The Multiple Uses of the Christian Orthodox Religion in the Greek Political System

Unlike other European countries, Greece is still a non-secular state, and the Church of Greece claims the right to express its opinion and intervene in state affairs that the Church regards as its own affairs as well. This paper will focus on the recent developments with regard to the state-church relationship and to the uses of religion on an institutional perspective. The paper will examine the discourse of all actors involved in these developments with a special attention to the political parties and the Church of Greece in order to investigate how they approach and use religion. The paper will first argue that in Greece the use of religion does not stress the secular-religious cleavage, but it rather stresses the progressive-conservative cleavage. It will also argue that it is actually used as a fundamental parameter of the national identity especially by the conservative New Democracy and the neonazi Golden Dawn parties, and notably after the current wave of refugees which consists mainly of Muslims; and it will finally argue that religion is used as a basic pillar of the state power and as a form of power itself, confirming that the road to secularisation is still long for Greece.