From: michael.polymenakos@factory.com (Michael Polymenakos) 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.greek
Subject: Proselytism
Date: 28 Sep 92 20:22:00 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: Invention Factory's BBS - New York City, NY - 212-274-1243v.32bis
Reply-To: michael.polymenakos@factory.com (Michael Polymenakos) 


>There is a report this morning in the Independent newspaper of an
>individual (a Jehovah's Witness) being prosecuted in Greece under a law
>dating back to 1938 prohibiting proselytisation by any religious group
>in Greece except the Greek Orthodox Church.
>
>Is this true? Does the law exist? How is it applied?

 Unfortunately, it does exist. Every 2-3 years some overjealous,
overreligious, bored local policeman arrests someone for violating that
law. There is some publicity, some shouting, and the judge dismisses the
case, usually for lack of evidence of because there is no clear
definition of "Procelytising", or because there is evidence that J.W.
is a christian religion (see later). If a third-rate rural judge
convicts someone, the injustice is corrected by the higher courts.
Unfortunately, the Vouli does not seem willing to attack the church on
this matter. Similarly, there are many American states with absurd
prohibitions (like prohibition of homosexual sex) where similar things
happen. Some american states even ahve laws prohibiting Black-white
marriages to date, and though the law is unenforceable, politicians
don't go into the trouble of reversing it, for the same fear of the
church.

 Sometimes, one gets the feeling that certain groups invite these 'legal
conflicts' to attract the media. I am talking about cases where someone
visits some remote village in the middle of no-where, preferably one
that has 5 churches for 200 residents, finds some kid walking through
the village plateia, and starts 'teaching' the kid in broad daylight.
Considering that the outcome of the trial is 100% guaranteed, this is
the cheapest publicity possible.

>Jehovah's Witnesses are, of course, a special case becase of their
>opposition to military service, but the article claimed that this
>prohibtion extends to all religious groups, including Roman Catholics
>and Protestants.

 That is false. There are laws that prohibit all religions (including
C.O) from proselitizing persons under 18. This is not unreasonable,
children are a special case, although many reasonable people will
disagree with '18' as the correct age (as opposed to 16 which I find
more reasonable).

>There are, are there not, places in Greece where there are substantial
>numbers of Roman Catholics. How does this legislation affect them?

 Now at all. Established religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism) are
exempt (not from the under 18 rule, though). In the case of the
Jehovah's Witnesses, the arguement is always that J.W. are not
Christians, even though they claim they are. This is being argued every
two-three years, as I described.

>Does the ban affect non-Christian religions? No, this is not a hidden
>question on the treatment of Muslims in Greece! It has just occurred to
>me that I have never ever in a Greek city seen little lines of bald
>people wearing sheets and chanting 'Hare Krishna'. CoAuld they if they
>wanted to?

  They could in private. I've actually seen some in public. For
comparison, in New York, US, a law was recently imposed banning all
religious procelytising on "government property" (which is different
from "Public property"). This means that Hare Chrisnas cannot chant on
Airports anymore. Only some public parks, forests, beaches, the open
seas, and private places where they are welcome.

Michael.