Too much God bless… (Κύρ’ ελέησον)
May 14, 2009
Source: Enet.gr
”Our Father in Heaven, your name is blessed…… ” and over to you now.
It has been circulated like a student joke but the story is true.
Early each morning in a Lyceum school in Athens a student is called up to recite the Morning Prayer.
He takes the microphone, says a few words, stops and mimicking a diva star he calls the audience to continue “The Smash Hit’.
Though the above mentioned event is probably exaggerated nevertheless in hundreds of Primary , High and Lyceum Schools in Greece thousands of pupils begin each ‘working day ‘ with The Lord’s Prayer.
This individual act of worship and communication with God has been transformed to an obligatory act , dictated by laws and is being contacted by assembling the pupils to a line up, making announcements, and giving instructions to the young audience.
It has become a duty that is met by the teachers and pupils with a heavy heart.
Exercise of Self Concentration
“One feels very bad ….It is ridiculous” says Mr Alexander Kariotoglou, a Professor of Theology currently teaching in Thessalia University and a close contact of Archbishop Ieronymos.
” I have experienced for years this duty as a teacher in secondary education” says Mr Kariotoglou.
“As the head teachers face difficulties with the application of this institution , they often charge the Theology teachers with the duty.
I was happy to accept the duty and in the beginning of each school year I would explain to the students the significance of the duty prior to any event and especially spiritual events.
We ought to spend a few minutes to concentrate.
I used to say to the pupils that whoever believes, can ask for God’s help.
But if they did not believe, and they have every right to do so, they could simply be silent and this is very therapeutic.”
When we asked him regarding the Immigrants’ children he said without hesitation.
“If in a school there was a sufficient number of Muslim pupils I would not hesitate to ask a pupil to recite the First Surah of the Qur’an.”
Personal Affair
“Prayer is clearly an individual affair.
It is difficult for me to feel an up lift if I try along with others like “a little soldier” as it happens in schools and even churches where one often drifts absent minded to the right or to the left with total lack of self concentration” says Costas Bey, peer professor of law and a person with deep religious beliefs.
He also brings two bright examples for the personal element of communication with the transcendental.
” We know that Socrates while he was in participation in the expedition of Potidea, remained for the whole night sunk deep in his reflections before prostrating to the sun and commencing service.
Jesus himself also does not appear in any of the Holy Scriptures to be praying with others.
At all times he preferred to isolate himself for this purpose.
Spirit and Order
However what is to become when a person clashes with the human laws?
The implementation of prayer in the school is outlined with clarity by a series of legal texts, presidential decree 210 -1998 and annual circulars from the Ministry of Education (and Religions of course).
In websites of national and religious content you often come across reports such as ” The teachers or the head teacher of X school are indifferent to prayer.”
“There is often an outcry, people become targets and this is a very serious matter” says Vasiliki Georgiadou locum teacher of Political Science in Panteios.
“The school does not exist in order to make the child of a faithful doctrine neither in order to stimulate religious belief.
It is not the obligatory prayer that will make me a Christian. This is compulsive belief. Are we in Iran?” wonders Mrs Georgiadou.
From God we Originate
“The rules and regulations that exist are not something that has been forcefully imposed upon the Greek Schools.
It is the tradition of the Greeks, The Christian Orthodox Faith which drives us to start our work by remembering God first” says Helias Frangopoulos Vice President of the Panthellenic Union of Theologians: There is no pressure put by the presence of the laws for those who do not wish to pray .
You have to wonder though what happens to those who refuse to participate while the others are actively involved in the prayer.
What about the thousands of immigrant children with different religious backgrounds and other Christian sects?
The Greek Orthodox never showed any particular animosity towards others”, stresses Mr Frangopoulos . ” I have to remind you what happened to the Greek Jews during the Blitz. I feel that I have completed my duty when the children are around me and they know that I love them.
The Back Row for the Muslim Children
“The morning assemblies are not just for prayer”, continues Mr Frangopulos, “it is an opportunity to make announcements, give instructions, hear words that shape the every day school life.
I think that Muslim children should stay at the back rows of the assembly……”
“But is this not a dangerous discrimination” we ask.
“It is but always within the spirit of cooperation and a non hostile reaction to the other (!!!).
The issues can be resolved in a climate of love, and partnership and it must be encouraged to grow in the children.
We must not renounce ourselves or our identity just to please others….” continues the Vice President of the Pan Hellenic Union of Theologians.
Violations of consciousness
“It is impossible for the issue of religious conscience to be subject to any coercion and collective response” stresses Professor Bey . ” The Constitution possibly refers that the Education System should also merit the Religious Education but Article 2 stresses that the respect and protection of the human rights is a primary obligation of the state.”
« The freedom of religious conscience is provided for by the European Convention of Human Rights and this freedom according to the Article belongs to all including small children” says Mr Bey.
« Question of the violation of the right of freedom of conscience is not just for the foreign or other faith children” says Evi Zambeta, Associate Professor of Education Policy, Athens University and Author of the Book ‘Schools and Religion’:
« Those who research know that the children are present in prayer, Christian or not as nobody wishes to be different.
An exemption is possible at the request of the parents but is lacks as it requires a state identity, leading to marginalisation and creates conditions of social exclusion.
If you do not attend each morning where the other children attend, you remain alone in a corner and you are being pointed out at.
It is as the school declares whom it belongs to”.
« The identity is not relinquished if it respects itself and others. Anyway , it is dominant” insists Mrs Zambeta.
A Job to Do
“We go to the Greek Orthodox Church because we want to and without any strict obligation as it happens with the Catholics and The Protestants” says A Kariotoglou:
« We are a Church of Freedom and from the Theological Freedom’s point of view I find inconsistent to consider forcing the children to such prayer.”
Why should they then in school pray all together in such a restrictive framework?
« I see no limits” maintains his position the Vice President of Theologians:
“What should it be? One praying, one carrying the flag and the other talking about football?
If we say we work together then we should work together.
One can gain self discipline by obedience and order.
« Is there any order in the evangelical orders? Their religious conscience is not disciplined is unregulated.
Some withdraw to pray, others play football, others have fun and why not?
The prayer should not be classed as work.
Who wants discipline should join the army” says Mr Bey angrily.
People of Prayer
“The group prayer borders religious fundamentalism and is outside our religious culture,” says Vasiliki Georgiadou.
“When you insist, especially when you deal with children of other faiths, you ignore the sensitivities which yourself promote via the act of Prayer.
You give them the possibility of self exclusion but in reality you exclude them yourself.
You ignore the multicultural features of society”.
Mrs Georgiadou under the European Social Survey 2007 dealt with the topic ” Mass, Religiousness and Prayer” and she still remembers the impressive result emerging, that the Greeks appear to be by massive difference , the most praying people as only a minority of 4% answered that they never pray when in catholic countries the average number of people not praying was 32%.
In that research, the Greeks excelled in the matter of “xenophobia” but fortunately another research in the schools of Greece showed that the overwhelming majority of Greek students accept and befriend immigrant children.
Who makes the Laws?
Mosque and cemetery: too much to ask?
February 13, 2009
This an article by our brother and head of the Muslim Association of Greece, Naim El-Ghandour, published with IslamOnline.net.
In an ancient region called Thrace, North East of Greece, a Muslim community of about 120, 000 Muslims is based. Historically, the population of this city was exempted from applying the provisions of the Treaty of Lausanne VI, 1923; a treaty which aimed at applying an obligatory exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey following World War I. This Muslim minority is composed of three ethnic groups, in which the element of homogeneity is absent. More specifically, 50 percent of Thrace’s Muslims are of Turkish origin, 35 percent are Pomaks [1], and 15 percent are Roma people [2]. Each of the aforementioned groups has its own language and traditions. They have their own muftis, imams, mosques, cemeteries, schools, etc. But they are all united, mainly, in their strong connections with Turkey, such as joining Turkish universities, migrating into Turkey for work, etc.
Besides the first Turkish Muslim group there is another group of Muslims in Greece which includes immigrants who had settled in Greece during the last 40 years coming mainly form Arab countries and partly from other Islamic ones. These Muslims are doing all kinds of jobs all over this European country, not only as low-profession workers who are estimated at 90 percent of the total immigrant percentage. Some of these immigrants have better opportunities and work in high-professions, so there are doctors, scientists, professors, entrepreneurs, businessmen, and importers.
The last smallest group of Muslims consists of the converted Greek Muslims who embraced Islam after studying it, or after getting married to Muslims whereby they had the chance to meet Muslims and interact with them. Those were the three Muslim groups living in Greece with different characteristics and cultures and are estimated at 830,000.
Muslim Associations in Greece
The Association of Muslims in Greece (AMG) was established in 2003. It is the organization that brings together all Muslims from all over Greece. It is located in Athens, where about 700.000 Muslims live. The Association of Muslims in Greece exerts efforts to defend the Muslims’ rights in several fields, like having an official mosque and a Muslim graveyard, etc. Many Muslim citizens contribute to the AMG’s efforts including permanent residents who pay taxes to the Hellenic State, the legal immigrants, the university students, and also the political refugees. Even Sunnis and Shiite are united under the umbrella of the AMG while having the same demands for an official Hellenic Mosque and a common Muslim cemetery.
The History of Greek Mosques
Surprisingly, there is no official mosque in Greece up to the moment. However, there are some unofficial mosques in Greece which totally depend on the private efforts of the Muslims there. The first mosque in Athens was built in 1985 by the Sudanese Dr. Munir Abdelrasul in Goudi, a neighborhood of Athens; the second in 1989 by myself, Naim El-Ghandour, at Piraeus district; the third in 1989 by the Egyptian Mohiy Eldin in the center of Athens; the fourth in 1993 by the Palestinian Mazen Rassas at Neos Kosmos in Athens. Many mosques were established then and Greece now has 67 Islamic places for worship in Athens only. These mosques attract all Muslims from both Arab and non-Arab backgrounds, like the Persians, Greeks, Albanians, Sub-Saharan Africans, and European Muslims. The Greek State did not raise any objection against the private efforts of Muslims in building mosques as there is no other place for them to practice their religion.
Financing Mosques in Greece
The fundraisers of the places for worship are the owners and Muslims who spend a lot of money to cover the rent and other expenses. At Friday prayers, Muslims usually give alms to the mosque. In fact, sometimes the charity money is enough to cover the mosques’ expenses and sometimes it is not. All mosques in Athens are self-funded except for only one mosque which is funded from abroad since it belongs to the Federation of Islamic Organization in Europe (FIOE).
Efforts With the Governments
Few years ago, the Association of Muslims in Greece had many attempts to approach the government for the official mosque and the cemetery. Muslims communicated with the Ministry of Education and Religions and conducted several meetings regarding the needs of Muslims in Athens. Greek Muslims were mainly concerned with the following issues: how would a mosque in Athens operate harmoniously with all different nationalities and languages, and the demands of a mosque. Finally, the state greatly appreciated our proposal and we had a very satisfactory law that describes the Athens Mosque as a mosque built by the Greek state in cooperation with Greeks and EU funds. The government also stated that the mosque’s imam should be certified by an authorized university, like Al Azhar, to be considered officially as a civil servant with a two-year contract.
A Far-Fetched Dream
Unfortunately, after all these efforts and achievements, the Minister of Education and Religions was deposed in a ministerial change. So the whole project was delayed due to lack of information, another ministerial change, and a national need for the money dedicated to the mosque. Muslims’ claims are well known to the public, since they are always hosted in many TV and radio programs and ncluded in the coverage of all online and printed newspapers.
Muslims’ Gathering Events
Feast Prayer at Olympic Stadium
Twice a year on both Islamic `Eids, members of the Arab Muslim community gather in the Olympic stadium of Athens (OAKA) where they perform the `Eid prayers together, often headed by a famous imam from abroad. Greek Muslims of Pakistani origin also go to the SEF Stadium, another big Greek Stadium, due to the different languages, but once the Hellenic mosque is ready, Muslims from different backgrounds agree to meet there no matter which language will the majority adopt.
A Cemetery as Well
Muslims have been trying to achieve this goal since 2005. At that time, the former Archbishop Christodoulou announced that the Church of Greece donated a piece of land for Muslims to build their own cemetery on. The Association of Muslims in Greece got in contact with the Church, which is connected to the government, to proceed with this project. Many months followed, but the archbishop passed away, a new one was elected, and Muslims had to send new letters. The matter was no longer in the hands of the church but in the state’s. Many meetings were held where Muslims reassured their desire to have the cemetery very soon. When they felt that there were no steps taken, they addressed the Minister of Internal Affairs Mr. Prokopis Pavlopoulos and asked to meet him as Muslims consider this a matter of human dignity.
And Muslims’ efforts still go on…
Are you a Greek Muslim or a Muslim living there? What do you think of the Muslim status in Greece? How do you think Muslims can integrate into the Greek society while maintaining their Islamic identity?
