Hellenism Officially Recognized as a Religion in Greece

Sky is more green, than blue.


Just because I can.
We do posess likely a biggest amount of orthodox christians on globe, but that does not makes country orthodox. If you are hinting at blasphemy law - many countries posess such, among them Poland, Germany, UK, Canada and Italy. Even Denmark. So I'd rather say we are not more religious state than any of countries I named.

 

Oi there, you two! How about you, foreigners, will be discussing my president in a specific topic, in proper section of forum? Instead of flooding thread with off-top, that already made everybody's eyes sore from HOW MUCH it is discussed there?

And you go follow them, unless you have something to say about the topic of thread.

 

Actually, it may be some sort of a... Tourist attraction, in the way. Which, I suppose, Greece could use to get some more income in country.

Plus, I wonder if the practices of this... ..renewed paganism.. Are somehow changed? I doubt in modern day somebody would allow, for example, animal sacrifices.

 

Apologies. Hellenism is a valid religion and should be respected as such.

 

Some countries do not have full religious freedom which allows any troll to create a new religion which is often more as questionable to be some sort of religion.

Anyway ... Hellenism is at least older as Christians and so are other religions in other countries too.... think about Odin, Thor of Vikings for example. But will be interesting how Orthodox church will react on this...

 

Do people go to mass, are the town churches full on an average Sunday? This is how I'd measure a nation's religiosity. In Spain the churches fill on important holidays and for special ceremonies; Easter, Christmas, a town's patron saint, weddings, first communion, baptisms and such. On average Sundays most churches are half empty, larger congregations in the morning. Most Spaniards are raised Catholic, but by the time they're teenagers they've nothing to do with it. This has been the situation long enough we now have a society that only goes to church on special occasions, Catholic teachings are no longer social guidelines and it shows.

I expect in Russia the situation is similar, maybe there are a few more regular church goers, religiosity is on the wane. Franco's demise ended the Catholic Church's influence, their institutional importance was significantly reduced, the government strove to substitute Catholic universities, schools and hospitals and to diminish the recognition and importance given to these.

In Russia it seems like the opposite effect; the collapse of the Soviet Union and particularly Putín's rise, has brought about a renewed nationalism promoting all things Russian and the Orthodox Church has risen again, many of their properties have been returned, they've recovered traditional public roles and increasingly influence public policy.

Whether the Russian Orthodox Church can leverage their increasing official influence into greater national religiosity and get people back into those pews is another matter, these things take time.

 

specially Mongolian RPC ...

 

Well, it's a fine way to measure these things, but - problem is, I don't go to churches. I am baptised, kinda Orthodox, visit cemetery every Easter - but not very religious otherwise. And don't know many people who visit churches regularily. I guess it may worth to delay my answer on that question, I could try visiting local church next sunday.

But problem is, population is dispersed differently, plus we have SEVERAL religions there - aside from Orthodox Christianity we also have Muslims, Catholics, Protestants, and rest. And they are dispersed differently too. Surprisingly enough, in city I live in there is a baptist temple. Not mosque, not synagogue, not catholic or protestant temple - but a baptist one. Along with three orthodox churches. So you can guess, measuring anything like that is.. Really not simple. Especially considering majority of churches are old, but some been repurposed in soviet time, some new built, some old restored, some still in non-clergical use, and it's all a total mess.

On top of it, I remind you - all people above 40 grew up in state where religion was not - well, not prosecuted at the time already, but still was not very popular. Plus, when His Holyness patriarch turns out to posess a several golden Rolixes and a personal yacht it kinda shakes the faith in his faithfulness. Bearable, but still - ew.

 

Yes it is!

 

How can he have a yacht, do you have any idea what his schedule is, and what the maintenance is? I don't doubt though that he's been invited on one, it happens when you know people. As for the watch, it was no doubt a personal gift and a very useful and necessary one. Billionaires can be very generous.

Now a word of advice to you, when you hear criticism, take a good look at the person saying it, because it usually reflects their own character.