In this AP Story in today’s New York Times (Muslim Prayer Site Is Opened in Athens) we learn that:
“International human rights reports had criticized Greece for failing to provide an official prayer site for Muslims in Athens.”
Oh, no! What an abuse!
Instead, here’s what happened:
“Plans by Greece to build a mosque for tens of thousands of Muslim immigrants living in Athens have stalled, so businesspeople in Arab countries paid for the downtown cultural center in a former factory.”
That’s how it’s ought to happen. People who are dedicated to their religion put up their own money, buy land, and build a temple, mosque, church, synagogue, or other place of worship. Those who are not dedicated to that religion don’t have to pay for it. And the state doesn’t have to designate an “official prayer site” for any religion at all, and therefore avoids designating any religion as “official,” thereby designating others as non-official. (Is it a human rights abuse if the Greek government fails to designate an “official prayer site” for Scientologists, Zoroastrians, or Mormons? I guess it is, according to some self-designated “international human rights groups” who wouldn’t know what a human right is if it were to come up and bite them.)
Your point would be valid *if* the Greek government were simply taking a laissez-faire attitude toward *all* religions (not just Islam). But this does not appear to be the case:
“The Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ is established by law as the ‘prevailing’ religion of Greece. The Orthodox Church is financially supported by the government and exercises significant political and economic influence. By virtue of its status as the prevailing religion, the canon law of the Church is recognized by the Greek government.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Greece
All the more reason to disestablish the church!
RE: “People who are dedicated to their religion put up their own money, buy land, and build a temple, mosque, church, synagogue, or other place of worship. Those who are not dedicated to that religion donâ??t have to pay for it. And the state doesnâ??t have to designate an â??official prayer siteâ? for any religion at all, and therefore avoids designating any religion as â??official,â? thereby designating others as non-official.”
Here here! Nicely stated, as usual.