Madrid, December 2nd, 2004 (ACPres.net).
No sooner had Spanish state television (RTVE) granted permission for an evangelical Christmas church service to be broadcast than it was rescinded. A day after the Spanish Evangelical Alliance launched a campaign asking for the service, the company agreed. A week later, without any explanation, it's all change and no service.

In October, the Director of the weekly evangelical programme on RTVE, José Pablo Sánchez, requested the transmission of a Christmas service at a meeting with the station's Head of Religious and Cultural Programming, Mercedes Ortiz. On November 14th, through such channels as A.C.Press, the Evangelical Alliance launched a campaign in favour of such a broadcast. The very next day the request was approved and technical and production details discussed. The date set for the service was December 23rd at 8pm, at the Baptist Church in General Lacy Street, Madrid. It was to be the first time Spanish state TV had ever broadcast a Protestant service.

And it was too good to be true. A week later, the broadcast plans were cancelled. Sánchez says "I have tried to speak to several managers at RTVE to find out what is going on, but they are all in meetings. When I find something out, I shall announce it. I don't yet know if there is something we can do, but I am sure we can pray." The Alliance campaign ends on December 14th, when churches should send in all the petition signatures they have collected in favour of the service being broadcast, and calling for religious equality in the Press generally. Protestants are tired of being compared unfavourably with the Catholic Church, which enjoys a virtual monopoly in the Spanish mass media.

Madrid, December 3rd, 2004 (ACPres.net). 
The VI Jewish Book Fair has just been held in Madrid, offering new and old works about Judaism in general, and Jewish history in Spain in particular. In this respect, the Inquisition crops up frequently.

The Fair is an opportunity for the Jewish community to give expression to their culture through literature, discussions, talks and music. The Fair opened with a round-table discussion on the subject of "Writing about Jewishness in Spain", in which the evangelical writer and broadcaster, César Vidal, participated. A book on Jewish cuisine was presented, and there were several activities for children. Another panel grappled with the topic, 'In defence of Israel', while another book launched at the Fair was 'The deaths of Roni', a chronicle of two families who lived between Tangiers and Tetuan.

There was also a historical dimension looking at Jews throughout Spanish history; at the time of the Inquisition and during the more promising Second Republic.

Barcelona, December 3rd, 2004 (ACPres.net).   
A joint project run by evangelicals and Catholics in Barcelona seeks to publish an edition of the Bible for deaf people.

The aim is to publish the whole Bible in a religious dictionary in LSE/LSC, both in book form, and on video/DVD. The project is led by Steve Parkhurst, who works for PROEL/SIL International, and José Ignacio Bonacasa. The Catholic group consists of Nuria Vers Hornosa, Amalia Álvarez Reyes, Mosen Xavier Pagés Castañer and John F. Elwalde, while the evangelical representatives are Diane Parkhurst and Eloy Lobato, helped by members of the Bible Society, Christian Ministry to the Deaf, PROEL (a Spanish linguistic organisation) and SIL-International (Summer Institute of Linguists).

Málaga, December 3rd, 2004 (ACPres.net).  
A Spanish Christian student movement (GBU)  organised two talks under the title: 'A definitive response to the 'Da Vinci Code'. They were given by José de Segovia, a theologian who works with the Evangelical Alliance, and pastor of a church in Madrid.

In an attempt to clarify issues the book effectively clouds, the GBU hope to reach students with the truth about the Christian faith, which is seriously misrepresented in Dan Brown's novel. An evangelical response in book form, 'Breaking the Da Vinci Code', by Ben Witherington, was also recently published in Spanish.

The two talks, given on the same day in late November, were held in lecture halls in Málaga and Granada Universities respectively.

Algeciras, December 3rd, 2004 (ACPres.net).  
Local authorities in the southern town of Algeciras paid homage to the work of a gypsy evangelical minister, Juan Luis Moreno, for his contribution in helping people break free from drug addiction.

Moreno himself was too unwell to attend the ceremony, but he was represented by a good number of relatives and friends. Moreno's work in getting more recognition for the gypsy community was mentioned, as was his support and promotion of drug rehabilitation centres in the area. Gabriel Daza spoke on behalf of Moreno: "He would have loved to be here, he asked me to offer his apologies and his thanks to you all for thinking of him. To speak of Juan Luis I can only say that he is a man who does good without expecting anything in return and that despite his illness, he continues working for others."

Moreno was born in nearby La Linea in 1963, one of nine brothers and sisters. He is now married and has four children of his own. He still lives in the town of his birth. He began helping others in 1986 when he participated in the social action of local evangelical churches. His devotion to God, his spiritual commitment and to people led to his appointment as pastor. He founded the 'Alatín Centre' where drug addicts could find help with their problem. In 1988, he moved to pastor a church in Extremadura, then 2 years later, moved to Puerto de Santa María, where he founded another rehab centre.

Moreno ran his third centre, 'Genesis', in Algeciras when he moved there in 1991. In that year he began to work with the Federation of Romany Associations in Andalusia as a monitor of gypsy pupils in schools. His aim was to eradicate truancy and support the integration of gypsies. Since then, he has worked on a number of gypsy projects, and is currently employed by La Linea Council. It is estimated that around 10,000 gypsies live in the region around Gibraltar.

Bilbao, December 3rd, 2004 (ACPres.net).  
The wheels may be coming off but as yet there has been no head-on crash in relations between the Socialist government and the Catholic Church. One group trying to avoid such a clash are the 'Basque Christian Socialists' who recently celebrated their 10th anniversary at a Conference.

The General Secretary of the local branch of the Socialist Party, Patxi López, opened the Conference by saying: "Despite not being a believer myself, I have always been one of your strongest allies", before launching into a denunciation of the Catholic Episcopate for their "ultra-conservative" arguments. One of the group's co-founders, Ramón Jauregui, said "It all depends on how sensitive our party is, and on the common sense of the Catholic hierarchy." The Conference examined "how to build bridges between the Socialist Party and the Christian world." (By 'Christian', it clearly means 'Catholic', as there is no Protestant representation in the group.

The Conference complained that there is no institutionalised relationship between them and the Catholic Church, which is a strange comment in the light of their party's attempts to disassociate Spain from religious confessionalism, and they lamented the lack of "an internal debate in the Socialist Party organised by believers." Jauregui said that at a national level, abandonment would be unforgivable and he has made this known to the powers that be, within the Socialist Party. He also said that certain sections of the Press were "sowing tares" in this area, and while the 'big four' Catholic groups got support from the Episcopate, others such as Caritas (involved in social action) had to work with little or no help.

Madrid, December 3rd, 2004 (ACPres.net).
The Annual General Meeting of RedIMIR, the organisation which is responsible for A.C.Press, e-Mision and ProtestanteDigital, and which operates under the auspices of the Evangelical Alliance, was held in Madrid last weekend.

RedIMIR is the main news agency for Protestantism in Spain, both inwardly to the churches and outwardly to society. It produces five weekly news bulletins (four in Spanish and one in English) as well as the digital magazine which includes written articles, interviews and other elements. It is now planning to develop video in its broadcasts, and also to launch a School of Journalism.

Numbers are everything in the media world and ProtestanteDigital received 30,000 hits in October, up from just 8,000 in its first month of service in September last year. The different ACPress news bulletins account for a combined total of 10,000 subscriptions, and 6 Gigas of material is downloaded each month from e-Mision broadcasts. Even more important than this impressive track record are the stories of people whose lives have been changed through discovering the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the pages of ProtestanteDigital. Such testimonies and letters received encourage the RedIMIR team to carry on with the project.

At the annual dinner, the Director, Pedro Tarquis, highlighted the generosity of all the volunteer workers which makes the project viable, and the Chairman, Juan Antonio Monroy, spoke of the importance of the efforts of people committed to God and to an ideal, rather than to an institution. The main decisions taken at the AGM involved the development of a School of Journalism, although the project as such is only in its early stages. The evangelical organisations involved with the project as Associate Members were given a greater say in RedIMIR through various administrative decisions. For instance, they can now elect a representative who will sit on the Editorial Committee, the workhorse of the whole project.

The Editorial Committee is currently made up of Juan Antonio Monroy (Chairman), Pedro Tarquis (Director), Jonathan Dawson, Jaume Llenas, Asun Quintana, Manuel López and Daniel Monje. At the meeting, it was also agreed to award an annual 'Unamuno Prize' to the non-evangelical person or institution who has done the most to help the evangelical cause in Spain.

Madrid, December 3rd, 2004 (ACPres.net). 
The Catholic Parents' Association (Concapa) is aggrieved at the treatment its moral teaching receives from the current government, while other religions, notably Islam, receives preferential treatment despite the fact that some of its practices may be unconstitutional.

Concapa's Chairman, Luis Carbonell, said that while the government "can't stop talking about domestic violence", it supports Islam which "authorises it depending on who is the aggressor. We all know that in some countries women are stoned to death." Alvaro Vermoet, the head of the Democratic Coalition of Pupils (Code), expressed similar sentiments saying that all religions had a right to be in schools, as long as they did not stir up violent, sexist or radical ideas. When asked about a demonstration, Carbonell said he was unaware that any protest action had been planned, and said that his Association acted independently of the Catholic hierarchy anyway. Neither did he wish to comment on suggestions that the Bishops had persuaded the faithful not to march in protest at recent government legislation.

Madrid, December 3rd, 2004 (ACPres.net). 
As soon as the twelve dongs at midnight on December 31st usher in the New Year, the celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of the publishing of Cervantes' novel, 'Don Quijote de la Mancha', will begin. In Madrid, 400 events are planned throughout 2005 to mark the 400 years of the famous work of literature.

Apparently a "surprise" is in store related to Quijote when the bells peal in the main square on New Year's Eve. The authorities in Madrid have budgeted 4.5 million euros for 60 events to do with the anniversary, 1.5 million more euros than originally planned. A 10-volume encyclopaedia has been 10 years in the making by 120 scholars, a large exhibition is to be held on Cervantes, and a series of films will be shown in the capital. A play is also to be performed at the theatre. School-children in Madrid aged between 16 and 18 will receive an edition of 'El Quijote'.

In the nearby town of Alcalá de Henares, an archaeological exhibition will bring together artefacts from the period when Cervantes was alive. All kinds of other events are planned in an attempt to make Madrid's people more aware of the best-known Hispanic writer of all time, as well as encouraging them to read more.