17 FEBRUARY 2015
‘No’ to selective religiousness

Georgios Androutsopoulos, lawyer and lecturer of the Law School of the University of Athens, while elaborating on the topic “Ecclesiastical funeral and burial or cremation”, highlighted inter alia that “it is not possible for the Orthodox Christian to embrace at will part of the Church’s views”. He also underlined that cremation contravenes the tradition of the Church, but it is also constitutionally consolidated alongside the rules since it constitutes a law inside the Orthodox Church protected by the Constitution on the basis of religious freedom, since it does not contravene general laws or the public order or morality. On the other hand, the same proponent pointed out that the law has correctly provided the cremation possibility after death for the Greek citizens, if that is their wish, irrespective of the beliefs of their religion. However, he stated that there is a disadvantage; he explained that if there is no written statement of the deceased wishing to be cremated, there is a chance that the spouse or next of kin will actually decide on the way the deceased would supposedly wish to dispose of his body after death.

Mr. Androutsopoulos underlined that there should be a safety net, “a legislative provision so that there is the possibility for any third party, apart from the spouse or relatives, to present the competent prosecutor with evidence, which would constitute a boundary for the judicial authority – in this case the competent prosecutor – who would take them into account and reach the proper decision; a decision that would mirror in the clearest way the true wish of the deceased”.

‘No’ to selective religiousness

Georgios Androutsopoulos, lawyer and lecturer of the Law School of the University of Athens, while elaborating on the topic “Ecclesiastical funeral and burial or cremation”, highlighted inter alia that “it is not possible for the Orthodox Christian to embrace at will part of the Church’s views”. He also underlined that cremation contravenes the tradition of the Church, but it is also constitutionally consolidated alongside the rules since it constitutes a law inside the Orthodox Church protected by the Constitution on the basis of religious freedom, since it does not contravene general laws or the public order or morality. On the other hand, the same proponent pointed out that the law has correctly provided the cremation possibility after death for the Greek citizens, if that is their wish, irrespective of the beliefs of their religion. However, he stated that there is a disadvantage; he explained that if there is no written statement of the deceased wishing to be cremated, there is a chance that the spouse or next of kin will actually decide on the way the deceased would supposedly wish to dispose of his body after death.

Mr. Androutsopoulos underlined that there should be a safety net, “a legislative provision so that there is the possibility for any third party, apart from the spouse or relatives, to present the competent prosecutor with evidence, which would constitute a boundary for the judicial authority – in this case the competent prosecutor – who would take them into account and reach the proper decision; a decision that would mirror in the clearest way the true wish of the deceased”.

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