Human Rites

by Feòrag

Greece: Religious freedom is something guaranteed by European human rights legislation, but nobody appears to have told the Greek government, as a recent article on a Neopagan movement in Greece highlights:

One group of Hellenes, led by Panaghiotis Marinis, from the Committee for the Recognition of the Greek Religion Dodecatheon, applied two years ago for the movement to be officially recognised. The Greek government has still to make a decision on the application and, without official recognition, the group cannot build temples, have an office, or hold public ceremonies.

There are plans to take the Greek government to the European Court of Human Rights if they don't act soon. As well as administrative hurdles, such groups suffer intolerance, especially from the Church:

Making Greek society more tolerant will not be easy. According to official figures, 98% of Greeks are Greek Orthodox Christians. And Hellenes report occasional harassment. During one ceremony at a lake near Mount Olympus, Buschbeck recalls, the local Greek Orthodox Christian Bishop and some monks led a group of 100 people to the other side of the lake to oppose them. The Bishop shouted at them through a megaphone, and played cloister music through a PA system to drown out their ceremony.

Pagans fight for divine rights of old Greek gods - Scotland on Sunday, 21st September 2003.