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Earlier research showed that religion is related to participation
among adolescents. It emphasized the effects of belonging (affiliation to groups and traditions) on community service among Western populations. This article takes one step further and focuses on religiosity as a potential motivation for community problem solving during adolescence and young adulthood, in the Eastern European Orthodox cultural setting. Data comes from several semistructured interviews with participants in a civic project conducted in the city of Timisoara (Romania). Findings indicated a low impact of the social religious component on engagement. The cognitive dimension of belief and the emotional bonding (prayer, ritual connection to the higher reality) function as indirect motivators, through the moral element of behavior. Results also showed a privatization of spiritual life at young adults (the invisible religion): estrangement from doctrines and the development of an individualistic type of morality, meant to drive volunteer activities further.
With respect to religious motivations for political participation and civic engagement, scholars have set their focus on social capital and the recruiting potential for volunteers inside religious communities. Less attention has been paid to individual religious impulses, but also to reasons for which people step out from deliberative processes, especially in regard to the Eastern European Orthodox cultural context. We are approaching this under-explored research field in this dissertation, with focus on the Romanian city of Timișoara, and look at three particular aspects: the influence of religious perceptions on political protests (analysis of the 1989 revolution), the manner in which religion motivates young people to volunteer (view on a local community project) and factors determining people to retreat from public engagement (analysis of citizens` local committees). The research methods are qualitative - interviews, group discussions and analytical interpretation. Results show that non- or less religious young people are encouraged to protest by an indefinable supernatural force and motivated by moral interests (need for dignity and a fair treatment / procedural justice), more than material ones (distributive justice). When engaging in the community, the impulse partially comes from an intrinsic spirituality and a privatized experience with the divine. Giving up civic engagement has nothing to do with remuneration, but with the need for freedom of expression and moral appreciation.