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The
new demography of Spain
Madrid, June 4th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
At least two out of every
ten babies are born outside wedlock in Spain, a proportion which
has doubled in a decade, from 10.7% in 1993 to 21.4% in 2002.
This is still well below the European Union average of 27%,
and works out at a total of 89,135 births.
Spanish families continue to get smaller; the average number
of people in a Spanish home has fallen to 2.9 and there are
14.2 million homes in total. The most common family situation
is a couple with 2 children (22.18% of the total), followed
by couples with no children (19.37%), which has overtaken the
number of couples with one child (18.51%). Only 8% of homes
are made up of families with 3 or more children, and this precentage
is dropping all the time.
Single-parent families are also increasing, there are now 325,000
of them, and the adult in them is a woman in 9 out of 10 cases.
20% of all homes are made up of someone living alone, most of
them over 65 and the vast majority women. Registry office weddings
are increasing, while marriages between a Spaniard and a foreigner
now account for 8.5% of the total.
The average age at which men get married is now up to 30.6 years
old, while for women it stands at 28.6 years old. Although the
number of weddings has fallen across the EU, the figure for
Spain remains stable. There are also fewer divorces and separations
than in much of Europe, although the year 2002 still saw 115,188
marriage breakdowns - 73,567 separations and 41,621 divorces.
The number of married women who go out to work has risen from
around 2 million in 1987 to more than 3.5 million today. Women
going out to work has led to a falling birth-rate, as has the
decisión to put off having children till later in life, which
reduces the biological chances of having any. The average age
at which women have their first child has gone up by 4 years
since 1975, to 29.7 years old. Over the same period, the average
number of children per woman of child-bearing age has fallen
from 2.8 to just 1.26. Spain has crawled off the bottom of the
European Union league table for birth-rates, but still comes
in at a meagre 1.47. Only Greece is lower, at 1.25. In one in
five homes, the main bread-winner is a woman.
Source: EL PAÍS. Editing:
ACPress.net
Aids, road
accidents and obesity are main health problems
Madrid, June 4th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The 57th Assembly of
the World Health Organisation (WHO) identified three main problems
facing the world’s health today: Aids, road accidents and food-related
ailments such as obesity.
Aids still cuts a swathe through developing countries, with
an average of 14,000 infections a day, including 2,000 children.
The adults are spread more or less equally between men and women,
but almost half the infected women are under 24. It is estimated
that more than 20 million people have died from the virus, 3
million of them last year alone. In sub-Saharan Africa, it has
shaved 15 years of life expectancy. Spain has agreed to give
50 million euros to the World Fund Against Aids.
Road accidents is another cause of death on a massive scale.
Worldwide, almost 3,300 people are killed every day, which adds
up to 1. 2 million a year. At current rates, road accidents
will become the third highest cause of death and disability
within 15 years, from its current world position of 9th (it
is already 5th in Spain).
The third problem identified by the WHO is obesity, which is
mainly a concern in developed countries. The organisation called
on governments to promote healthy eating, daily exercise and
encourage the food industry to sell decent products. Resistance
comes from the sugar and salt industries.
Source: Servimedia. Editing:
ACPress.net
Protestant voice at royal
wedding
Madrid, June 4th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
It may be clutching at
straws or, on the other hand, it might be an attempt to suggest
there was a religious fifth-columnist on hand, but an evangelical
singer was in the choir which performed at the royal wedding
recently.
Esther Garralón García is a member of a Baptist Church in Madrid
as well as of the Spanish National Choir, which sang at the
wedding of Prince Felipe and Letizia Ortiz.
Source: Pedro Gil. Editing:
ACPress.net
Spanish chaplain heading
for the Olympics
Málaga, June 6th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The International Sports
Coalition has arranged for almost 60 chaplains to be present
in the Olympic village in Athens this summer, of whom 40 are
Christians. 28 of this latter group are evangelicals, including
Rubén Fernández, who works for the group ‘Athletes in Action’
in Málaga.
Hitherto, chaplains at the Olympics have been restricted to
the Religious Service Centre, which meant they could only meet
those who went there to pray or for assistance. This year’s
chaplains will soon hold a meeting to organise how they will
operate at the Games. There are also opportunities for other
Spanish Christians to go as volunteers to the Olympics, to bring
the Gospel to the many thousands of people who will congregate
in the Greek capital this August.
Source: AeA. Editing: ACPress.net
Evangelicals and Catholics
against reproduction law change
Madrid, June 6th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The Spanish Evangelical
Alliance (AEE) and the Catholic Episcopate have rejected government
plans to modify the law on assisted reproduction which could
allow cloning for therapeutic reasons in the future.
A spokesman said “Where there is a living human body..there
is a human person and, therefore, inviolable human dignity.”
The Catholic bishops also expressed their disapproval regarding
the loosening of the abortion law and the regulation of homosexual
‘marriage’. The AEE agrees that an embryo is a human being and
should be respected as such.
New legislation could be used to allow doctors to obtain stem
cells from frozen embryos. The episcopal spokesman commented:
“The end does not justify the means”, arguing that any assurances
lacked substance as no therapy based on embryonic stem cells
actually exists. Rather the legislation would be a move towards
“reproductive cloning”.
-Jaume Llenas, General Secretary of the AEE, said “we disapprove
of experiments with embryos and with any tampering which might
harm them. We are against abortion except in cases where the
mother’s life is in danger.” He added that the AEE supported
alternative treatments for women who were considering abortion,
such as adoption or social aid, and preventative family planning
to avoid unwanted pregnancies.
Martínez Camino, the episcopal spokesman, said people should
not be produced nor reproduced in a laboratory, but in a relationship
between husband and wife. He rejected a law which would allow
three eggs to be fertilised; “Let them explain to mothers that
in order to have a child, another fifteen must be sacrificed
and thrown in the rubbish.”
Source: D. Avisos. Editing:
ACPress.net
Government hits back in
argument over morals
Madrid, June 7th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The Deputy Prime Minister
and government spokesman, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega,
warned the Catholic Church that it cannot impose its views on
society. She added that the Spanish state is non-confessional
and its moral values are enshrined in the Constitution.
The strong reply from the government came after the Catholic
hierarchy had criticised Socialist plans for liberalising abortion,
homosexual unions and assisted reproduction. Vega added that
church-state relations should follow the path of “dialogue,
agreement and debate and, if necessary, disagreement.”
Source: El País. Editing:
ACPress.net
ACPress.net website wins prize
Madrid, June 7th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
‘Protestante Digital’,
the ACPress.net website, has been awarded this month’s ‘Integrity
Prize’ by Integridad Network, who give the prize to “Christian
sites which proclaim God’s Word on Internet and who show Christian
values and qualities.”
The Network comments that the sites it looks for are those which
operate internationally and offer “Biblical content, excellence,
inspiration and family guidance, leaving behind violence, offensive
material, pornography and racism.” Protestante Digital has also
been singled out for the quality of its design, which is down
to Imvisual (a professional design company run by evangelicals
in Madrid, Israel Martorell and Miguel Angel Sáez) and its webmaster,
Rafael Gómez-Pimpollo.
The website received 21,500 hits in May, which brings the total
for 2004 up to 107,000. Another evangelical institution, IBSTE
Bible College near Barcelona, has joined the ACPress.net (REDimir)
project as an associated member. For readers who have yet to
visit the site, it can be found at protestantedigital.com and
includes news and articles in English and Spanish.
Source & Editing: ACPress.net
FEREDE attempts different
route to talk to politicians
Madrid, June 8th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The FEREDE says it wants
to meet the various political parties represented in Parliament
to discuss with them the Accords with religious minorities signed
by the state in 1992 but not yet fully implemented.
The Ferede, which left few people in doubt over its support
for the Socialist campaign in the run-up to the last general
election, believes “the change of government signals a new chapter
which we hope will be more positive for our churches.” The FEREDE,
and administrative body which negotiates on behalf of evangelicals
with the government, became very frustrated at the lack of progress
during the legislature of José María Aznar’s Popular Party.
Source: InfoEkumene, InfoCP.
Editing: ACPress.net
Spirituality centre planned
in the Pyrenees
Huesca, June 8th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
A building belonging
to the IEE (Methodists/ Congregationalists) in the northern
town of Jaca which hitherto has been used for summer camps,
is to be converted into a Refuge and Spirituality Centre.
What is a ‘Spirituality Centre’? A place of prayer, first and
foremost, so a small chapel will be built for the purpose. Guests
and employees of the Centre will be able to go there to pray,
meditate, sing, read the Word or just be in silence. The Centre
will be open to all, Christians or not, who wish to take time
out to reflect on their lives. There will also be seminars and
training courses, offered in conjunction with other churches
and institutions.
The project is going to be run by Pastor Alain Brouze and his
wife, Esther Rubio, who will live at the Centre. They will also
have pastoral responsibility for those who meet there. The Centre
will be called ‘Casa del Arco’ (Arch House) as it is situated
in a street with an arch over it.
Source: InfoEkumene. Editing:
ACPress.net
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