Editing Politics of Greece (section)

=== Church-state relations ===
{{Main|Religion in Greece}}

The [[Church of Greece|Greek Orthodox Church]] is under the protection of the State, which pays the clergy's salaries, and [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christianity]] is the "'prevailing" religion of Greece according to the Constitution. The Greek Orthodox Church is self-governing but under the spiritual guidance of the Ecumenical Patriarch in [[Constantinople]]. Freedom of religious beliefs is guaranteed by the Constitution, but "[[proselytism]]" is officially illegal. According to the most recent Eurostat "Eurobarometer" poll, in 2005,<ref name="Eurostat poll on the social and religious beliefs of Europeans">Eurobarometer, http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_225_report_en.pdf</ref> 81% of Greek citizens responded that "they believe there is a God", whereas 16% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and only 3% that "they do not believe there is a God, spirit, nor life force". This would make Greece one of the most religious countries in the European Union of 25 members, after Malta, Romania and Cyprus.

The Muslim minority, concentrated in [[Thrace]], was given legal status by provisions of the [[Treaty of Lausanne (1923)]] and is Greece's only officially recognized religious minority. There are small Roman Catholic communities on some of the [[Cyclades]] and the Ionian Islands, remnants of the long [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] rule over the islands. The recent influx of (mostly illegal) immigrants from Eastern Europe and the Third World has an expectedly varied multi-religious profile (Roman Catholic, Muslim, [[Hindu]] etc.).

During the 2001 constitutional amendment, complete separation of church and state was proposed, but the two major parties, ND and PASOK, decided not to open this controversial matter, which clashes with both the population and the clergy. For example, numerous protests occurred over the removal of the Religious Denomination entry from the National ID card in 2000.