Chaplains Ordered to Behave at Olympics

Chaplains Ordered to Behave at Olympics

The Olympic Village of Athens houses around 15,000 athletes and a fair number of chaplains who are there to minister on behalf of the various religions represented. They are, however, under some restrictions because Greece doesn't allow proselytizing.

World Wide Religious News reports:

Canon Malcolm Bradshaw, senior Anglican chaplain in Athens, described last week how he suddenly found himself in discussion with the Athens Olympic Committee (ATHOC) over the chaplaincy work. "The authorities were only prepared to deal with established Christian Churches within the country with whom they had good relations. The idea of sports ministries from abroad coming in and doing their own thing was out of the question." Canon Bradshaw said that what was at stake was a place in the Olympic village. "We are living with the constant threat of moving the Religious Services Centre outside the Olympic village."

A key component in discussions with ATHOC was the code of practice drawn up by Canon Bradshaw... The document contains more than a page on proselytisation: "Here in Greece, where nearly all the population are Orthodox, attempts to win anyone away from Orthodoxy could endanger the delicate and friendly relationships which the minority churches have built up with the Orthodox and the government, and it is the local churches who will have to live with the consequences. There is no need to mention the situation worldwide between Islam and Christianity."

Greece doesn’t do very well when it comes to religious freedom. Greek Orthodoxy is so much a part of Greece’s national identity that other religious faiths labor under laws which don’t accord them the same rights and privileges. This is simply one example of a much larger problem — a problem which, I am sorry to say, most reporters will probably never mention.

from ~ http://atheism.about.com/b/a/105686.htm