Atheist Census: Final Tally / Τελικά Αποτελέσματα

Πρόπερσι το Φλεβάρη ασχολήθηκα για δεύτερη φορά με το Atheist Census, ενός ενδιαφέροντος πρότζεκτ της Διεθνούς Αθεϊστικής Συμμαχίας. Το Atheist Census ξεκίνησε κάποια στιγμή στα τέλη του 2012, οπότε τρέχει για κάτι πάνω από 4 έτη. Καιρός λοιπόν να ασχοληθώ με το ζήτημα για τελευταία φορά. (Παρεμπιπτόντως, πατάω πάνω στο παλιό άρθρο για να γράψω το καινούριο, οπότε το φορμάτ είναι πανομοιότυπο).		Two years ago in February I dabbled for the second time with the Atheist Census, a very interesting project by the Atheist Alliance International. The Atheist Census kicked off at some point in late 2012, so it’s been going on for a bit more than 4 years now. So it’s high time I check it out for the last time. (By the way, if this seems familiar, it’s because I’m writing over the old article, so the format will be identical).
Όπως και τις προηγούμενες φορές, τα στοιχεία αναγκάστηκα να τα τραβήξω χειροκίνητα (βρήκα έναν τρόπο για να μειώσω τα λάθη, αλλά μπορεί να έχουν ξεφύγει μερικά). Τα στοιχεία τα τράβηξα στις 12 Φεβρουαρίου 2017.		Like last time I had to extract the date manually (I found a way to do it more accurately, but there might still be a few errors here and there). The data was retrieved on February 12th, 2017
Όσοι δεν έχετε συμμετάσχει μπορείτε να απογραφείτε. Το μόνο που χρειάζεται είναι μία διεύθυνση e-mail για επιβεβαίωση (μια μετάφραση των ερωτήσεων μπορείτε να βρείτε εδώ). Αν έχετε λάβει ήδη μέρος στην απογραφή, μην διπλοεγγραφείτε· τα ανακριβή δεδομένα μας είναι άχρηστα. Κάντε κλικ στην εικόνα για να απογραφείτε.		If you haven’t participated, feel free to step up and get counted. All you need is an email address for verification purposes. If you’ve already participated, please don’t “vote” again; we need good data, not the false appearance of popularity. Click on the image below to visit the census site and get yourself counted.

Advertisement

Read Full Post »

Faneros Deipnos 2016: Storm in a teacup

Those who follow the atheist movement in Greece might know that every Good Friday (April 29th in 2016) the Atheist Union of Greece has been organizing for the past 6 years an event called “Faneros Deipnos”. The name is a wordplay of the “Last Supper” which is Greek is called as “Supper in Hiding” (Mystikos Deipnos); so we organize a “Supper in Public”. The event is typically scheduled on Good Friday around 9 p.m., the time during which the various churches parade the “epitaphios” (a wooden carrying case, adorned with flowers and containing a cloth icon of Christ being lamented around as he has just been deposed from the cross). The event is meant to provocatively break the strict Good Friday fast, usually with roasts and kebabs (though participants are free to chose what they want to eat; no one is forced to eat meat or anything).

The event has so far been held successfully in Athens and Thessalonica for 5 consecutive years. Until this year. This year was different.

Read Full Post »

Atheist Union of Greece meets with the Minister of Education

Now this is something you don’t see every day.

The Atheist Union of Greece (AUG) typically makes press releases and sends letters to public officials regarding matters in its fields of interest, but this was the first time a meeting was arranged face to face with an elected representative.

On August 6th two members of the AUG, the president (Fotis Frangopoulos) and the treasurer (Antonis Markouizos) met with the Deputy Minister of Culture, Education and Religions (Tasos Kourakis) and discussed several issues, the most important of which was the continuing problems students face when trying to get an exemption from religious education in all three levels and 12 years of public education (elementary school, junior high and high school).

The Deputy Minister was reportedly friendly, the discussion lasted about 30 minutes and and the AUG was promised that the Ministry would try to resolve the issue as swiftly as possible. I should note that a promise from a politician pretty much means jack shit in Greece (pardon the French) even under normal political conditions, let alone the current tumultuous situation (as I’m writing this the government has resigned, trying to renew its approval with national elections on September 20th). In any case, however, it was a first step and that should not get overlooked.

I have translated the text presented to the Deputy Minister below, but before you read it you should probably check out this article first, since it describes the various ways Orthodox Christianity intersects with school life in Greece. Originally it was intended to be included here, but it grew rather lengthy and I placed it apart. If you want to learn even more about Orthodoxy and its role in the modern Greek State, you can check out this article as well.

Read Full Post »

Post-election thoughts from Greece

You must have heard by now. The Greek National Elections came and went. Today Greece has a new Prime Minister (Alexis Tsipras) as the head of a new ruling coalition between his party, the “Coalition of the Radical Left” (SY.RIZ.A.) and the “Independent Greeks” (AN.EL.). I’ll let the political pundits and the economists deal with that this will mean for the EU, the bailout and the local and european economies. I’d rather focus on the significance of the elections on the secularism front.

And I have to say that despite the julibations caused by today’s secular ministerial installment in the greek and international atheist community, I remain skeptical. SYRIZA is too much of a mixed bag to warrant anything other than the mildest of optimistic approaches.

Read Full Post »

Atheist Census Europe: Ένα έτος αποτελεσμάτων / A year in results

ΕΝΗΜΕΡΩΣΗ 24.02.2017 Το άρθρο είναι παλιό. Το πιο πρόσφατο άρθρο για το θέμα βρίσκεται εδώ.

UPDATE 24.02.2017 This article is obsolete. The most recent article on this issue can be found here.

Πέρυσι το Μάρτιο έκανα μια πρόχειρη ανάλυση των πρώτων αποτελεσμάτων του Atheist Census, ενός ενδιαφέροντος πρότζεκτ της Διεθνούς Αθεϊστικής Συμμαχίας. Φέτος, μετά από πάνω από ένα έτος λειτουργίας του, αρχίζει και αναδύεται μια ενδιαφέρουσα εικόνα για την Ευρώπη, την οποία και θα προσπαθήσω να σας μεταφέρω με μια στατιστική ανάλυση, όσο επιτρέπουν οι περιορισμοί που επιβάλλουν οι ερωτήσεις της έρευνας.		Last March I did a short analysis of the first results of the Atheist Census, an interesting project organized by the Atheist Alliance International. This year and after the project having been active for more than 12 months, an interesting picture is starting to emerge in Europe, which I will attempt to convey with a statistical analysis, as far as the census questions allow.
Τα στοιχεία αναγκάστηκα να τα τραβήξω χειροκίνητα, οπότε ίσως να υπάρχουν κάποια λαθάκια. Τα στοιχεία τα πήρα στις 2 Φεβρουαρίου 2014.		I had to draw the data manually, so there might be a few mistakes here and there. The data were extracted on February 2nd, 2014
Όσοι δεν έχετε συμμετάσχει μπορείτε να απογραφείτε. Το μόνο που χρειάζεται είναι μία διεύθυνση e-mail για επιβεβαίωση (μια μετάφραση των ερωτήσεων μπορείτε να βρείτε εδώ). Αν έχετε λάβει ήδη μέρος στην απογραφή, μην διπλοεγγραφείτε· τα ανακριβή δεδομένα μας είναι άχρηστα. Κάντε κλικ στην εικόνα για να απογραφείτε.		If you haven’t participated, feel free to step up and get counted. All you need is an email address for verification purposes. If you’ve already participated, please don’t “vote” again; we need good data, not the false appearance of popularity. Click on the image below to visit the census site and get yourself counted.

Read Full Post »