Non Fluffy Wicca

Established church terrified of miniscule competition:

Greece: Approximately 2000 Hellenic Pagans are now legally allowed to exist in Greece, but all is still not hunky dory, and followers of the old gods are now seeking the right to worship at their sacred sites:

The followers, who say they defend the genuine traditions, religion and ethos of the ancients by adhering to a pre-Christian polytheistic culture, are poised to take their battle to the temples of Greece.




What we want, now, is for the government to fully recognise our religion, Vasillis Tsantilas told the Guardian. We will petition the Greek parliament, and the EU if that fails, for access to worship in places like the Acropolis, for permission to have our own cemeteries and, where necessary, to re-bury the [ancient] bones of the dead.

Greece only allows Orthodox Christianity, Judaism and Islam, having apparently not read the European Convention on Human Rights when it became a signatory to it, and especially not Article 9:

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.

Needless to say, the established church is unhappy at the idea that a tiny number of Greeks might have a different set of imaginary friends:

Father Eustathios Kollas, who presides over the community of Greek priests, said: They are a handful of miserable resuscitators of a degenerate dead religion who wish to return to the monstrous dark delusions of the past.

Greek gods prepare for comeback—The Guardian, 5th May 2006.