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FEREDE
Chairman calls on evangelicals to vote against government
Madrid, March 10th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
In an unprecedented move
which effectively burns its bridges with the current government,
the outgoing Chairman of FEREDE - the official body set up by
the state through which it negotiates issues of interest to
evangelicals -has called on Christians to vote against the ruling
Popular Party in this Sunday's general election.
Federico Aparisi, who will remain on the Board but not as Chairman,
said evangelicals should vote for "those who respect our
rights and liberty." The FEREDE represents nearly 2,000
evangelical groups in Spain, and in its latest report on the
situation regarding religious freedom, is scathing in its denunciation
of the present government. "Laws alone do not solve people's
problems, but require the willingness on the part of the authorities
to see they are correctly applied", said Aparisi, adding
that "we have to make important changes...to our behaviour
towards the state."
Aparisi accused the governing Popular Party of refusing evangelicals
their basic rights, and of blackmailing them into silence over
issues such as the proposed Protestant Faculty of Theology.
He added that whatever party won the election, the FEREDE would
fight for the application of the 1992 Accords, and let other
European countries know what was really happening in Spain in
the religious field.
Up to this point in his speech, Aparisi was merely rehearsing
the FEREDE position of recent years, but then he went a stage
further. Without actually mentioning the Popular Party by name,
he said evangelicals ought to think seriously about using their
vote - whatever their personal preference - in favour of those
who defend Protestant interests. In a clear allusion to the
party in power, Aparisi lamented the current state of affairs,
and in a communiqué later, the FEREDE said it would send a letter
to the European Parliament condemning "the alarming lack
of religious neutrality in Spain."
There are apparently about 800,000 members of the electorate
in Spain who call themselves Protestants.
Source & Editing: ACPress.net
From prehistoric art to
paganism
Madrid, March 2nd, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Details of new legislation
regarding non-confessional R.E. in Spanish state schools has
just been published. The new subject will be compulsory for
all students who do not take one of the confessional options
(Catholic, Evangelical...) up to the age of 16.
Pupils in the first year of Secondary School will study prehistoric
art and religion, religious belief in Mesopotamia and Egypt,
Hinduism and Buddhism, religion in ancient Greece and Rome,
and the religions of American Indians. In their second year,
they will look at religion as a phenomenon, contrasting it with
paganism, as well as studying polytheism and monotheism, myths,
ritual, prayers, moral teaching and major questions of life.
The third-year syllabus covers the people of Israel, the Early
Church and its development, Christianity in medieval society,
Islam, the three religious cultures in the Iberian peninsula
during the Middle Ages, and the formation of the modern state.
Pupils will also examine humanism, the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation.
In the fourth and final year of the basic secondary school programme,
R.E. classes will deal with Christianity, the Enlightenment
and liberalism, science and religion in the 19th century, state
totalitarianism and atheism, contemporary Islam, and Judaism
from its beginnings to the present day.
All subjects will be marked by continual assessment and a pupil
may only go on to the following year if he has not failed more
than two subjects. There will be summer re-takes, but if he
fails these, he will have to repeat the academic year.
Source: LA RAZÓN. Editing:
ACPress.netA
Baptist sneaks into Prime Minister's presence
Madrid, March 8th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
A Spanish evangelical
has eventually found his way into the Prime Minister's presence,
albeit by the back door. Manuel Sarrias of the Baptist Church
and Vice-President of FEREDE attended an Inter-Religious meeting
in Madrid as the representative of the World Baptist Alliance.
General Secretary, Denton Lotz, who had been invited, sensibly
delegated his place to Sarrias, and Prime Minister Aznar signed
the confirmation of the changed invitation.
However, the fact remains that at an international gathering
of religious representatives in Madrid, the Spanish government
did not invite a single Spanish evangelical. This follows on
its refusal to meet any representatives of FEREDE despite formal
requests made over the last three years. Sarrias, who spoke
at the meeting, said: "Evangelical Christian Baptists agree
with the basic principle which governs this meeting: fundamentally
religious liberty. We do not think it ideal that there are still
official state religions nor hidden ones. We believe in free
religions within free states. Paraphrasing Baptist pastor, Martin
Luther King, 'religions should not be the servants of the state,
but its conscience.'"
Spanish leaders had to listen to Sarrias' condemnation of the
current religious situation in Spain: "It is not good to
keep the privileges of a particular religious majority, relegating
the rest in a clear case of discrimination and inequality. The
Baptists, along with all other Spanish evangelicals, demand
greater sensitivity and receptiveness from the governing politicians.
" Sarrias added that evangelicals were not only interested
in asking for things, but were willing to provide positive values
to society in a spirit of service. "We want to be able
to express our convictions with enthusiasm and...clarity, but
without sectarianism."
Source: UEBE. Editing: ACPress.netThe
challenge of Islam for Spain
Madrid, March 10th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The latest book by César
Vidal, evangelical author and regular contributor to Protestante
Digital, is entitled 'Spain and Islam: From Mohammed to Bin
Laden', in which he shows how the long relationship between
the two has been full of tension and conflict.
Vidal covers the 13 relevant centuries in almost 600 pages,
in a unique work which has an extensive bibiography. This latter
includes fragments translated from Arabic, from the writings
of Mohammed to a recent prison sentence handed down to an imam
in southern Spain for promoting violence against women. The
book also offer around 60 documents relating to Christian and
Muslim versions of battles fought, and of other key moments
in the history of Moorish Spain. Two of the latest contain the
thoughts of King Mohammed VI of Morocco on the Isle of Parsley
(a lump of rock 'invaded' a couple of years ago), or Bin Laden's
claims on Andalusia.
Vidal believes Islam offers a considerable challenge to Spain
on such issues as immigration, terrorism or Moroccan claims
on Spanish-held enclaves in North Africa. "Spain was on
the Islamic expansion route from the very beginning." The
Moors invaded the peninsula in the 8th century, driving the
Visigoths before them. This effectively cut Spain off from the
rest of Western Europe, and it took 800 years to recover its
territory, plus a further 300 years of conflict with the Ottomans
in the Mediterranean.
More recent conflicts include the 'Green march' in Morocco,
and Vidal agrees with the theory of Sánchez Albornoz who says
the idea that the 'three cultures' - Christian, Jewish and Muslim
- once lived in harmony in Spain, is a myth. The great problem
for Islam in Spain, says Vidal, were its racial divisions and
the control of the bi-lingual majority by a minority who looked
down on groups like the Berbers or Hispanic half-castes.
Source: EFE. Editing: ACPress.net
Right-wing girls flying the Catholic youth flag
Madrid, March 10th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Only 5% of youngsters
who participate regularly in the Catholic Church accept its
teaching on sexuality, according to the Santa María Trust.
Only one in ten of them think the Catholic Church offers valid
ideas and values for life, according to the report which offers
a bleak prospect regarding Catholic youth activity. The study
is based on 1,075 interviews. About 35% of Spanish youngsters
call themselves Catholics, and more than half believe the institution
defends traditional values, helps the poor, teaches children
and offers guidelines for good behaviour. However, one in five
think the Catholic Church can awake the conscience of politicians,
and fewer than half believe the Church has the answer to the
meaning of life.
Only 12% attend Mass on Sundays, and most of those are girls
from well-off families who sit on the political Right. 57% hardly
ever go to Mass, and although many still consider themselves
members of the Catholic Church, 75% of them think one can believe
in God without having anything to do with church. 79% think
Catholic bishops live more comfortably than the average Spaniard,
and Catholic youngsters tend to create their own community idea
of church on the periphery of the official institution. This
'allows' them, for instance, to develop their own sexual habits
rather than following the Church's teaching on the subject.
One of the report's authors, González Blasco, says youngsters
"share their religious views with their friends, although
the family continues to exercise influence on decision-making."
Faith is ever more of a personal decision, and believing to
keep one's parents happy has almost disappeared as a phenomenon.
"The youth of today, unlike that of other generations,
believes on its own."
Source: ABC. Editing: ACPress.net
Evangelical Alliance sets
up Religious Liberty Department
Zaragoza, March 10th, 2004
(ACPress.net).
The AGM of the Spanish
Evangelical Alliance, held recently in Zaragoza, saw the creation
of a new Department to defend religious liberty.
The Religious Liberty Department is to be headed up by Javier
Povedano, who is also the Head of the Spanish branch of Open
Doors, an evangelical organisation with a long history of helping
the persecuted Church around the world. Pedro Tarquis, Director
of ACPress.net, was elected Director of Redimir, the new umbrella
organisation supervising all the media projects of the Evangelical
Alliance, including Protestante Digital and ACPress.net.
Jaume Llenas was confirmed as General Secretary, and Pablo Martínez
remains as President. Another initiative has to do with closer
links with the Union of Evangelical Women.
Source & Editing: ACPress.net
Quechua
Indians ask Evangelical Alliance to explain Gospel
Zaragoza, March 10th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
A report by the Evangelical
Alliance's Head of Social Action, Francisca Capa, given at the
AGM, explained how a group of Quechua Indians in Colombia had
been reached with the Gospel.
The Alliance has been working in the area for just over a year,
helping with a doctor's surgery, teaching women to read, and
through a child-sponsorhsip scheme. "We have not engaged
in direct evangelism as such, but when they asked why we were
helping them, we answered that it was because God and we loved
them. Then one day, the community leader asked if someone could
explain about the God in whom we believe. It was a moment of
indescribable joy."
They wanted to hear the Gospel in their own language, so two
people from Wycliffe Translators who are working on a Quechua
translation of the Bible, visit the community once a fortnight
to explain the Bible to them. The Alliance finances these and
other projects, and sponsors 616 children in Honduras, Bolivia
and Colombia, through the subscription fees of its members,
and donations. It also has a fund with which it seeks to respond
to humanitarian crises as they occur.
Source & Editing: ACPress.net |
