The State Council of Greece ruled out the removal of “the development of religious conscience” from the responsibilities of the Ministry of Education as “constitutional,” sparking strong protests.
However, the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece issued a clarifying statement today, citing “press releases and frivolous announcements saying that the Council of State allegedly ruled out the removal of religious education from the purposes of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs as constitutional.”
It noted that “the CoS held that the failure to mention this purpose in the decree was not a violation of the Constitution, not because it allowed religious education to be removed from education, but because it was sufficient that religious education was already provided for in the Constitution and did not require to be reiterated in the decree of the organization of the Ministry of Education.
None of the judges of the CoS plenary considered that the omission of any reference in the decree was an indirect abolition.
Consequently, contrary to what was disseminated without understanding its reasoning, the CoS’s ruling did not consider that the development of religious awareness was excluded from the purposes of the education under the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, the specific content of which the CoS plenary has already decide in recent year regarding the children of orthodox Christian families.