Fundamentals of Greek nationalism: the case of national identity card

Abstract

This article shows that historical realities of Greek nationalism continue to be relevant today. Dual heritages of Greek nationalism, Byzantine (Orthodoxy) and ancient Greece, have been a source of different answers to the question of what does it mean to be original Greek. The ambiguity originating from diverse explanations for a real Greekness has led to the incompatibility between the imagined Greek nation of traditional and of secular nationalists, triggering the controversy over ID cards as a contemporary case. While, for conservatives, because the role of Orthodoxy is vital in protecting Greek identity, religion box should be included into identity cards, modernists are in favor of the formation of a common homogenized European culture and thus do not endorse the presence of religion in a formal state document, ID card.