In what will likely not be a popular decision, Greece’s extreme-left PM Alexis Tsipras, has announced that the 10,000 Orthodox Church employees will be taken off the public payroll as he attempts to remove Christianity as the state religion.
The atheist Prime Minister appeared in a joint televised address in Athens with the leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Ieronymos, stated that priests and bishops will remain on the state payroll but no longer will they be civil servants.
His end goal is to disestablish the Church and last week the extreme-left ruling Syriza party finalised its plans for constitutional reform which will strike all references to Jesus and the Church and define Greece as “religiously neutral”.
The deal between the church and state on Tuesday was described by Tsipras as an “historic agreement”.
“After a long-term, comprehensive and frank dialogue between the state and the Church, a dialogue that took place in an atmosphere of respect and understanding, we now have the opportunity to move to concerted and mutually acceptable and mutually beneficial initiatives related to streamlining our relations,” the joint statement says.
While freedom of worship is still guaranteed in the current constitution, the declaration of Orthodoxy as the presiding religion is contested by globalist NGOs claiming it to be an affront to “human rights” in Greece.
How will these steps toward disestablishing Christianity in Greece go over with citizens/voters in a country found to be the most religious nation in Europe in a massive Pew study conducted over two years?
The study found that of the 96 per cent of Greeks who were raised Orthodox Christian, 93 per cent have said they remain practicing Christians.
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