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The Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, has made it clear he wants the Greek state to separate completely from the Greek Orthodox Church and to adopt a strict “religious neutrality” stance, with all references to Jesus Christ being abolished from the Greek Constitution.

In Article 3 of the Greek Constitution, it states that the main religion in Greece is the “Orthodox Church of Christ and the Church of Greece acknowledges as the head, Jesus Christ.”

Tsipras plans on deleting this Article from the Greek Constitution and told his SYRIZA party in a meeting last week that he is confident the church will agree to his proposal, saying he believes the Greek church is sufficiently mature and has the wisdom to put its relationship with the State on a rational basis. The PM, however, did not elaborate on the new relations which may be in place between the two.

In his meeting with the SYRIZA parliamentary group, Tsipras reminded them that it is time Greece’s Constitution sets in stone the religious neutrality principles which are the future of modern Greece. Tsipras was emphatic about his proposal for making the proportional electoral system a reality.

He asked for a “constructive vote of no confidence,” and also said his intention to push a proposal which will need anyone who holds the prime ministerial post to be an elected one. This will result in not repeating any political situations where unelected people have become leading to the unnecessary fracas.

The Greek opposition is against this proposal, with main opposition New Democracy party, accusing Tsipras of taking advantage of constitutional review to divert attention from his government’s failings.