Greece against …Stephen Hawking!

By Takis Michas

The understandable focus of the international media on  Greece’s economic debacle  has had as a result that other equally  absurd situations are going   unnoticed. Yet  one does not have to look very far or very hard to find also other manifestations of social  life in Greece that raise serious questions  about the place of the country in the European family of nations. The latest  incident concerns the venomous attack by a highly prominent state functionary against the  British physicist  Stephen  Hawking.

Α couple of days ago the bishop of Pireus  Serafeim  issued a written statement dismissing Hawking’s theories which he attributed to “the inferiority complexes”  which the British scientist suffers  as a result of the fact that he is “reduced to an electric chair and is condemned to communicate by  electronic voice.”. According to the prominent Greek cleric Hawking suffers from “confusion in the mind” resulting from his ”unbearable bodily misery”. (http://news.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_ell_1_24/09/2010_416157

This shocking  statement  is not simply  a case of an  irrational outburst by an individual   Greek citizen. The Church in Greece is a state institution and its practitioners  are paid by the Greek taxpayer (and by those   who were deceived into buying  Greek state bonds…)  Religion  is the responsibility of the ministry of education (which is bizarely  called “Ministry of Education and Religions”).The  brainswashing of children  into  the teachings of  the Orthodox jihad is a state imposed compulsory 12 year affair. The Orthodox religion is considered as being  coextensive with the Greek national identity while in all national and religious celebrations the  clergy together with the military  and the politicians occupies  the central stage. Every  leading member of the Greek political nomenklatura (including the present prime minister George Papandreou) see it  as his  duty to do  photo-os with the leaders of the Church.

What was however even more interesting than the statement itself ,  was the deafening silence with which the   Greek political class greeted   the bishop’s  outburst.There was absolutely no reaction even  from  Anna Diamantopoulou who as the minister of education and religions  bears a particular responsibility for the public  statements of her underlings.

Which of course is not surprising. Greek politicians. like their counterparts elsewhere in the world , are primarily concerned about votes. In Greece, having good relations with the clergy brings votes while defending Stephen Hawking does not. Some-rather most- things in Greece never change-crises or no crises.  As this latest incidence shows   the gap separating Greece from the West  does  not  only –or even primarily -concern  deficit, debts and financial mismanagement.