Madrid, July 9th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Despite the enormous moral and spiritual significance of the government's announcement to legalise homosexual unions and grant them adoption rights, only two evangelical leaders have made public pronouncments on the matter: Jaume Llenas, General Secretary of the Spanish Evangelical Alliance, and Carlos López, Anglican Bishop in Madrid.

 Llenas says he agrees that all citizens should be equal before the law and that people should be treated without regard to their sexual orientation. However, he sees that homosexual couples and marriage are different concepts. "It is also important that legality does not mean moral legitimacy, and in that sense I understand that the Christian ethic is opposed to homosexual relationships."

Llenas added that as far as adoption was concerned, legalising it for homosexual couples was hasty, and being done without evaluating the rights and possible harm of the child, as well as without due reflection, consensus or adequate, objective research.

A circular letter from the Anglican Bishop, Carlos López, responding to the appointment in the USA of an openly-homosexual bishop, reads: "According to the teaching of Holy Scripture on human sexuality, it is a gift from God to be enjoyed within the marriage between a man and a woman. Common sense shows us that God has created two different sexes who complement one another and form a complete human being. Therefore, two people of the same sex could never complement one another."

Madrid, July 9th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Muslims are asking for 30 million euros a year from the Spanish state as well as the same tax breaks enjoyed by the Catholic Church. If granted, the benefits would come to the Jews and the Protestants too.

The three recognised religious minorities base their petition, and hopes, on the implementation of the 1992 Accords. Thus far, successive governments of Left and Right have turned a deaf ear to such requests, and have never bothered to implement the Accords. However, the new Socialist goverment under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is willing to finance Islam in order to curtail overseas funding from fundamentalist regimes such as Saudi Arabia. If it does so, it would presumably have to offer the other two recognised groups ­ Judaism and Protestantism ­ similar concessions.

The figure of 30 million euros is a quarter of what the Catholic Church receives, and what Muslims calculate is their due. The original idea of giving Muslims a box on tax returns in which their followers could designate their religion as the beneficiaries of the 'charity tax' has been discounted by the Justice Minister, on the grounds that most Muslim do not complete tax forms! His department is discussing possible alternatives with the Treasury.

The Socialist Party has long considered the financial agreements with the Catholic Church to be discriminatory, and argues for a more equitable system whereby each religious group receives what proportionately corresponds to them according to the number of adherents/members. MP Alvaro Cuesta says the current system guarantees the Catholic Church a minimum amount, whatever tax is assigned to them on people's returns, and that the other religious groups should not be treated worse than the Roman Church.

Madrid, July 9th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The Socialist government wants to finance the recognised groups of Islam, Judaism and Protestantism in Spain through the general budget, which they understand would be the fulfilment of the 1992 Accords signed with the three 'historically-recognised' religious minorities in the country.

The agreement also covers funding for confessional state school R.E. teachers , space on the media, and chaplaincys in hospitals, prisons and the Armed Forces. The Accords cover many issues of some significance: the rights of the clergy, the legal protection of places of worship, classes in the religious beliefs of each group in state schools, fiscal benefits, the celebration of religious holidays and the preservation of historical and artistic sites.

The government wants to find a similar model for the three groups, which are estimated at around 1 million Protestants, 700,000 Muslims and tens of thousands of Jews. Quite how these figures have been arrived at is unspecified. Meanwhile, the financing of the Catholic Church would continue without change, although the government is committed to studying the issue. The evangelical group which negotiates on behalf of the Protestant community with the state, the FEREDE, says they represent 400,000 Spaniards, 800,000 European Union citizens and 100,000 Latin Americans. They say they are the second largest religious group after the Catholics, with 2,000 evangelical churches as against merely 200 mosques. "All we ask for is equality. The government must do something to alleviate the lack of resources in evangelical churches," says Executive Secretary, Mariano Blázquez.

Madrid, July 13th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Today sees the end of one of the more esoteric religious gatherings on the world calendar, the IV Congress of the self-styled  'Parliament of World Religions.' The organisers began talking in terms of 8,000 visitors but in the end around 5,000 religious delegates have been meeting in Barcelona.

The aim of the exercise is to show that representatives of all kinds of religions can get on with one another in a world full of war and human suffering, so as well as the major world religions, a whole host of the weird and wonderful were invited to the Congress. The Catholic Church ­ which shares with evangelicals a distaste of such gatherings ­ was officially represented by the Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, who is on the Commission for Religious Dialogue and in charge of relations with Muslims. The new Archbishop of Barcelona, Lluis Martínez Sistach, was also present.

The cumbersome and anodyne motto of the Congress was 'Paths of peace: the art of knowing how to listen, the power of compromise.' It would take the 'intense week's work' just to try and draw those various threads together. The Director of the Parliament, Dirk Ficca, a Protestant, said religion had increased exposure since the terrorist attacks in America, and that there were three reasons for holding the Parliament: sharing one's beliefs, trying to understand others, and thinking about how to make it a better world.

How many religions are there in the world? Some say 10,000 though one specialist also lists 21,000 varieties of 'Christianity' which makes it the biggest grouping worldwide (2,000 million). The various branches of Islam account for 1,190 million, Hinduism 774 million, Buddhism 359 million, Sikhs 18 million, Jews 15 million and Bahais 6 million. What is euphemistically called the 'traditional Chinese religion' claims 225 million. The only group to make a point of refusing to attend the Parliament is the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Apart from ecumenical concerns that the Gospel of Jesus Christ might be submerged beneath geo-political concerns of peace at any price, the Parliament has emphasised abuses by religious fanatics as well as those carried out by governments, highlighting the discrepancy between creeds which preach justice and goodness, and followers who live by anything but this creed. One group hoping to make headway at the Parliament was the Liberation Theology wing of the Catholic Church, which claims to have suffered discrimination at the hands of Rome.

Madrid, July 13th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The website at which A.C.Press bulletins may be found, as well as other articles and items of interest from the world of current affairs, 'ProtestanteDigital.com' (PD) is riding high, and has just been 'ranked' as a Level 5 website by the prestigious search engine 'Google'.

After only 10 months on the web, PD finds itself alongside various secular Spanish newspapers such as 'Voz de Galicia'. The various national newspapers' sites are ranked between 6 and 8.

The largest Spanish Christian publishers, CLIE, are the latest group to join the 'RedIMIR project which includes PD and ACPress.net, and operates under the auspices of the Spanish Evangelical Alliance. Testing is underway prior to the introduction of audio and video news at the website in the autumn, and gospel songs can be heard and downloaded already.

The total number of subscriptions to the eight different ACPress.net bulletins sent out weekly is currently running at 9,800 and Google's decision to give the PD 'pagerank' can only help to increase interest in the work of RedIMIR. This ranking takes into account factors such as the number of hits received, and the links offered. PD had 21,700 visits in June, which brings the year's total thus far to 133,000. The most popular sections are News, articles and the evangelical Diary (Agenda) section. Visits to the English-language news section are also up, registering 2,100 visits so far in 2004.

The latest project is the establishment of a training school for budding Christian journalists, with negotiations ongoing between RedIMIR, the Evangelical Alliance, and the various groups associated with the project.

Madrid, July 13th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The Islamic terrorists responsible for the March massacre in Madrid had three other targets in mind; two Jewish buildings and an English Primary School in northern Madrid.

These findings are part of the Intelligence report on the March 11th bombings which includes documents found in the Leganés flat where seven Muslim terrorists blew themselves up on April 3rd. The information contained what were called 'religious' objectives, such as 'Massada', a country property used for children's camps and other activities. The document noted that "on Sundays and public holidays, families of Jewish origin tend to go there." Police searched the property just before Easter, fearing explosives may have been planted there.

The other two potential targets were a Jewish hostel in the city of Avila, north of Madrid, and 'Brains', an English Primary School situated in a northern suburb of the Spanish capital.

Madrid, July 13th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
A sense of humour is not only an escape valve for problems at work, but aids creativity and encourages hard work.

Experts agree that humour helps retain a positive attitude to life and "see things from a perspective which helps to find more creative solutions." Humour modifies the way the brain thinks and helps managers gain the attention of their staff better, break the tension and help them accept instructions with better grace. Many firms think it is one of the secrets of success in business.

 A sense of humour goes alongside well-being and should be considered as a factor which improves the firm as well as the individual. Senior management do not necessarily have to be associated with seriousness, but humour can be adapted into the relationship with staff. Firms which do so keep their staff and customers, motivate their employers, improve productivity, increase innovation and create a sense of community. The expression 'just for a laugh' may need to be qualified.

Madrid, July 13th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The Spanish Parliament has passed a resolution which calls on the government to regulate same-sex unions. Only the opposition Popular Party (PP) voted against.

Justice Minister, Juan Fernando López, was due to meet representatives of the State Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals to establish a calendar for legislation to be brought into effect. In presenting the proposal, Socialist MP Alfredo Pérez said this was the third time their party had brought such a measure but that the first two times it had been defeated by the-then PP majority. His weak defence of the motion was to say its purpose was "to end all kinds of discrimination."

Agustí Cerda, an MP with the Catalan Republican Party, said the Spanish constitution ­ unlike the Italian one ­ did not identify 'family' or 'marriage' and claimed opposition to gay adoption rights as "absurd prejudice." The parliamentary debate centred around the issues of constitutionality and adoption, with those in favour insisting on the 'need to regulate' homosexual couples and their rights, though why was not made clear.

The only voice raised in protest was that of Ignacio Astarloa, for the Popular Party, who argued that the resolution was "a great mistake in both content and method", blaming the Socialists for "the effects which it will produce in institutions that currently work reasonably well." The PP spokesman said the proposal was an attack on marriage and the family, defining this institution as "the natural society formed through marriage", and marriage itself as "the union between a man and a woman confirmed through certain rituals" in which the difference between the sexes is simply essential." He said the legalisation of same-sex unions is the "unnecessary de-naturalising" of marriage. His common-sense ethics fell largely on deaf ears.

Astarloa did not specify what he would offer as regulation for same-sex union, but denied that refusing them marriage status was discrimination, because "the principle of equality does not demand equal treatment in situations which are not the same. There is no reason to see those who've got constitutional rights as the same as those who hope to have them."