COURT RULING PUTS GREEK PAGANS CLOSER TO RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
By Christopher Blackwell

On May 5 the Guardian reported that an Athens court ruled that a ban on the worship of Zeus, Hera, Herms and Athena, along with other Greek gods and goddesses, be overturned.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1767802,00.html

The Greek Pagans plan now to petition the Greek parliament, or the European Union, if their petition of the Greek government should fail. They hope to gain the right to hold rituals in the many Greek temples and sacred sites.

ONLY THREE LEGAL RELIGIONS IN GREECE

According to The Guardian, 98% of Greeks are Greek Orthodox. The only other two recognized public religions are Judaism and Islam. They are the only ones with full religious rights, including the right to hold property such as buildings to worship in and to represent themselves in court as religious bodies. All other religions, including other denominations of Christianity, are banned.

According to the online article, “Campaign to Decriminalize the Worship of the Greek Gods”, a person could get up to five years in prison for doing a worship service even in their own home. http:// www.greekgodslegal.co.uk/

Another article, “Ongoing Persecution of Pagans in Modern Greece”, covers some other facts printed in the paragraphs below. http:// www.widdershins.org/vol10iss4/09.htm

GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH POLITICAL POWER

The Greek Orthodox Church has been the official religion of Greece since the 4th Century and is alleged to have used its political power in the Greek government to discriminate against other religions. Two laws enacted in 1938, under the Greek dictatorship of John Metaxas, still apply.

One law prohibits converting anyone from the Greek Orthodox Church and an amendment states anyone engaged in proselytism shall be imprisoned, fined and subject to police supervision for six months to a year as the court decides.

The second law requires anyone not Greek Orthodox to obtain church licenses from both the ministry of Education and Religious Affairs and local Orthodox bishops. Different religions have different laws applied by the ministry. To practice without recognition means being open to harassment by the police and the government as well as by the Greek Orthodox Church officials and followers.

Actual separation of church and state would require a Constitutional amendment.

During a 1996 visit, the United Nations Special Rapporteur of Religious Intolerance, Abdelfattah Amor, said that the limitations of freedom of worship were inconsistent with internationally- established human rights norms. The law against proselytism is at odds with the 1981 UN declaration of a greater need respect for human rights, including the right to convert, freedom of religion.

In 1998 the European Court of Human Rights condemned Greece for violating Article 9 of the European Human Rights in a proselytism case. There had been a resurgence of interest in Greek Paganism inspired in part by returning Greeks who had lived in countries that had religious freedom, such as Sweden and the United States.

GROWTH OF MODERN GREEK PAGAN MOVEMENT

Tryphon Olympios founded Ellinon Epistrofi, or "The Return to Hellenes Movement." Other groups also started, including the Committee for Hellenic Religion, the Greek Society of the Attic Friends, the Apollonian Society and the Committee of the Greek Religion.

By 2001 Greek identity cards no longer required the listing of a person’s religion.

On June 2004, the World Council of Ethnic Religions (WCER) had its seventh congress in Greece and was hosted by the Greek Pagan umbrella group Ypato Symboulio Hellinon Ethnikon. This led to Spartan schools, Hellenist magazines and classical theater.

All these groups supported the separation of church and state. They were against the Socialist Party which suppresses the teaching of ancient Greek language in the schools.

CONTINUED GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH RESISTANCE

The present Orthodox Church still disregards religious freedom. The campaign for recognition of the Greek Religion of the 12 Gods has twice been ignored by the government.

In the American documentary “ I still worship Zeus,” participants refused to be named for fear of harassment. They allege that there have been threats against the lives of some members and at least one bookstore has been burned. http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art34231.asp

With the court ruling on their side, it remains to be seen if Greek Pagans may finally be on the path to religious freedom.

However, the Greek Orthodox Church is resisting. In the Guardian article, Father Eustathios Kollas said of the Pagans, "They are a handful of miserable resuscitators of a degenerate dead religion who wish to return to the monstrous dark delusions of the past."