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« Why should someone ask you, "Are you Christian or Muslim?" Which identity? Your name and your personality is your identity. Neither the cross, nor the half moon that the others have, defines your identity. Your name is Alexandra, my name is Kostas. Your name is not Christian Orthodox Alexandra nor is mine Christian Orthodox Kostas. Isn’t that right? Somebody calls you by your name, [and he knows] that you are this kind of person, who holds this degree, has completed these studies, and this and that. End of story. I don’t say that people shouldn’t have a faith. Okay, I can understand this. I don’t mind whether somebody goes to church and stuff like that. On the contrary, I like going [to church]. I go to church. I go and listen to the masses, I enjoy that sort of jamming. »
« However I let them [her children] be baptized. Because wherever they would go, religion was the most important thing. Whether they would go to birthday parties or visiting Greek relatives here, or at school or even at the hospital where they were born, the icon was the most important thing. [The most important thing] was the cross, Christ and Virgin Mary. So I was obliged to get the children baptized. Just as I also was obliged to get baptized. But I did it out of ignorance because I didn’t know the language and I felt very isolated from society. So, I used that [baptism] for social relations. So that’s how I had religion, as a kind of help. But for the children I did it out of necessity, because I didn’t want them to feel isolated and inferior. Because I realized that here faith, the church, was everything. From there on, though, my children now are free to do whatever they want in relation to this matter. I don’t tell them "you have to believe only in that"…They can decide by themselves. »
Religion and identity
