Greek Religion
The Greek religion today does not consist of just one religion. There are several religions known in Greece today. About 95% of the population belong to the Greek Orthodox Church or believe in their religion. According to the 2005 Eurobarometer Poll, 81% of the Greece population believes there is a God. 16% said that they believed there is some kind of spirit force, and 3% said they do not believe there is any spirit force or God of any kind.
The Greek Orthodox Church is much like the Roman Catholic religion. They have a priest, alter boys, and an Archbishop. The Archbishop is the equivalent to the Pope in the Catholic church. The Greek Orthodox believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They also believe that Jesus came to save the world and will come again. The religion in Greece began as just the Orthodox, then it was split and this was the beginning of the Catholic religion. If there is not an Orthodox church close to attend, the members can attend the Catholic church and visa versa. They each welcome the other members into their church when needed. There are approximately 50,000 members who belong to the Greek catholic religion. There are about 700 thousand to 1 million Greek Old Calendarists. These churches and their members are found all over Greece, with the majority of them living in Cyclades. There are is a Catholic Church known as the Greek Byzantine Catholic Church (also known as Uniates), and there are about 5 thousand of these members, and most of them live in Athens.
The Islam religion also exists in Greece and there are approximately 200 thousand to 300 thousand of them in Greece. The majority of the Muslims in Greece are from Turkey or are of Turkish origin, and there are about 97,604 of them. This number comes from the 1991 census so that number had no doubt changed since then. There are also about 5,500 Jews in Greece and most of them are in Athens, Thessaloniki, Larissa, Volos, Chalkis, Ioannina, Trikala, and Corfu. There are also a few jews in Kavala and Rhodes.
Another religion that is practiced in Greece is Dodekatheism. This is also known as Hellenic Neopaganism. One report says there are about 2 thousand members of this religion but according to the leaders of the movement, there are more like 200 thousand to 400 thousand members.
The other religions practiced in Greece but is not as popular as those already mentioned are, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Protestant, Pentecostal, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, Scientologists, Bahais, and Hare Krishnas. There has recently been more interest in the Ancient Greek religion.
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