Government backs reform of religion classes

The setback of the Government regarding the row that broke out after Ieronymos publicly objected to the changes in the religion curriculum introduced by Filis, as well as the questioning of Education Minister of the role of the Church during the 1967-74 military dictatorship decided on Monday Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. The Maximos Mansion decided on Monday that the burden of such a conflict would be very heavy and that the Government could not handle it. Nikos Filis has received instructions from Tsipras to end the tension with the Church and resolve the matter that has occurred, after his recent comments. The Prime Minster nevertheless said that he backs his minister’s plan to reform religious education but didn’t afford to bear any influence in the proceedings of the upcoming Holy Synod, which is expected to take a stand on the ministry’s decision to tweak religion classes at schools. The idea is that these will no longer be taught on the basis of catechism, but on purely informative and educational grounds. Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, leader of the populist nationalist Independent Greeks Kammenos is scheduled to holds talks with Ieronymos on Wednesday.
Nikos Filis, after the conference with the Government, has said that “There is an opinion that we should not focus on the past, but in the present and the future. I also believe this is right”.  Regarding the religion classes, his answer was vague: “If it is helpful for the discussion about the religion courses to stay on the side, I definitely put it there”.
Meanwhile, President Prokopis Pavlopoulos appeared to come out in defense of the Church. “The Church has always been present in the nation’s struggle, like it has in all struggles for liberty, democracy and social justice,” Pavlopoulos said in a statement on the anniversary of the liberation of Tripolitsa in the Greeks’ 1821 war of independence against Ottoman Turks. As an opposition party, SYRIZA had long campaigned on a pledge to forge a separation between Church and state.
Below is the statement of Nikos Filis on Real FM