[ALBSA-Info] Another Salman Rushdie?

[Agron Alibali]

Judge bans Greek book condemned by Orthodox church 
By Associated Press, 3/9/2000 12:56 
ATHENS, Greece (AP) A judge today banned a
best-selling book that was condemned by the Greek
Orthodox Church because of passages about the possible
sexual longings of Jesus Christ. 

Presiding over a court in the northern city of
Thessaloniki, Judge Maria Robbi said she banned sales
of the book in northern Greece to prevent ''outbreaks
of violence'' after religious zealots threatened to
take action against the author and bookstores selling
the book. 

She said the ban, covering nearly one-fourth of the
country, will remain in effect until May 16, when a
hearing is held on a suit to halt the sale of ''M to
the Power of N'' by a former communist parliament
deputy, Mimis Androulakis. 

''The court decided the book is blasphemous. Beware
blasphemers,'' Christos Alvanos, an attorney for the
plaintiffs, said after the court decision. 

The ban only applies to provinces around this northern
city where Robbi's court has jurisdiction. The book
will be available in the rest of Greece. 

Robbi's ban came as Premier Costas Simitis presided
over a special ceremony marking Greece's formal
application to join European Monetary Union. The
decision may also lead to friction between the
judiciary and the Socialist government, which has
openly expressed its support for Androulakis. 

''On the day that Greece submitted its application for
European Monetary Union, a dark side of the Greek moon
is revealed,'' Androulakis said. 

Development Minister Evangelos Venizelos, a leading
professor of constitutional law, questioned the
court's jurisdiction to ban the book and Greece's
largest journalists union also criticized the ruling. 

''We are following these dangerous phenomena
curtailing the free expression of ideas with a great
deal of worry and revulsion,'' the union said in a
statement. 

At a preliminary hearing Wednesday, dozens of
black-robed priests and monks stormed the court house
and Robbi's chambers, chanting ''blasphemers'' and
''Antichrists'' at Androulakis' defense lawyer, Thomas
Trikoukis, who was pummeled by some protesters. 

The church and its leader, Archbishop Christodoulos,
refused to comment on the decision. But Metropolitan
Kallinikos, a spokesman for the church's ruling body,
said Androulakis had no right ''to insult millions of
our faithful with what he has said about the leader of
our faith.'' 

''Our religion may teach love, but we will never talk
to Mimi Androulakis,'' Kallinikos said. 

The book is a series of fictional dialogues between
women whose names all begin with the letter M. The
central theme is misogyny in various aspects of life,
including religion. One chapter mentions an often
explored hypothesis: a possible sexual element in the
relationship between Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene,
a prostitute who became a follower. 

The suit was filed by Byzantine history professor
Marios Pylavakis, who argues that Christ's life cannot
be open to fictional reinterpretation. He has been
joined by a mix of ultra-nationalists and religious
firebrands. 

Nearly all political parties, literary societies and
scholars have backed Androulakis. 

With one exception, publishers here say they cannot
recall any book being banned in Greece since the fall
of the 1967-74 military dictatorship. 

Two years ago, a court banned a dictionary and ordered
the author to remove an insulting reference to
residents of Thessaloniki. That decision came after a
Thessaloniki city council member filed a complaint. 

But the Supreme Court overturned the ban, saying that
although the word's derogatory definition was legally
insulting, constitutional guarantees on free speech
did not allow books to be banned or censored. 



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