Olympian Comeback!

So, unbeknownst to us Americans over here, Greece is one of the many countries left that does not allow for the freedom of religion. Greek Orthodox Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are the only three religions legally recognized by the Greek government... until recently. One religion that has made a comeback is the ancient Greek religion. This is clearly a reconstructionist movement, but it has proven to anger quite a few people within the Greek Orthodox Church. Apparently, they're not particularly happy about the revival. They usually show this by referring to the followers of said religion as, ""miserable resuscitators" of the degenerate dead religion" (The Guardian article). So far, the movement only seems to have a few followers, but they do seem rather loyal and they are petitioning to start using the ancient temple for what they were intended to be: temples. They do seem to have a bit of work ahead of them, but they are not without a sense of vision. Their official website has the following posted:

Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes (Y.S.E.E.) has submitted a Memorandum
(May the 7th, 2006) to the President of the Hellenic Democracy, the President of the Hellenic Parliament, the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic, the Greek Minister for the Interior, Public Administration & Decentralisation, the Greek Minister of National Education & Religious Affairs and the Greek Minister of Culture, on the necessity of:
1. the GRANTING OF THE QUALITY OF LEGAL ENTITY TO THE HELLENIC ETHNIC RELIGION
2. the PROTECTION OF THE HELLENIC ETHNIC RELIGION AS PART OF THE
"NATIONAL HERITAGE" OF GREECE
3. the INSTITUTIONAL ESTABLISHMENT OF EQUALITY OF RIGHTS ("ISONOMIA") - EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW - EQUALITY OF
SPEECH ("ISEGORIA") OF THE HELLENIC ETHNIC RELIGION

(Taken from the official YSEE website.)

What is particularly interesting is that the Greek government is far more willing to let this happen, it seems, because of their entrance into the European Union which is made up of numerous other Western European countries with freedom of religion. I for one, look forward to seeing the ancient Olympian Gods actually honored again.

The Guardian article can be found by clicking here.
The official YSEE website can be found by clicking here.

Random site of interest, and along the same line is Kyklos Apollon.