Religion in Public
Religion is a wonderful thing, but there are times and places for it. Here, I discuss how and when it should be desplayed in public.
As a note before beginning, I have chosen to save my thoughts on religion in Greece for last, as the situation is quite different, and will discuss this topic from a more general viewpoint in the rest of my essay, using America as a base, since I'm familiar with their way of life.
Many Americans have a habbit of discussing their constitution and whether or not there's an official separation of church and state, whether their founding fathers were religious or wanted the nation to be etc. I'll leave you to discuss that in comments if you'd like, as I don't know. But I do know that if a society claims that the freedom to express onesself is one of it's most important attributes, the act of promoting a specific religion over all others does not coincide with those views. I myself am religious and am a Hellenic Polytheist. I have no problems with those of other faiths, including Christians. I even enjoy discussing their religions with them. But I do have a serious problem with those who force their religious beliefs on others. Mostly, in america, this is done by Christians. So I must focus on them, but know that it holds for everyone.
Many Christians have a desire to bring prayer into public schools. In a fairly homogenius society, like Japan, for example, this might work. But in one with such diverse religions, it's simply not practical, unless, perhaps, it could be done as a moment of silent prayer and/or contemplation. The problem is that most people don't mean this, particularly those who believe that prayer from their religion is necessary to bring morality back to the nation. Since not everyone is Christian, this causes a conflict of interest, as those who don't believe in Jesus, the monotheistic god or even any deities at all, would then be left out and/or made to feel uncomfortable. Faith is something that must be felt with the heart and mind. It cannot be forced out of someone. I could learn and recite a prayer just as well as anyone else. But that doesn't mean I'll believe in it, and isn't it far better to let children learn and explore on their own, or at least to teach them at home, where they won't be persecuted etc? This is not to say that I think the teaching of religion should be banned. In fact, I highly recommend it! But it should be done in a scholarly manner and not taught as a class of facts like science or history, and various religions should be discussed. This helps students develop a sense of understanding about their peers and also promotes curiosity about the world around them and their own faith. If, in contrast, a parent feels that it's essential for his/her child to learn about the family's faith in school, then he/she should send the child to a parochial school. In those cases, I have no issue with religion being taught or even made mandatory. So if, for example, an atheist or pagan goes to a Christian or Jewish school, he/she should not complain when told to read The Bible or the Jewish texts.
Another form of religious expression, often seen in America, is prayers given by organisations during meetings or other gatherings. Unless the organisation clearly belongs to a religious group, I strongly feel that this should not be allowed. An example of this is the National Federation of the Blind. This organisation does not state explicitly that they're Christian, and yet, they pray to The Lord before meetings. At least they did the three or so times I went to a meeting from them. The same holds true for public schools saying prayers before a sports match, and especially for professional teams! If you're not a parochial school or a local religious team, you have no business doing it. If the players wish to pray, that's their choice. But don't make it a public spectical. I extend this to public expressions of religion made by politicians as well. There's nothing wrong with one going to a place of worship or even being shown celebrating a sacred holiday with his/her family. But religion has no place in politics itself. There should be no nativity scene at the capitol, no saying of prayers by The President, or indeed, of any politician, except in the cases of funerals for veterans and/or important leaders etc. While such things may be public, they're really about the person who died, so it's only natural for his/her faith to be honoured. But that includes all faiths, not just Christianity. Other than that, when you serve the state, your rules of conduct are different from many others. If I was a celebrity and was receiving an award and said "I thank The Gods for assisting me in this." That's fine. Perhaps, that may even be fine for a politician, if he/she limits him/herself to that comment. But where I, as the celebrity, could make a website and proclaim my views, wear religious clothing and even sing/write about The Gods, this is not appropriate for someone who is supposed to be representing the people. If such a person wishes to do this either before or after his/her political career, that's fine. But once he/she takes office, the people and the area served, be it town, city, state or nation, must come first in public matters.
In general, I see myself as being fairly open-minded and pretty much an open book as far as what I'll discuss. So I have no problem, for example, talking about religion or politics at the dinner table. But at work is a different matter. Just as there are certain behaviours expected of students, be they children in Kindergarden or adults in graduate school, there are also certain expectations of those in the workplace. Of course, they vary depending on the job in question, but most jobs have a dress code. If you're a construction worker, the odds are that you won't arrive at work wearing a suit and tie. If you're an executive, you usually wouldn't be seen wearing work boots and a hard hat. Likewise, if you're a minister or religious person of some kind, discussing religion would naturally be part of your job. But most secular workplaces frown on discussing religion while on the job. At first, this seems to make no sense. Certainly, when I talk of my faith, I only wish to share experiences, to answer questions and to tell my story in a tolerant and conversational manner. Unfortunately, there are also those who, upon hearing that I believe in The Gods of what they consider to be pure fantasy, feel it necessary to mock both Them and me. Some not only ask questions like "how could you believe in such things" but get agressive, saying that I'll go to Hell, that I'm the spawn of Satan, that God hates me or that I can be saved if I turn to Christ. Personally, I've only met maybe two of these types, as my friends are all at least tolerant and I don't live in an area where religion is pushed. But I know this happens to many others, and I could only imagine that it would cause heartache at work. You can't simply walk away from your coworkers if you're expected to work with them. Then, there are those who are not cruel, exactly, but who believe that it's necessary to spread their faith. These aren't content with merely discussing it or sharing their stories, but believe that God put them in your life to convert you and make you "see the light". While some may not be confrontational, their constant proselytising could be annoying at best and downright destracting at worst. To be fair, I've also met some atheists who are just as strong in their hatred of religion and of trying to force everyone to follow science or renounce their faith as some evangelicals! But these problems don't stop with employees. If a customer overhears such a heated discussion going on, he/she may not wish to buy the products from or take the services of the company or may engage in the debate and hold up the line, for instance, at a cash register. My advice to coworkers who truly want to discuss religion is to go out for lunch or coffee, and if they're still not satisfied after that, they could exchange phone numbers, e-mails and/or Facebook account information.
Most religions have their own holidays, traditions and celebrations. Some, like Hellenic Polytheism, have many of them throughout the year. Others have only a few. But when most people think of "the holidays", particularly in winter, they think of Christmas, Newyear's and Easter. To many, it's natural to greet someone during this time with "merry/happy Christmas. But many who are not Christian get offended at this. In contrast, many Christians feel that their day has been commercialised and that people no longer appreciate it's meaning, to celebrate the birth of Christ. I can understand both sides of the issue and believe that each makes valid points. Certainly, there's something to be said for too much commercialism. In fact, this is why the founder of Mother's Day wanted to have the day abolished after awhile. The true message of love and family simply wasn't reaching the people, as they battled one another over gifts for Mom. The same holds true for Christmas. All one need do to see it is go to a store on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) or shortly before Christmas to see the insanity of modernday shoppers. So I can definitely understand how followers of Christ feel that their day has been stolen from them for companies to make money. But on the other hand, Christmas itself is a stolen day! While it's true that most modern Christians don't know this and none participated in it, the day was chosen not because Christ was born then. In fact, if you go by the biblical account, he was born in the spring. The Church chose the 25th of December to win over the pagans and to get them to stop celebrating their holiday. So if anything, the pagans are the ones who have a historical case. That said, it is just that, historical. Most people who say "merry Christmas" don't have any ill will in their hearts, nor are they trying to convert people. They merely mean to give well wishes. Personally, I always say "happy holidays", unless I know what the person celebrates. This, I believe, is the best way to do it, since it's generic and no one is excluded, except, perhaps, those who don't celebrate anything. But I'm sure they can grin and bare it and be happy about something. The best thing to do is to say "thank you" and move on, unless the person is deliberately trying to proselytise.
Now we turn to Greece. As I stated at the beginning of the essay, things are a bit different from America. Religion is not only a part of daily life, but it's even in The Constitution, beginning with the first sentence.
Taken from the English translation here.
http://www.hri.org/docs/syntagma/
"In the name of the Holy and Consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity
THE FIFTH REVISIONARY PARLIAMENT OF THE HELLENES RESOLVES" Further along, in Part I, it says:
"SECTION II RELATIONS OF CHURCH AND STATE
Article 3
1. The prevailing religion in Greece is that of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ. The Orthodox Church of Greece, acknowledging our Lord Jesus Christ as its head, is inseparably united in doctrine with the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople and with every other Church of Christ of the same doctrine, observing unwaveringly, as they do, the holy apostolic and syn- odal canons and sacred traditions. It is autocephalous and is administered by the Holy Synod of serving Bishops and the Permanent Holy Synod originating thereof and assembled as specified by the Statutory Charter of the Church in compliance with the provisions of the Patriarchal Tome of June 29, 1850 and the Synodal Act of September 4, 1928.
2. The ecclesiastical regime existing in certain districts of the State shall not be deemed contrary to the provisions of the preceding paragraph.
3. The text of the Holy Scripture shall be maintained unaltered. Official translation of the text into any other form of language, without prior sanction by the Autocephalous Church of Greece and the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople, is prohibited."
Given my views in previous paragraphs, one might expect me to rant about there being an official religion of any kind and to proclaim that separation of church and state should be mandatory. Yet it's important to take the history of the modern state of Greece into account. Christians have played a very important role in modern Greek society. In fact, if it wasn't for the help of the priests, we might not have achieved independence from the Ottomans. And let's remember that all four of our national saviours (General Metaxas, colonels Papadopoulos and Makarezos and Brigadier general Pattakos) were all Christians. Even though there are other religions in the country, including Hellenic Polytheism, which is the native religion and which is not even recognised, it can't be denied that most people in the country are Greek Orthodox. Due to this, those who are not often feel that they can't discuss their religion for various reasons. While appealing to authority is a logical fallacy, I'll still say that I've met enough people with this view that I consider it to be true. Even if you were to go by facts alone, it's easy to see the prevalence of the faith in everything, from general culture to laws. Until fairly recently, it was common for those processing passports and other forms of identification to ask your religion along with the usual information and to then write it on the document. Children were required, by law, to attend religious classes in schools until about three years ago. While I'm not ordinarily a fan of the EU, they did help to promote certain good changes with regards to religion. But changing attitudes and laws takes time, even under the best of circumstances. So to expect a culture in which religion is such an important part of life to suddenly adopt a more open and secular approach is laughable. But I do believe that it's still possible. If, however, there should be another revolution, then I have no doubt that the gains made will be lost. But that's a risk that we'll need to take and live with in order to deal with the much more serious and pressing issues which are currently plaguing the nation.
To conclude, while religion is a wonderful thing in general, I believe that, in a country, such as America, which claims to have such freedom and diversity there really should be a separation of church and state. Even if documents say otherwise, the people are now so diversified that doing otherwise would only be an injustice to them.
As a note before beginning, I have chosen to save my thoughts on religion in Greece for last, as the situation is quite different, and will discuss this topic from a more general viewpoint in the rest of my essay, using America as a base, since I'm familiar with their way of life.
Many Americans have a habbit of discussing their constitution and whether or not there's an official separation of church and state, whether their founding fathers were religious or wanted the nation to be etc. I'll leave you to discuss that in comments if you'd like, as I don't know. But I do know that if a society claims that the freedom to express onesself is one of it's most important attributes, the act of promoting a specific religion over all others does not coincide with those views. I myself am religious and am a Hellenic Polytheist. I have no problems with those of other faiths, including Christians. I even enjoy discussing their religions with them. But I do have a serious problem with those who force their religious beliefs on others. Mostly, in america, this is done by Christians. So I must focus on them, but know that it holds for everyone.
Many Christians have a desire to bring prayer into public schools. In a fairly homogenius society, like Japan, for example, this might work. But in one with such diverse religions, it's simply not practical, unless, perhaps, it could be done as a moment of silent prayer and/or contemplation. The problem is that most people don't mean this, particularly those who believe that prayer from their religion is necessary to bring morality back to the nation. Since not everyone is Christian, this causes a conflict of interest, as those who don't believe in Jesus, the monotheistic god or even any deities at all, would then be left out and/or made to feel uncomfortable. Faith is something that must be felt with the heart and mind. It cannot be forced out of someone. I could learn and recite a prayer just as well as anyone else. But that doesn't mean I'll believe in it, and isn't it far better to let children learn and explore on their own, or at least to teach them at home, where they won't be persecuted etc? This is not to say that I think the teaching of religion should be banned. In fact, I highly recommend it! But it should be done in a scholarly manner and not taught as a class of facts like science or history, and various religions should be discussed. This helps students develop a sense of understanding about their peers and also promotes curiosity about the world around them and their own faith. If, in contrast, a parent feels that it's essential for his/her child to learn about the family's faith in school, then he/she should send the child to a parochial school. In those cases, I have no issue with religion being taught or even made mandatory. So if, for example, an atheist or pagan goes to a Christian or Jewish school, he/she should not complain when told to read The Bible or the Jewish texts.
Another form of religious expression, often seen in America, is prayers given by organisations during meetings or other gatherings. Unless the organisation clearly belongs to a religious group, I strongly feel that this should not be allowed. An example of this is the National Federation of the Blind. This organisation does not state explicitly that they're Christian, and yet, they pray to The Lord before meetings. At least they did the three or so times I went to a meeting from them. The same holds true for public schools saying prayers before a sports match, and especially for professional teams! If you're not a parochial school or a local religious team, you have no business doing it. If the players wish to pray, that's their choice. But don't make it a public spectical. I extend this to public expressions of religion made by politicians as well. There's nothing wrong with one going to a place of worship or even being shown celebrating a sacred holiday with his/her family. But religion has no place in politics itself. There should be no nativity scene at the capitol, no saying of prayers by The President, or indeed, of any politician, except in the cases of funerals for veterans and/or important leaders etc. While such things may be public, they're really about the person who died, so it's only natural for his/her faith to be honoured. But that includes all faiths, not just Christianity. Other than that, when you serve the state, your rules of conduct are different from many others. If I was a celebrity and was receiving an award and said "I thank The Gods for assisting me in this." That's fine. Perhaps, that may even be fine for a politician, if he/she limits him/herself to that comment. But where I, as the celebrity, could make a website and proclaim my views, wear religious clothing and even sing/write about The Gods, this is not appropriate for someone who is supposed to be representing the people. If such a person wishes to do this either before or after his/her political career, that's fine. But once he/she takes office, the people and the area served, be it town, city, state or nation, must come first in public matters.
In general, I see myself as being fairly open-minded and pretty much an open book as far as what I'll discuss. So I have no problem, for example, talking about religion or politics at the dinner table. But at work is a different matter. Just as there are certain behaviours expected of students, be they children in Kindergarden or adults in graduate school, there are also certain expectations of those in the workplace. Of course, they vary depending on the job in question, but most jobs have a dress code. If you're a construction worker, the odds are that you won't arrive at work wearing a suit and tie. If you're an executive, you usually wouldn't be seen wearing work boots and a hard hat. Likewise, if you're a minister or religious person of some kind, discussing religion would naturally be part of your job. But most secular workplaces frown on discussing religion while on the job. At first, this seems to make no sense. Certainly, when I talk of my faith, I only wish to share experiences, to answer questions and to tell my story in a tolerant and conversational manner. Unfortunately, there are also those who, upon hearing that I believe in The Gods of what they consider to be pure fantasy, feel it necessary to mock both Them and me. Some not only ask questions like "how could you believe in such things" but get agressive, saying that I'll go to Hell, that I'm the spawn of Satan, that God hates me or that I can be saved if I turn to Christ. Personally, I've only met maybe two of these types, as my friends are all at least tolerant and I don't live in an area where religion is pushed. But I know this happens to many others, and I could only imagine that it would cause heartache at work. You can't simply walk away from your coworkers if you're expected to work with them. Then, there are those who are not cruel, exactly, but who believe that it's necessary to spread their faith. These aren't content with merely discussing it or sharing their stories, but believe that God put them in your life to convert you and make you "see the light". While some may not be confrontational, their constant proselytising could be annoying at best and downright destracting at worst. To be fair, I've also met some atheists who are just as strong in their hatred of religion and of trying to force everyone to follow science or renounce their faith as some evangelicals! But these problems don't stop with employees. If a customer overhears such a heated discussion going on, he/she may not wish to buy the products from or take the services of the company or may engage in the debate and hold up the line, for instance, at a cash register. My advice to coworkers who truly want to discuss religion is to go out for lunch or coffee, and if they're still not satisfied after that, they could exchange phone numbers, e-mails and/or Facebook account information.
Most religions have their own holidays, traditions and celebrations. Some, like Hellenic Polytheism, have many of them throughout the year. Others have only a few. But when most people think of "the holidays", particularly in winter, they think of Christmas, Newyear's and Easter. To many, it's natural to greet someone during this time with "merry/happy Christmas. But many who are not Christian get offended at this. In contrast, many Christians feel that their day has been commercialised and that people no longer appreciate it's meaning, to celebrate the birth of Christ. I can understand both sides of the issue and believe that each makes valid points. Certainly, there's something to be said for too much commercialism. In fact, this is why the founder of Mother's Day wanted to have the day abolished after awhile. The true message of love and family simply wasn't reaching the people, as they battled one another over gifts for Mom. The same holds true for Christmas. All one need do to see it is go to a store on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) or shortly before Christmas to see the insanity of modernday shoppers. So I can definitely understand how followers of Christ feel that their day has been stolen from them for companies to make money. But on the other hand, Christmas itself is a stolen day! While it's true that most modern Christians don't know this and none participated in it, the day was chosen not because Christ was born then. In fact, if you go by the biblical account, he was born in the spring. The Church chose the 25th of December to win over the pagans and to get them to stop celebrating their holiday. So if anything, the pagans are the ones who have a historical case. That said, it is just that, historical. Most people who say "merry Christmas" don't have any ill will in their hearts, nor are they trying to convert people. They merely mean to give well wishes. Personally, I always say "happy holidays", unless I know what the person celebrates. This, I believe, is the best way to do it, since it's generic and no one is excluded, except, perhaps, those who don't celebrate anything. But I'm sure they can grin and bare it and be happy about something. The best thing to do is to say "thank you" and move on, unless the person is deliberately trying to proselytise.
Now we turn to Greece. As I stated at the beginning of the essay, things are a bit different from America. Religion is not only a part of daily life, but it's even in The Constitution, beginning with the first sentence.
Taken from the English translation here.
http://www.hri.org/docs/syntagma/
"In the name of the Holy and Consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity
THE FIFTH REVISIONARY PARLIAMENT OF THE HELLENES RESOLVES" Further along, in Part I, it says:
"SECTION II RELATIONS OF CHURCH AND STATE
Article 3
1. The prevailing religion in Greece is that of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ. The Orthodox Church of Greece, acknowledging our Lord Jesus Christ as its head, is inseparably united in doctrine with the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople and with every other Church of Christ of the same doctrine, observing unwaveringly, as they do, the holy apostolic and syn- odal canons and sacred traditions. It is autocephalous and is administered by the Holy Synod of serving Bishops and the Permanent Holy Synod originating thereof and assembled as specified by the Statutory Charter of the Church in compliance with the provisions of the Patriarchal Tome of June 29, 1850 and the Synodal Act of September 4, 1928.
2. The ecclesiastical regime existing in certain districts of the State shall not be deemed contrary to the provisions of the preceding paragraph.
3. The text of the Holy Scripture shall be maintained unaltered. Official translation of the text into any other form of language, without prior sanction by the Autocephalous Church of Greece and the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople, is prohibited."
Given my views in previous paragraphs, one might expect me to rant about there being an official religion of any kind and to proclaim that separation of church and state should be mandatory. Yet it's important to take the history of the modern state of Greece into account. Christians have played a very important role in modern Greek society. In fact, if it wasn't for the help of the priests, we might not have achieved independence from the Ottomans. And let's remember that all four of our national saviours (General Metaxas, colonels Papadopoulos and Makarezos and Brigadier general Pattakos) were all Christians. Even though there are other religions in the country, including Hellenic Polytheism, which is the native religion and which is not even recognised, it can't be denied that most people in the country are Greek Orthodox. Due to this, those who are not often feel that they can't discuss their religion for various reasons. While appealing to authority is a logical fallacy, I'll still say that I've met enough people with this view that I consider it to be true. Even if you were to go by facts alone, it's easy to see the prevalence of the faith in everything, from general culture to laws. Until fairly recently, it was common for those processing passports and other forms of identification to ask your religion along with the usual information and to then write it on the document. Children were required, by law, to attend religious classes in schools until about three years ago. While I'm not ordinarily a fan of the EU, they did help to promote certain good changes with regards to religion. But changing attitudes and laws takes time, even under the best of circumstances. So to expect a culture in which religion is such an important part of life to suddenly adopt a more open and secular approach is laughable. But I do believe that it's still possible. If, however, there should be another revolution, then I have no doubt that the gains made will be lost. But that's a risk that we'll need to take and live with in order to deal with the much more serious and pressing issues which are currently plaguing the nation.
To conclude, while religion is a wonderful thing in general, I believe that, in a country, such as America, which claims to have such freedom and diversity there really should be a separation of church and state. Even if documents say otherwise, the people are now so diversified that doing otherwise would only be an injustice to them.