ATHENS, September 27, 2002 (LSN.ca) – The Greek Orthodox Church has taken a bold stand against the Socialist government's law regulating artificial insemination—one that Archbishop Christodoulos, the head of the Church in Greece, labeled a sop to the feminist movement which he says seeks to undermine the family and to “overthrow the natural and ethical order.”
The Church opposes in vitro fertilization and any form of human experimental foetal-cell research. It claims the new legislation would also allow same sex couples to “conceive” children using surrogates. The bill, which has not yet been debated by Parliament, bans cloning, but allows some foetal cell research.
“We have to protect the traditional family,” Christodoulos said. He was quoted in the media as blaming “the feminist movement” for promoting “ideological anti-Christian positions” and the “degenerate phenomena we see in the family.” Last year, the Church proved unable to block a decision removing the religion entry from state identity cards.