The Greek debt crisis as theodicy: Religious fundamentalism and socio-political conservatism

Abstract

This article analyzes two core ultra-conservative religious frames that were employed for the interpretation of the Greek debt crisis, namely the crisis as a pedagogical punishment from God and as a global conspiracy of the arch-enemies of the Greek nation. Further, it analyzes the corresponding proposed remedies, namely an attitude of repentance and an attitude of dynamic defense of traditional values. Finally, the article explains the seemingly paradoxical attitude of the Greek Orthodox fundamentalists as they both call for resistance and simultaneously condemn the anti-austerity movement of the time. In doing so, the article underscores the highly ideological character of theodicy, since it mobilizes religio-moral and cultural symbolic resources for the legitimization of power relations.

Holy Communion in Greek Orthodoxy in the Time of Coronavirus: Ideological Perspectives in Conflict

“…Orthodox fundamentalists who are drawn to conspiracy theories, ethno-religious nationalism, and dualistic thinking (Kessareas 2018;Makrides 2016), expressed this point more explicitly. They cast restrictive COVID-19 policy measures as a threat to religion and nation, using not only a pre-modern religious discourse but also a modern, secular one.…”

‘Signs of the times’: Prophecy belief in contemporary Greek Orthodox contexts

“…These signs include biological weapons, financial crises, earthquakes, manufactured diseases, vaccines, and so on. Masons and Jews are portrayed as agents of the Antichrist, who control the banks, aiming at implementing the New World Order – beliefs widely circulated within circles of fundamentalist Christianity, be it Orthodox fundamentalism (see Kessareas, 2018) or the Christian Identity Movement (see Barkun, 1997). All these disastrous events are presented as a necessary stage toward salvation: ‘God tells us that in order to reach at the Resurrection, we will go through the crucifixion.…”

The controversy over Ancient Greek as a school subject: education, ideology, and politics in times of crisis

“…It is not accidental that right-wing nationalist ideology, and specifically Greek orthodox fundamentalism, has been marked by such features as ethno-religious nationalism, Manichaeism, and conspiracy theories, as I have demonstrated elsewhere. 89 As regards the framing of the dispute by unnamed proponents of reform, the following comments are characteristic: At a time when the developed world has visited space and gone beyond our solar system [! ], we force our children to waste countless hours of their lives (because they learn NOTHING) studying Ancient Greek, just because some ethno-and antiquity-maniacs (εθνοβαρεμένοι αρχαιόπληκτοι) imposed it due to the supposed continuity of the unitary language and race, and in order for some thousands of teachers of Ancient Greek to have jobs… [Pupils] are growing up in a globalized economic environment and [yet] they are being taught NOTHING about it… My proposal is that the teaching of religion should be abolished in primary education and replaced by sex education; the teaching of history in primary education should be abolished and replaced by financial management; Ancient Greek should be abolished as a compulsory subject in the gymnasio and the lykeio (let it remain optional) and replaced by the teaching of investments and stock exchange transactions.…”