History repeats: Islam is fundamentally opposed to Christianity and always has been. Today, Christianity is once again under attack and the deeply religious nation of Greece is at the forefront.
A new study shows there is a significant gap between theoretical and practical understanding of Islam, highlighting that what people believe of Islam when relying on secondhand information from sources like media, political figures or Muslim-funded NGOs such as CAIR, differs significantly from what they think of Islam after physically encountering it.
The study is a follow-up to a 2009 report in which Public Issue investigated Greeks' attitudes toward Islam, social perceptions of the concepts and symbols associated with the Islamic religion, citizens' knowledge and familiarity with the Islamic tradition, and existing social beliefs about Islam-West and Islam-Greek relations.
The current findings are contrasted to the same ones from 2009. It is important to note that the research was conducted before the Greek financial crisis, the plea to the International Monetary Fund (2010), and the enforcement of the memorandum policies and therefore reflects a very different social reality than currently.
The company's second survey, conducted in December 2023, repeats key questions from the first survey and there is a noteworthy difference in opinion.
In the previous two decades, with a turning point in 2016, there has been a dramatic increase in Muslim migration flows to Greece, primarily from South Asia and the Middle East. As shown in the newest report, over the last 15 years (2009-2023), social perceptions in Greece regarding the Muslim world have shifted significantly.
For example, in 2009, more than 5 out of 10 Greeks expressed neutrality toward traditional conceptions and symbols of the Islamic world, claiming that they have "neither a positive nor a negative impression" of words linked with Islam, beginning with the word "Islam" itself. In 2009, only 23 percent of Greeks surveyed identified that word with negative thoughts. By 2023, that figure had more than doubled, with 59 percent of Greeks unfavorably associating the word "Islam." Similar terminology like "Arabs," "Muslims," "Koran," "Prophet Muhammad," and "mosque" have greater negative connotations for Greeks than in 2009.
Since 2016, Greeks have had significant real life experience with Islam, resulting in a "crime explosion in Greece -- 55% of prisoners are migrants," according to another recent report.
Aside from an increase in overall criminality in Greece, there has been an alarming spike in religious crime against Christianity. As mentioned in a 2022 article, there were 2,339 incidents of church destruction in Greece between 2015 and 2020, when the little country, regarded as Europe's eastern gateway, was inundated with migrants from the Muslim world. According to one study, there was "a correlation between the increase in illegal migration and the incidents of attacks on Greek Orthodox religious churches and religious spaces during the five-year period which occurred during the peak of the migration crisis."
Multiple incidents of Muslim migrants desecrating or burning down Greek Orthodox churches have been ongoing. The Greek island of Lesvos, which has experienced a large amount of refugees arriving via Turkey, has been particularly scarred.
A 2020 report shows the Greek Orthodox Churches in Lesvos have been vandalized or attacked by illegal immigrants repeatedly to the horror of deeply devout church congregations. The situation became so serious that officials from Hungary began donating to help Greek churches rebuild from the attacks.
As a deeply religious nation, the people of Greece have been faced with shock and heartbreak as crimes against Christianity increase, leaving many wondering if Muslims who claim to be seeking a new life in Europe are willing to integrate and adapt to their new country's traditions and values.
Not surprisingly, Greeks polled in 2023 voice more negativity toward migrants from Muslim countries known for their "radical" tendencies and aggressive ideology toward Christian “infidels”, with Pakistan and Afghanistan at the top of the list.
However, it is worth noting that these alterations are not as significant as one might assume. For starters, it is important to understand that Greece is not your typical Western country: due to its proximity to the Muslim world, it has had centuries of experience with Islam, particularly during the Ottoman Empire. As a result, the ordinary Greek has historically held a more negative view of Islam than the average Western European or American. Even in 2009, 67 percent of Greeks saw a "clash of cultures" between Christianity and Islam.
In short, while public attitude toward Islam is turning unfavorably, the changes are not as pronounced as one might assume, demonstrating the power of centuries of indoctrination. In other words, abstract theory, as embodied by the idea that Islam is the "misunderstood" religion of "peace," etc., continues to have an impact. According to a recent poll, "the percentage of citizens who accept that there is an 'Islamic danger' has increased from 27% in 2009 to [only] 39% today (+12%)."
