An annual report compiled by Greece’s education and religious affairs ministry’s department of religious freedoms and inter-faith relations, which tracks incidents involving places of worship in the country for 2019, was released this week. According to the report, 524 such incidents were recorded in 2019.
Incidents in this case are considered acts of vandalism, break-ins, thefts, robberies, sacrilegious acts, bombings and other desecrations against places of worship and cemeteries. Of the incidents, 96 percent involve the Orthodox Christian Church, the faith followed by the overwhelming number of people in the east Mediterranean country. On a slightly more positive note, the number of instances fell in 2019 compared to 2018.