The above examples are telling, and there are also others, less well-known, in which the same intolerant language and rhetoric are repeated, as, for example, in the statement of the bishop of Piraeus dated 30 June 2011, in which he again denounces Islam but also the minister of education, because she had approved the hiring of 250 religious teachers for the Mutiships of Thrace.128 6/ RELIGIOUS PANIC ΙΙ: Apart from the religious panic spread about Islam and the intolerant views expressed about this religion, a popular and lasting issue is the intolerant attitude towards Jews, which is usually disguised as “anti-Zionism”. This is an issue with equally deep roots in the Greek territory, as the Jewish community is one of the oldest in it. It is interesting that, in 1980, then Bishop of Corinth Panteleimon published a small book entitled Jews and Christians, which was also published in English in 1984. There he claimed that Jews try to corrupt religious people, and that they hate Christians and also Hellenism (1984: 12). In the same context, he pointed out that during the Ottoman Empire the Jews were allying with the Turks and tortured Christians, while during the 1821 revolution they had taken sides with the Turks (1984: 30-31). Finally, referring to the Israeli State, he considered it a fabrication and a threat to humanity (1984: 39-49). In recent years, similar views are not rare within the Church. In a TV interview on MEGA channel (20 December 2010), Bishop of Piraeus Seraphim, ater claiming that “there is a global view to destroying the institution of family... with singleparent families, same-sex couples...”, he concludes that “international Zionism is behind this whole story”, reminding viewers that “the Jewish lobby had paid a visit to Prime Minister Simitis in order for religion to be erased from identity cards”. The climax was surely his statement that “Adolph Hitler was an instrument of global Zionism and was funded by the Rothschild family with the sole purpose of convincing Jews to leave Europe and go to Israel to found the new empire”. Despite the reactions, the Holy Synod settled for a statement that the expressed views are personal opinions of the bishop of Piraeus, which he can freely express.129 It would be easy for someone to attribute the articulation of this Islamophobic and anti-Semitic speech to personal particularities. Indeed, such particularities do exist. The problem lies in the fact that some priests, by virtue of their position, think that they can say whatever they want without having to answer to anyone. In this way, both the Church is exposed and, most importantly, society is poisoned with the crudest forms of ultra-right speech. 7/ IMMIGRATION: RACIST SPEECH AND PHILANTHROPY? Immigration is also a big issue on which the Church lays claim not only to an opinion, but also a role, as it seems to ind it a privileged ield of intervention. 128. 129. 88 | See http://www.impantokratoros.gr/9FB97297.el.aspx. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLAUJCOGE1o. ROSA LUXEMBURG STIFTUNG