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Greece is the only European Union (EU) country to ban
proselytism in its constitution, and the only EU country to have been
condemned by the European Court of Human Rights for a lack of religious
freedom, in the Kokkinakis case (see the Greece
section of the full 2001 Forum 18 report
http://www.forum18.org/PDF/freedomofreligion.pdf). Although Greece has made progress in the protection of
religious freedom, the run-up to the 2004 Athens Olympic Games finds Greece
still displaying this Achilles' heel in its human rights record.
The majority of the almost 11 million people in Greece (up to 95.2 percent)
are recorded as members of the Orthodox Church, with small numbers
belonging to other religions, mainly Old Calendarist
Orthodox, Muslims, Roman Catholics, Jews, Armenian Orthodox, Protestants,
and Jehovah´s Witnesses. A significant
development in the ethnic mix of Greece since 1990 has been the
arrival of almost one million legal and illegal immigrants, mostly Muslims,
from neighbouring countries. Most of these are composed of the
approximately 700,000 legal and illegal Albanian migrants.
The position of the Greek Orthodox Church and its relations with the State
are set forth in Article 3, par. 1 of the present Constitution
(1975/1986/2001). According to this article: a) The Greek-Orthodox dogma is
the prevailing religion, b) The Church of Greece is inseparably united in
doctrine with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and with all
other Orthodox Churches, c) The Church is self-administered and
autocephalous. The Government, under the direction of the Ministry of
Education and Religion, provides some financial support by, for example,
paying for the salaries and religious training of clergy, and financing the
maintenance of Orthodox Church buildings. This special relation between the
Greek State and the Orthodox Church has
come about for historical reasons and long-established tradition, many
Greeks attributing the preservation of Greek national identity during the
400 years of Ottoman occupation to the Orthodox Church. A separation of
Church and State would require an amendment of the Constitution.
The Muslim community, which is concentrated in Thrace
in north-east Greece,
with small communities on the islands of Rhodes and Kos,
as well as the capital Athens,
is composed mainly of ethnic Turks, but also includes Pomaks
and Roma. According to official sources, 287 mosques operate freely in Thrace and on Rhodes and Kos. A growing number of Muslim immigrants
from Albania, South Asia
and elsewhere live in Athens
and in some rural areas. The community in the Athens area is still without its own
mosque or state-appointed cleric to officiate at various religious
services, including funerals. In 2000 the Parliament approved a bill
allowing construction of the first Islamic cultural centre and mosque in
the Athens
area; however, construction has not yet started because members of the
Orthodox Church are opposed to this. In the region around Athens, however, many mosques operate in
apartments or houses, without any administrative permit but with the
tolerance of the police.
So far as the overall legal situation of religious freedom is concerned,
there has been since 2001 no significant change (see 2001 Forum 18 overview
at http://www.forum18.org/PDF/altana_filos.pdf). The Orthodox Church,
Judaism and Islam are still the only groups considered by the law to be a
"legal person of public law". Recently the Roman Catholic Church
in Greece,
after a court decision, received legal status and was in 2003 invited by
the Ministry of Education and Religion to take part in a dialogue on its
legal status. The Catholics do not want the status of "legal person of
public law" and would prefer Greek law to be changed to bring it into
line with the situation in other EU countries.
Other religious communities, such as Evangelical Protestants and Jehovah's
Witnesses, who are mainly composed of ethnic Greek citizens, are considered
to be "legal persons of private law". This means that religious
minority communities, because of their classification as private entities,
cannot be corporately represented in court, and cannot as communities
possess or inherit property. Under the Constitution, all persons living
within the Greek territory are said to enjoy "full" protection to
practice the religion of their choice. However, the Constitution still,
despite the European Court of Human Rights judgment, prohibits proselytising (Article 13) and stipulates that no rite
of worship may disturb public order or offend moral principles.
Also, under the laws 1363 from 1938 and 1672 from 1939, which some Greek
religious believers consider dictatorial, recognised
or "known" religious groups are required to obtain "house of
prayer" permits from the Ministry of Education and Religion in order
to open places of worship. It should be noted that this permit constitutes
the only (albeit indirect) way in which the state recognises
a religion. But since the "Manoussakis"
judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, issued in 1996,
applications for a house of prayer permit are accepted by the Ministry of
Education and Religion. It seems that the administration has understood the
message of the Court better than Greek legislators have. By law the
Ministry may base its decision to issue permits on the opinion of the local
Orthodox bishop, and the police have the right to prosecute religious
communities who operate or build places of worship without a permit.
However, religious freedom in Greece today still depends on
factors such as the opinion of the predominant religion. One example of
this factor affecting the building of a church, is
the case of the Evangelical Free Church of Filiatra,
on the Peloponese peninsula. Although the
Ministry had given its permission (A3/20109/13-3-2002), the local Orthodox
bishop objected to this by declaring the need to prohibit illegal
proselytism ("Eleftheria" daily
newspaper, 12 April 2002). This opinion of the Orthodox bishop leaves the
legal situation of these Protestant believers still unclear.
The independent administrative authority, the "Citizen Attorney"
or Ombudsman, has significantly contributed to the protection of religious
minorities (report no 5979.2.2/24-04-2002). But local police still have the
authority to prosecute minority religions that operate or build places of
worship without a permit, although this has not happened in the last two
years. However, it is still common practice for the police to bring the
adherents of minority religions for identity checks to police stations. In
a 2001 ruling, the Cassation court judged (Decision no 20/2001) that the
law which requires a prior administration permit to operate a house of
prayer, is not in violation of the right of religious freedom (article 13
of the Constitution and article 9 of the European Convention of Human
Rights). Only a small minority of the judges had the opinion that this
preventive system was in breach of both the Constitution and the
Convention.
One conflict between church and state revolved around the recording of a
person's religion on their identity card. Because of the Orthodox
identification of the nation with the church, it favoured
this practice continuing. Opponents pointed to the Constitution and to law
2472/1997, which forbad "sensitive" personal data from being
registered or revealed without their specific consent. Despite strong
criticism from the Orthodox Church, the Government began in 2001 to issue
new identity cards that do not note religious affiliation. This decision
caused a crisis in the relations of the State and the prevailing religion.
The Council of State, the highest administrative court, decided in its 2001
judgement on this case (Decision no 2281/2001),
that the notation of religious beliefs on identity cards violates religious
freedom.
Even though Greece has
made progress in the protection of religious freedom, the run-up to the
August 2004 Athens Olympic Games finds Greece still displaying this
Achilles' heel in its human rights record.
- Dr Altana Filos is a
member of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and
International Law, in Heidelberg,
Germany,
and specialises in the study of Greek and Cypriot
Constitutional Law.
A printer-friendly map of Greece
is available at
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=europe&Rootmap=greece
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