RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE
From the GREEK HELSINKI MONITOR (Minority Rights in Greece) 2005 In every court room, there is an icon of Jesus Christ behind and above the presiding judge’s head. To every participant in the proceedings, this gives the impression that they are not in a Greek state court (which would have been signified by a picture of the head of state) but in a Christian court. Members of minority religions face various forms of prejudice, harassment and discrimination. There are no mosques outside Thrace and the Dodecanese for the hundreds of thousands Muslim migrants who are forced to attend “underground” mosques. There is no possibility to get cremated. Most state cemeteries are operated by the Orthodox Church which often refuses the burial to non-Orthodox. Members of religious minorities are rarely found in state administration jobs, especially in high echelons; they cannot become either teachers in nursery schools or single-teacher primary schools, unless the pupils are of the same religion with the teacher. From Devious Diva It is generally accepted that we should have freedom of religion in Europe. This is not necessarily true here in Greece. Although children now have the right not to follow religious instruction without declaring an alternative religion, this really doesn't go far enough. A mosque was being built, 20 or so kilometres outside Athens, but work has stopped for the foreseeable future. I have heard a rumour (and this is a rumour not fact) that because of the rule that no religious building can be built within 500 metres square of another of a different denomination, the Greek Orthodox church has quickly built a church on the land. If anyone knows anything more about this situation could you please let me know.
posted by deviousdiva @ 9/27/2005 09:24:00 AM
2 comments
I remember reading an article (I think) in one of the magazines that you find inside the Sunday newspapers. There have been many different plans to build a mosque in Athens (the only capital city in the EU not to have one) but of course wherever they planned to build it. The local residents didn't like it. They had the "not in my back yard" attitude. The last I heard about it, they were going to build this mosque outside of Athens but the planned location was on the flight path to Eleftherios Venizelos airport which caused members of the Church to say "We do not think this is right. People flying into Athens may think they are flying into a moslem country and that isn't right". And the plan got put on ice.
It turns out in Athens, moslems have their own make shift mosques in basements, and appartments etc. There's no offical place for them to go.
Thank you for your feedback ellasdevil.
What I'm looking for is information about the building of a Greek Orthodox church in the vicinity to prevent the building of the mosque.
You also might be interested in this very short post from June. Click here
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