The only theocracy in Europe shaken as more Church scandals are revieled

[laurentius]

Originally posted by VetLegion




Jesus Christ, this is in the neighbourhood of Saudi Arabia and such.

its mandatory in Finland also. I tried to get into ethics class but I was denied by the head master since I am evangelical lutheran just like 87% of the population.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Last Conformist
There's a few other non-disestablished national churches in Europe. The UK is the most well-known sinner.

I recall that the Chirch of England remains the official church of state and the head of state (the Queen) also heads the Church but I don't believe the Church gets state funds. At least not directly and instead must fleece it's flock like all the other religious groups.

[Dr Strangelove]

Actually it's a wholly owned subsidiary of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America. We acquired it during WW2 about the same time that the Unioted States acquired Great Britain. We keep it for nostalgia's sake. Also it's a bit of a status symbol.

[PLATO]

Originally posted by MarkG
theocracy??
"seat in goverment"?


what on earth are you talking about?

No matter how well hidden the word "Greece" in a thread, you always find it! Do you look at every thread, or do you just have effective spies?!?

[Last Conformist]

Originally posted by Oerdin


I recall that the Chirch of England remains the official church of state and the head of state (the Queen) also heads the Church but I don't believe the Church gets state funds. At least not directly and instead must fleece it's flock like all the other religious groups.

If getting state funds is the criterion, the list of sinners grows. The Church of Sweden, disestablished in 2000, gets big sums to maintain its various "national heritage" buildings.

[MarkG]

Originally posted by PLATO
No matter how well hidden the word "Greece" in a thread, you always find it! Do you look at every thread, or do you just have effective spies?!?

no, when i saw the thread starter i instantly knew the thread HAD to be about greece

[MarkG]

Originally posted by laurentius
its mandatory in Finland also. I tried to get into ethics class but I was denied by the head master since I am evangelical lutheran just like 87% of the population.

wow, discrimination against religion in the Finnish educational system!!!

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by OzzyKP
The priests get paid by the state? That's weird.

And the fact that religious leaders are appointed by the state in Israel, Istanbul, and Greece is really fricken troubling.

Only if you disregard the part that religion played in nationalist politics, revolutions, wars against the Turks, et cetera.

You will find that in the absence of a monarchical/state opposition to say, Ottoman rule in the Balkans, the churches (un)wisely took on the role of opposition to the Turks, thus combining the occasional follies of nationalism and religion in one movement.


The Ottoman Turks treated Jews in Palestine very well, appointing them to high positions, and Suleyman the Magnificent undertook for repairs to be made to the remains of the Temple for instance. For the main part, Orthodox Christian leaders in the Ottoman Empire could expect better treatment from the Turks than they could from their fellow (Latin) Christians.

[laurentius]

Originally posted by MarkG
wow, discrimination against religion in the Finnish educational system!!!

Yep, thats basicly what it is. I still think the ethics classes wich included talking about human rights universal values etc. would have been more interesting than the classes about world religions and stuff.

[VetLegion]

Originally posted by laurentius


its mandatory in Finland also. I tried to get into ethics class but I was denied by the head master since I am evangelical lutheran just like 87% of the population.

Man, that's like, Saudi Arabia. And Greece. Crazy.

Sadly, but I have to demote Finland in my eyes from No 1 county on Earth to "a place to visit and laugh at the fundies"

[laurentius]

Originally posted by VetLegion


Man, that's like, Saudi Arabia. And Greece. Crazy.

Sadly, but I have to demote Finland in my eyes from No 1 county on Earth to "a place to visit and laugh at the fundies"

Well things aint so bad yet.

On the religion lessons pupils are taught to respect other religions and they are taught about muslims, jews, hindus and buddhists in a very respecting manner. So its not just about christianity, its more of a broader scan to the world of religion. And its mandatory to everyone who is officially ev. lut. Orthodox pupils have religion lessons of their own but catholics, muslims, atheists et all get to go to these ethics classes instead. That pissed me off since I already knew quite alot about the other religions and really wanted to learn non-religios ethics, universal moral values, philosophers, human rights and international relief work. That would have been interesting...it was taught by our schools philosophy teacher.

Another reason was because our religion teachers nickname was "the crusifier"

[VetLegion]

Hopefully America invades you and liberates you

I've started another thread and poll on this, so we don't threadjack here.

[axi]

I'm sure Greece is just as godless as the rest of Europe, don't worry...

It is as godless as say, Italy Spain and Portugal. That means that there are religious fundies and flaming atheists living side by side.

About religious education: you can tell the headmaster that you don't want to participate for ethical reasons, but if you are a baptised Orthodox christian, then you get a hell of a hard time. But I guess if the parents persistently ask for it, you can manage an exemption. I don't know much about it, I was in a Catholic school, ergo this was not an option. Seeing that we have more and more immigrant children in schools, I guess that things must have changed quite a bit since I graduated 8 years ago.