Religious opinions, beliefs and attitudes

Greek public opinion polls in February and March 2005 have indicated a constant decline in the Archbishop’s popularity. Furthermore, according to a February 2005 poll, 64% of respondents in Greece are in favour of a church and state separation, while in 2001 this percentage was only 46.5%.

See: Vima, 13 February 2005 - Eleftherotypia 13 February 2005.

D 19 September 2012    ALina Molokotos

Believing in God is still relatively important, but Greek society preserves a rather passive commitment to the Church, with most Greeks only attending religious services on special occasions and on national and religious holidays. This underlines the importance of Orthodoxy as a popular religion and a cultural, spiritual and historical reservoir diffused of reference for Greek society, even among non-practicing Greeks.
In 1999, Greece was included for the first time in the European Values Study (EVS); see Loek HALMAN, The European Values Study: a third Wave, Tilburg, EVS WORC, Tilburg University, 2001, p. 78.
According to this study, 93.8% of Greeks say they believe in God, the European average is 77.4% (EVS, 2001, p. 80, 86).

D 19 September 2012    ALina Molokotos