Religious freedom under Greek law

Abstract

The right to freedom of religion or belief is a fundamental human right as well as an essential element of a democratic society. The present paper attempts to examine the issue of religious freedom in Greece. The first chapter provides a conceptual clarification of the terms of religion and religious freedom in general. It describes the importance of the human need to believe and exercise faith as well as the right to be non-religious or atheist. The second chapter includes in a descending scale the International, European and Greek, respectively, legal texts that guarantee the right to religious freedom or belief until nowadays. The third chapter attempts to address a number of special issues that concern Greek society and relate to religious freedom such as cremation, civil marriage, naming and baptism as well as oath. These are issues of the Greek citizens’ daily life which due to traditional values, in the vast majority are carried out in a religious way, while there are civil acts that enjoy equal validity regardless of the religious ritual. The fourth chapter summarizes the most important citizens’ appeals against the Greek state before the European Court of Human Rights, on the grounds of violating the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.