As many long time readers of this blog will know, I have been following the lack of an Athens mosque for many years. Athens is the only European capital that does not have one and Muslims are forced to gather in make-shift mosques around the capital. The main objection has come from the powerful Greek [...]
Press release 10 April 2010 Greece: Condemnation of attack against member after appeal to Council of State on religious symbols. Complaint against Bishop Amvrosios for hate speech against atheists. The Humanist Union of Greece (H.U.G.) condemns yesterday’s attack of the office of Christos Zoumboulidis, lawyer, member of H.U.G. and of the Greek political party Ecogreens, [...]
Via World Bulletin Arsonists set fire to a Muslim centre on the Greek island of Crete on Friday, police said, in the third attack against a religious minority prayer site there this year. Police said they were investigating after unknown assailants set fire to the front gate of the office of a Muslim association that [...]
Via Kathimerini Debate on religious symbols intensifies The public debate about whether crucifixes and religious icons should be displayed in Greece’s classrooms is set to intensify after it was revealed yesterday that the country’s Ombudsman received several complaints about infringement of religious freedoms. Four sets of parents have asked for religious symbols to be removed [...]
From BBC News The head of the Greek Orthodox Church has warned the country’s new socialist government that it faces a major battle over removing religious symbols from schools. The European Court in Strasbourg has ordered Italy to take down crucifixes from its classrooms, and Greece’s justice minister has acknowledged that it may have to [...]
Via Kathimerini Justice Minister Haris Kastanidis admitted yesterday that Greece will have no choice but to remove religious icons from school classrooms and other public buildings if the European Court of Human Rights stands by a ruling it made earlier this month. “If the European Court of Human Rights sticks to its original decision that [...]
Via Malcolm Brabant, BBC News, Athens The Greek Orthodox Church is urging Christians across Europe to unite in an appeal against a ban on crucifixes in classrooms in Italy. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled last week that the presence of crucifixes violated a child’s right to freedom of religion. Greece’s Orthodox [...]
Via the Balkan Travellers Thousands of Muslims in Athens appealed for the construction of a mosque to Greece’s new government in the framework of the international congress dedicated to Muslim communities and their cultural identity. The congress took place for the first time in the country, the national Ta Nea newspaper reported today. Athens is [...]
Via the Athens News PAKISTANI immigrants in the western Athens suburb of Nea Ionia appear to have lost their fight to stop the closure of their unlicensed mosque. Deputy Athens Prefect Haroula Kefalidou said it is only a matter of time before Muslims are evicted from the basement they converted into a mosque I have [...]
Via the Athens News Pakistanis protest the possibility of their makeshift mosque losing its home in Nea Ionia, a suburb in western Athens AN UNDERGROUND mosque with hundreds of worshippers in the western Athens suburb of Nea Ionia has encountered vehement opposition from residents and now risks being shuttered by city officials. Manolis Triantafylos and [...]
Via the Athens News THEY may need to hold their breath for another couple of years before the first facilities are built, but many wanting to be cremated upon death will at last be able to have their final wish carried out in this country after the Council of State approved a bill allowing cremation [...]
Last week, I wrote about the fact that there is still no crematorium in Athens (the only European capital city without one), two years after permission was granted. Today I read in Kathimerini that the go ahead has also been given for a Muslim cemetery. It should be noted that it might be some time [...]
It is always heartwarming to hear about people who are working in their own way to initiate change for the better. A Greek Orthodox priest and a Muslim imam are working together to promote inter-faith solidarity. Father Timotheos Anthis and Imam Munir Mahmood are holding a series of public meeting around Athens where local residents [...]
Cremation became legal in Greece a year ago although there is still no crematorium. The Greek Orthodox church is now grappling with the issue of cremation for its followers. Yiannis Boutaris, best known for his wine label and a candidate in last years municipal elections has spoken out after he had to travel to Bulgaria [...]
Read this post first [Part Eleven of Twelve] Bodies Visible and Invisible: The Erasure of the Jewish Cemetery in the Life of Modern Thessaloniki LAQUEUR and HESSE Throughout the 1920 and 1930’s reasonable relations remained possible. The negotiations between the Jewish Community, the municipal government, and indirectly the national government over the cemetery and over [...]
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