A Great Victory for Our Greek Affiliate

On 31st October, the European Court of Human Rights upheld a complaint from the Atheist Union of Greece (AUG), in conjunction with two families, that the Greek State violates two fundamental human rights in its process for exempting children from religious education classes: the rights to education and to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

The current process of exempting children from religious classes in Greece requires parents to submit a statement saying that their children are not Christian Orthodox. The Court held that the authorities have no right to force students to disclose their beliefs.

That requirement imposes an unacceptable burden on parents to disclose that they and their children have, or do not have, a specific religious belief. In addition, this process could deter parents from applying for exemption, especially for people who live on small islands where the vast majority of the population belongs to a particular religion, making the risk of stigmatization high.

Following the ECHR ruling, the Minister of Education stated that the ministry will address, in a coherent manner, all the issues raised by the recent decisions of the Court. The Greek State will now have to pay €8.000 in damages to each of the two families that complained and €6,566 for costs.

Fotis Frangopoulos campaigns.director@atheistalliance.org