Church rejects lesson change

Archbishop Ieronymos, the head of the Church of Greece, on Tuesday dismissed calls for religious studies classes at Greek schools to focus on other religions apart from Orthodox Christianity.

Ieronymos insisted that the lessons should remain about “religion” rather than “religious studies” where children learn about “Islam and Buddhism.”

He also rejected the idea of these classes becoming optional for pupils, as some government officials have suggested recently.

“So, if I didn’t like history, algebra or math, could I just leave?” said the archbishop. “What kind of school would we have then?”