Leaders of the Greek Orthodox church say they will start a petition against government plans to introduce controversial new identity documents.

The church has strongly opposed the new documents -- which all Greeks are required to carry -- because they do not include details of the holder's religion.

But the government is against disclosing such details, arguing that this would violate the rights of Greece's small Moslem and non-Orthodox Christian communities.

A government spokesman, Dimitris Reppas, said this was the government's final position; he reminded clerics that religious groups were not supposed to meddle in politics. The church has already organised two major demonstrations against the plans.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service