ABSTRACT
A Greek historian noted that ‘without modernization within the Church, it will be difficult to achieve modernization within [Greek] society, in the mentality and ways of behaviour’ (Liakos 2005). 1 Even if modernization of society can be implemented without the participation of the Church, it is true that the history of Greece modernization – or the lack thereof – has always been associated with the role of religion and the institutional Church. As part of its efforts to implement modernizing reforms in Greece the PASOK government of Costas Simitis decided in 2000–01 to remove the religious affiliation from citizens’ ID cards, thus complying with EU standards regarding the protection of personal data. This attempt to modernize and symbolically differentiate between the affairs of the Greek state and the Church of Greece, between citizen identity and religious affiliation, was met, as is well known, with strong protests from the Church, 2 which emerged as a tradition-bound reactionary institution out of step with modernity.
