roma communities involves building up the community as a family (calling each other sister and brother, etc.).
Key Findings
- Religious change has high potential for social change among Roma. The set of 14 indicators of social inclusion showed a minimum of an 80 percent success rate of change in social habits, competences, and skills among Roma who have gone through a considerable religious change.
- Several cases showed that it is highly ineffective to provide gifts to group members and to attempt to build a mission based upon charity alone. It works the other way around: Many religious missions that request from their members at least a symbolic financial contribution are much more effective, and their membership is much more stable. According to pastors, one of the key reasons is that members of the group then consider that group as their own and participate in its joint formation with more enthusiasm.
- Many religious groups offer social networks in which Roma can dynamically develop their romipen (religious songs in the Roma language; Roma as a pastoral language; training of Roma leaders, etc.).
- State administration and policy makers should see pastoral work among Roma as one of several effective social tools for the improvement of social conditions among Roma. ♦
Edited excerpts reprinted with permission from Tatiana Podolinská and Tomáš Hrustič, Religion as a Path to Change? The Possibilities of Social Inclusion of the Roma in Slovakia (Bratislava, Slovakia: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2011). The full text may be accessed from the Slovak Academy of Sciences website: http://www.uet.sav.sk/?=sk/religion-pathchange. The unabridged Slovak language study from which Religion as a Path to Change is derived is Podolinská, Tatiana and Tomáš Hrustič, Boh Medzi bariérami. Socialna inklúzia Rómov náboženskou cestou (Bratislava, Slovokia: Slovak Academy of Sciences, 2010).
Tatiana Podolinská is director of the Institute of Ethnology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. Tomáš Hrustič is a researcher with the Institute of Ethnology of the Slovak Academy of Science.