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Moonies'
Madrid move on peace
Madrid, September 4th, 2003
(ACPress.net)
The International Inter-Religious
Federation for World Peace, linked to the Unification Church
(the cult usually known as the 'Moonies', after its founder
and leader, the Rev. Moon), has organised an open meeting at
a hotel just north of Madrid.
The meeting's motto is 'The world at the crossroads of change:
innovative ideas for peace', and intends to examine ways in
which the difficulties of the current world situation may be
overcome. The Federation, over which Rev. Moon's influence undoubtedly
exists, has asked all its national branches to organise a day-long
workshop this summer to discuss new ways of developing inter-religious
dialogue.
A similar move is being prepared by several countries who want
to propose to the United Nations later this month the creation
of an Inter-Religious Advisory Council. This organisation would
promote cooperation between different religious groups and grant
a more active and visible role to those religious people who
are working for world peace.
Source: unrecorded. Editing:
ACPress.net
Government
website on drugs launched
Madrid, September 4th, 2003
(ACPress.net)
The Interior Ministry
has set up a website for 14-24-year-olds in an attempt to wean
them off drugs. The site invites youngsters to participate in
activities such as voluntary work, music and cinema instead
of wasting their time on the consumption of addictive substances.
www.sindrogas.es is the address, and the site offers a healthier
style of leisure activity, as well as spreading information
about the effect drugs have on a person's health. The website
has three sections: healthy leisure pursuits, news, and information
about drugs. The first section contains all kinds of links to
help youngsters find out more about the leisure pursuit which
interests them most. It also has information about voluntary
work, grants, job offers and training courses.
The news section reproduces items from various press sources
which might interest the 14-24 age group. It also hopes to interest
them in reading newspapers. The section on drugs contains information
- presented in a highly visual and simple way - on the consequences
of taking drugs. The website also contains a map of Spain showing
where addicts can get help. The launch of www.sindrogas.es came
on the International Day against Drug Trafficking and Abuse,
and this year, the United Nations chose the motto 'Let's talk
about drugs.'
Source: Servimedia. Editing:
ACPress.net
European Commission says Spain is still racist
La Coruña, September
4th, 2003 (ACPress.net)
The second report by
the European Commission on 'Racism and Intolerance' concludes
that racism and xenophobia are alive and well in Spain, and
that the government has not done enough over the last four years
to combat the problem, or to ensure that all citizens are treated
equally.
The complaint is not so much against the lack of legislation,
as the failure to apply the law. The European Commission accuses
the Spanish government of being lax in the face of racism, and
of having a dubious immigration policy generally. It is particularly
concerned at the existence of extremist groups who meet through
football matches or concerts at which racist attitudes are promoted
through the music, some of whom have been guilty of violent
racist attacks. The report calls on the authorities to act with
greater firmness against these groups.
The report also highlights the growing number of complaints
received from immigrants about police brutality, and the way
they try to silence complaints with threats or counter-complaints.
The report is critical of the Spanish attitude "which constantly
blames immigrants for the deterioration of security in Spain",
pointing out that often their crimes are merely related to their
illegal status and use of false documentation.
Politicians are also rapped over the knuckles for promoting
the idea that immigration in Spain has reached alarming and
unsustainable levels, creating the feeling in the population
that immigration has reached dangerous levels for both security
and employment, whereas in reality the total number of both
legal and illegal immigrants does not yet reach 5% of the population.
That may not sound much, but 5% would represent around 2 million
people.
Other criticisms include the way the Press represent immigrants,
that most news items which mention them are negative and crime-related.
Current legislation and practice relating to work permits and
the difficulty of renewing them also comes under fire. Finally,
the Commission expresses its grave concern at the conditions
suffered by illegal immigrants in Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary
Islands in internment centres.
Source: El Periódico.
Editing: ACPress.net
A
mosque is back in Granada after 500 years
Granada, September 4th, 2003
(ACPress.net)
On the hill facing the
Moorish Alhambra Palace, an Islamic mosque has been opened 511
years after the last caliph, Boabdil, admitted defeat and left
the city to the conquering forces of Ferdinand and Isabelle.
Granada was the final kingdom to fall in the centuries-long
reconquest and its fall to the monarchs of Castille and Aragon,
which united Spain, brought to an end more than 700 years of
Arab rule in the Iberian peninsula. Although small buildings
have been used as makeshift Islamic meeting-places over the
years, the new mosque is in an entirely different league. It
has taken 22 years to build and has cost 4 million euros.
The money has come from Islamic states and private Muslim benefactors.
The Emir of Sharjah, Jalid bin Sultn al-Qassimi, is the mosque's
main backer, having put up 3 million euros towards its construction.
Along with the Arabic 'Al Yazira' television station, he came
to the opening ceremony. Next to the mosque is an Islamic centre
and some gardens, which will be open to the public free of charge.
This was a condition placed on the project by Granada Council.
The mosque is situated in the district of Albaicín, where
around 15,000 Muslims live. However, the aim of those behind
the project is much grander. Malik Abderramán Ruiz, Chairman
of the Granada Mosque Trust, hopes to organise educational activities
throughout the year, as well as an international conference
annually related to the Islamic heritage in what they call 'Al-Andalus'
(Andalusia), the region of southern Spain in which Granada is
located.
Source: El Periódico.
Editing: ACPress.net
Immigrant
boat deaths double in Straits of Gibraltar
Seville, September 4th, 2003
(ACPress.net)
The bodies of two Moroccan
men found on the coast near Tarifa, Cadiz, were part of a boatload
of immigrants trying to enter Spain illegally when their craft
ran aground on rocks. Twelve others made it ashore and were
apprehended by police, while a further man who was trapped on
the rocks, was rescued.
This latest tragedy brings to 62 the number of North Africans
who have died trying to cross the Straits of Gibraltar in just
over six months. By July this year, the total number of deaths
was approaching double that for the whole of 2002, in which
35 died. Earlier this year, on the same part of the coast, seven
Moroccans drowned in similar circumstances.
The survivors were given First Aid, as some were experiencing
breathing difficulties, others had bruises and seven were suffering
from hypothermia.
Source: El Periódico.
Editing: ACPress.net
High suicide
rate among wife-beaters
Madrid, September 4th, 2003
(ACPress.net)
It is of absolutely no
comfort to those women who have been brutally assaulted by their
partners, nor to the families of those killed in domestic violence,
but statistics show that 22% of such aggressors go on to take
their own lives, which is a much higher proportion than among
the rest of the population.
Once again, the figures for domestic violence this year make
gruesome reading. Catalonia heads the list as the region with
the most fatalites - eleven women in the first half of the year.
Some women's organisations complain that the authorities should
compile their data more efficiently so that a decent diagnosis
may be given to this awful situation. Figures compiled from
Press sources suggest that 45 women were murdered in Spain up
to July. The number of men killed by their partners or ex-partners
- an increasingly common phenomenon - was not given.
Since 1999, women's groups say that at least 315 women have
been murdered in domestic violence. The number of registered
crimes per year has doubled since then, but this may partly
be due to better ways of compiling the information.
Source: Cadena SER. Editing:
ACPress.net
What is
man, that you should give him a hard time?
Madrid, September 4th, 2003
(ACPress.net)
The organisation 'Evangelism
Explosion' is organising a men's retreat under the motto 'What
is man?'
The retreat, to be held early next month near Madrid, will examine
the theme of 'The identity of men in the light of Scripture',
and the talks will be given by well-known psychiatrist, Pablo
Martínez, who is also Chairman of the Spanish Evangelical
Alliance. He comments: "I think it is a vital subject at
a time of crisis and deep disorientation for men regarding their
masculinity, role and the expectations which people have of
him in marriage, society and so on. I have the impression that
many men are confused when faced with the 'masculinisation'
of women and the strong pressure for equality in the worst sense
of the word."
Martínez continued by saying that "men and women
are absolutely equal in intelligence, dignity and so forth but
it is an absurd simplification to make out that they only differ
in the area of sexuality. This is the fruit of a devilish philosophy
which as Christians we must be aware of, and reject."
Source: EEA. Editing: ACPress.net
Italian Euro MP stands up
for Spanish Protestants
Madrid, September 4th, 2003
(ACPress.net)
The Italian Euro MP,
Mauzicio Turco, has called on the European Commission to act
against Spain for favouring the Catholic Church in what he considers
to be restricting religious freedom.
Turco believes the Spanish government could be charged over
the enormously beneficial fiscal arrangements which the Catholic
Church has negotiated with them. He also thinks the new Education
Bill contravenes both the Spanish constitution and the European
Union Human Rights Charter, in that it favours the confessional
teaching of the Catholic Church, and makes Religious Education
compulsory.
Turco points out that the fiscal and educational arrangements
benefit the Catholics but all other religious groups are at
a serious disadvantage. He believes such discrimination on religious
grounds means the European Commission must act, and he is tabling
two questions to that end. Spanish evangelicals won't exactly
be holding their breath, but they will be delighted that someone
is standing up for them at last.
Source: Europa Press. Editing:
ACPress.net
Muslim states finance Spanish
mosque but persecute Christians at home
Madrid, September 4th, 2003
(ACPress.net)
The opening of the large
Islamic mosque in Granada (see article above) is the culmination
of a difficult period regarding the relationship between Catholics
and Muslims in Spain.
The construction lasted 22 years due to all sorts of delays,
debate and political wrangling. The fact that the mosque has
finally opened is a sign that Spain has, eventually, embraced
tolerance. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the Muslim countries
which have financed the Granada project. The organisation behind
the building is the fundamentalist group 'Al Murabitun' who,
with the approval of the Spanish authorities, financed the project
with funds from Morocco, Malaysia, Libya and especially the
Gulf state of Sharjah.
Yet there is no reciprocal tolerance of Christians in any of
these nations. In Morocco, as in the Emirates, a Muslim who
converts to Christianity can be sentenced to death. Islam does
not allow its subjects to embrace other religions. Years back
in the Moroccan city of Nador, a group of Bahai Moroccans were
sentenced to death for the 'crime' of seeking syncretism between
Christianity and Islam.
Recently, a group of American evangelicals were given prison
sentences and then expelled from the country merely for trying
to distribute Bibles in Casablanca. The supposed religious tolerance
announced by fanfare by the Moroccan authorities is anything
but; they merely allow foreigners the right to meet and hold
Christian services.
In Granada at the time of the Reconquest, there were 26 mosques.
Twelve were converted into churches, the rest destroyed. Today,
the Spanish authorities have permitted the construction of a
new mosque to serve Muslim residents there, though the height
of the minaret was shortened on the plans so that it was not
higher than the belfry of the nearest Catholic church. It remains
to be seen whether any of the above-named Islamic nations will
now follow suit and permit genuine religious freedom to non-Muslims.
Source: La Razón. Editing:
ACPress.net
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