By MARMARSTM
Updated: Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:09:56 UTC

Although I was born and raised in the country that gave birth to philosophers such as Aristotle and Socrates, I feel frustrated.

The education system forces students to attend religious classes throughout elementary, middle and high school, while philosophy is taught only for one year and only as an optional class, or to certain students who want to get to university. Even so, it is only taught in the form of ancient Greek, and teachers do their best to make you hate everything related to it.

At the moment, I am a university student trying to get my degree in international relations. No research is promoted, nor personal improvement via knowledge and further studying. I think our nation is blindfolded. And I think religion is part of it in a way that can get extremely serious.

In this period of economic crisis, there is a great rising of fascists, which is the natural outcome when students at schools are taught the motto, "Country-religion-family" or "Greece of Christian Greeks". They even claim that we are the descendents of ancient Greeks and God's children at the same time.

It's not just insane, it can get really dangerous. A fascist political party also participates in elections. Where is the ancient democratic spirit we proudly claim that our ancestors created? I myself am an atheist,even though I was raised in a Christian Orthodox country (I am glad my parents weren't that religious). I don't know anyone who would deny religion and try to make a change.

I've tried to have conversations with people I know, and even though they didn't have rational arguements, they still insisted on some certain points. Not the Bible. None of them has read the Bible, I am quite sure. Nor has the majority of Greeks. We are taught to avoid anything that requires time to be read. We are tought to deny knowledge. How can an individual make a country change? What could be a starting point, while there is no support? I would appreciate everyone's thoughts!

TAGGED: RELIGION, SOCIETY