Red Greece

Freedom of Religion : Iran vs Greece. What do you think about this situation ?

Today I read in the newspaper that the thought of a Mosque opening in Athens caused a huge discussion in Greece recently. The mentioned building was originally built as a Mosque in 18th century and it is used as ceramic workshop today. More than 300.000 Muslim is living in Athens, the capital of Greece. There ISN’T even ONE Mosque in Athens and Is Greece a democratic European country ???? Less than 300.000 Christian is living in Tehran, the capital of Iran. I don’t know exactly how many but I personally saw 2 churches in Tehran during my visit few years ago. (There was a beautiful wedding in one of them : ) Shariah is the basis of legal code in Iran which sounds tooo scary to most of us and most of the Europeans criticize Iran as being anti-democratic, lack of freedom of religion There is a certain sympathy to Greece and antipathy to Iran in general. May be Greece is not as good as we think and/or Iran is not as bad as we think ?? What do you think about this situation ? P.S. to Iranians, please tell how many churches there are in Tehran and/or Iran if you know.

Public Comments

1. I think that prejudice is prevalent throughout the world. Face it. Colonization worked. Much of the world is bent to the Western/European perspective by design.
2. I believe every country should allow for followers of all faiths to be represented equally and we should try to move forward, it should be illegal for a country to fail to provide places of worship for reasons which basically promote ignorance and bias towards others. I am not fully versed with the practices of the Greeks and now little of any viable reasons they may have for failing to provide any mosques for its Muslem patrons.
3. Good point.
4. thank you for that I agree with you. now, why don't they blame Christians and say they are against freedom. they are only good at criticizing Muslims. They look for any mistake that a Muslim person or country does and they anchor it to Islam.
5. Really difficult question here. I lived in Greece for a bit and had a lot of sympathy for their point of view. As far as i gaged the situation, many Greeks feel their way of life (which is truly great in general) is under threat, as it is being eroded by American cultural imperialism, they have been marginalized by the EU, and are surrounded by politically unstable countries. They feel threatened by the Turks and are certainly outnumbered by them. There is only one Greek Orthodox Church in the world. It's integral to their culture so it's not surprising they don't want to build a mosque in Athens. They feel a need to protect their culture. On the other hand Iran, where i have also lived has always had a mix of religions. It's a vast land and for hundreds of years there has been established communities of Christians, Zoroastrians and even, i believe, a small Jewish community. So ...that's what i think. I'm sure others will set me right if i have it wrong
6. I just checked a database and it seems there are at least 20 churches in Tehran.
7. Here's the thing, as someone else has said, there is a large, vioelent history between Greeks and Turks (who are Muslim), which might explain the lack of mosques. As unfortunate as it is that there are a lack of mosques in Athens, i dont think it will take much time for things to change there. I think that Greeks are more tolerant, overall, even with this restriction on muslims. I know for a fact that the Iranian Government may not persecute or harass Christians or Jews in Iran, but they have been persecuting, killing, spying on and denying education to members of other religions such as the Baha'i Faith for over 150 years and more recently, Zoroastrians, though not at nearly the same intensity that is shown against Baha'is. As far as i know, the Greek government wont deny one's education or employment because of their religion.
8. It is really nice to see a question from someone who is open minded and tolerant to others. If we had more people who cared like you and see how things are so unjust in this world we would not have half the problems we have now. And that goes for all faiths. If a place claims to be just to all religions then they need to allow all religions the freedom to have places of worship. And from what you said it was once a mosque and now is not, that just does not seem very fair. God willing they will get one soon.
9. This is worth talking about. Good point!
10. The Muslims rejoice when they can convert a school or church to a mosque, so why should we not convert a mosque into something else. What makes them so special. with their Draconian ways and thinking
11. SOON THE ALMIGHTY GOD, JEHOVAH, WILL DESTROY ALL THESE RELIGIONS, ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE, IT DESCRIBES IT AS A PROSTITUTE, THAT IS ON TOP OF A BEAST, AND THE BEAST KILLS IT, BY MEANS OF GOD'S ORDERS....SO DON'T WORRY ABOUT ALL THESE RELIGIONS, SINCE NONE OF THESE WORSHIP THE TRUE GOD, THEY ARE GOING TO BE DESTROYED FOREVER AND ONLY THE ONES WORSHIPING THE TRUE GOD, JEHOVAH, WILL SURVIVE...AND ALL THE GOVERNMENTS WILL BE ALSO DESTROYED BY JEHOVAH GOD, IN HARMAGEDON..
12. lol lol lol lol
13. I think the Greeks can take 'em. They seem to have that whole throwing a javelan thing down. My money's on the Greeks! OPA!!!!
14. Regardless of which religion you might wish to focus on,the greatest threat to religious freedom is from within the religions themselves. They all impose strict rules for their followers relative to how people should live their lives, on methods and forms of worship and how they relate to followers of other religions. Faith in a greater power is no bad thing, but the hijacking of peoples faith for the purpose of gaining and exercising power has caused the greatest amount of suffering in all of history.