Recently strained Church-state relations in Greece appear to have turned a page, for the better, as the friction generated from the previous Greek government’s decisions and stated intent has given way to a gradual resolution of whatever differences.
A week after a majority of Council of State (CoS) justices ruled that the previous government’s decisions, regarding to the teaching and curriculum of religion classes in public schools, are unconstitutional, Parliament President Costas Tasoulas on Tuesday underlined that Article 3 of Greece’s constitution will not be included for revision by the current Parliament plenum.
Article 3 delineates the framework of Church-state relations in the country.
The Church of Greece had also sternly opposed penal code revisions undertaken by the previous Tsipras government, which eliminated offenses dealing with insult of the deceased and religion. The revisions were approved by a Parliament majority after general elections were announced for July 7, which the government initiating the revisions subsequently lost.