The Controversy on the Depenalization of Religious Blasphemy in Contemporary Greece: The Interplay between (Case) Law, Religious Nationalism and Politics

This article deals with the controversy over the depenalization of religious blasphemy in present-day Orthodox majority Greece. Focusing on an overview and critical analysis of the Greek legislation and contemporary case law (20th–21st centuries), the article highlights the State’s “religious protectionism” and the influence of the “dominant religion” via the legal and judicial apparatuses. The claims for abolition of the blasphemy legislation and the overall criticism, by several actors, of civil society are examined in the wider context of the contemporary debate on the necessity of separation between Church and State, and the denouncing of the interweaving between various actors at different levels of State and Church power.