Religion and Pandemic in Greek Society

This book attempts to compose a critical sociological essay, which is structured around three central axes: power relations, secularization and religious populism. In particular, it explores issues such as the relationship between science and religion, politics and religion, State and Church, secularization, conspiracy theories and the attitude of society, issues that are not new, but have been intensified by the coronavirus pandemic, which has acted as a magnifying glass. lens. Although sufficiently critical and sharp, it does not aim to "fight" the Church and much more to turn against believers and religion as a social phenomenon. Religion and the Church are part of the public sphere and the dialogue about the role they played during the pandemic is imperative, especially in a society, like the Greek one, which did not accept the positive influence of the ideas of the Enlightenment and in which, quite often, science is treated as a panacea for religion.

The succinct and comprehensive book by Alexandros Sakellarios looks for the power relations, attitudes and tensions that developed within the Church during the coronavirus pandemic. It mainly raises the critical question about the meteoric secularization of our society, the ideological and political impasses that emerged, often bordering on the phaedrous, on the occasion of the pandemic.

Konstantinos Tsitselikis,
Professor of human rights law, University of Macedonia, Dean of the School of Economic and Regional Studies.

Alexandros Sakellario's book is an interesting, theoretically grounded and empirically documented analysis of the power relations, perceptions and disagreements that developed in Greek society during the coronavirus pandemic regarding the role of religion and the Orthodox Church. Following the rules of a sociological approach to the subject, it poses key questions regarding meteoric secularization but also the ideological and political impasses of Greek society due to the pandemic.

Alexandra Koroneou,
Professor of Sociology, Panteio University, Dean of the School of Social Sciences