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Legalising
the illegitimate
Barcelona, March 8th, 2005
(ACPress.net).
Following the talk given
by José de Segovia entitled ‘Does legal mean legitimate?’ (and
featured in last week’s bulletin), there was a round table debate
on the issue, featuring Pablo Martinez, psychiatrist, Pedro
Tarquis, doctor and Director of A.C.Press, and Jaume Llenas,
General Secretary of the Spanish Evangelical Alliance. Martinez
spoke on the ethical aspect, Tarquis on the role of the media,
while Llenas broached the issue from a socio-political viewpoint.
Pablo Martínez observed that some evangelical responses to recent
changes in society have bordered on the belligerent rather than
following the Christian code of seeking peace and reconciliation.
“Christ came to knock walls down and we are throwing grenades
from the trenches.” He said we should rather avoid aggressiveness,
and reminded Christians that we are not here to impose our views
but to expound what we believe. So we must propose solutions,
and attempt to persuade people of the rightness of the biblical
worldview. “The aim is not to create a Christian ethic in our
society but to proclaim the Gospel, not to make our society
more Christian but to be salt and light as Christians (within
it).”
Pedro Tarquis said the initial question is cut and dried for
the secular Press; everything is legitimate, whether or not
it is legal. Their objectives are political and economic power,
and also to abolish faith, and God. There is a genuine spiritual
battle because it is the area in which the conflict between
God and the person who does not know Him is fought out. The
communications battle begins in Genesis. God gives a message
to man: I love you, obey me and you will live. The snake’s message
is: God is lying because if you eat you won’t die, God is restrictive.
God is right, and a communications battle breaks out with envy,
hate, a struggle for power and so on. “The great problem for
the Gospel is that God wants to speak to man but man has lost
the connection with God and cannot recover it.”
Tarquis pointed out the lay trend in the media which is attempting
to remove God from the public sphere, and exclude any moral
or spiritual option. Added to this are the weapons of ridicule,
and of false information. On the other hand, confessional media
such as Catholic outlets tend to be aggressive and lack a healthy
self-criticism. Balance is important, for if people sense evangelicals
are only interested in one issue – say sexual morals – they
will ask: Are you just moralists or do you really love people?
We can get hot under the collar about gay marriage, but what
about immigration, domestic violence or any of a series of other
pressing issues? Our main task in the media is to announce the
values of the Kingdom of God, and people need to see that we
practise what we preach.
Jaume Llenas looked at the relationship between Church and State,
saying that when they form an alliance, the result is disastrous.
The State becomes the executor of the Church’s will and message;
the Church offers ideological protection for the State and tells
citizens to obey the State as this is good. He asked if one
day we were a majority, how would we treat the minority? “The
way a minority is treated is a reflection of the moral character
of the majority.” After centuries of Catholic domination, the
situation in Spain is explosive. Spain has gone rapidly from
a traditionalist position to a postmodern worldview, hardly
passing through modernism on the way. So current legislation
needs to be understood against a background of historical anti-clericalism,
and present-day indifference.
The government will have its hands tied until it stops financing
the Catholic Church, but it does not have to be anti-religious
in its dealings with the different confessional groups. The
problem is that Spain, unlike much of Europe, has never enjoyed
a normal relationship between Church and State. Evangelicals
must help the government see that Spain is not lay, but religiously
plural.
Source: e-Mision. Editing:
ACPress
Suicide attempts soar among women who abort
Madrid, March 13th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
Anxiety, feelings of
guilt, insomnia, depression, loneliness, aggressiveness, sadness,
nervousness, tiredness, alcoholism, self-inflicted injury, suicide
attempts...all these things have been identified as effects
of ‘post-abortion syndrome’, according to the Chairman of the
Abortion Victims Association (AVA), Carmina García-Valdés, which
is spreading.
Attempts to take their own lives have shot up among mothers
who have aborted, at the same time as have the number of abortions
in Spain; the most recent figures suggest there were about 80,000
in 2003. The AVA says the effects upon mothers become stigmas
which stay with them for the rest of their lives. The syndrome
drives women towards alcoholism, bulimia, anorexia, exhaustion,
nervousness, hysteria attacks or aggression.
On top of all this, the syndrome can produce sexual dysfunction,
the breakdown of domestic relationships and even self-inflicted
injury, according to the AVA. However, what most worries them
is the statistic which says that 60% of women who have had an
abortion entertain suicidal thoughts, while as many as 28% of
them try to take their own lives at least once. Abortion also
leads to the break-up of the couple in 70% of cases, due to
communication or sexual problems, and the “low self-esteem and
lack of trust” on the part of the woman who has had the abortion.
A human tragedy which makes the family an inhospitable and stressful
place for its members.
Source: La Razón. Editing:
ACPress
Anniversary concert remembers bomb victims
Madrid, March 13th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
The Rumanian choir who
sing in the Beneficencia Anglican Church in Madrid gave a concert
on the first anniversary of the terrorist train bombings in
the Spanish capital. Connected up to several other Cathedrals
in northern Europe, it was entitled ‘Praying with Music’, and
offered in memory of the victims of last year’s atrocity.
Given that the highest number of foreign victims were Rumanian,
the concert was given by a Rumanian choir who rehearse in the
aforementioned Church. They sang three pieces in Rumanian, and
five in Spanish. In two of the songs, well-known pieces related
to Lent, they asked the congregation to join them in singing
along. The concert was organised by the Anglican Church in Spain,
and the Evangelical Council of Madrid.
Source: IERE. Editing: ACPress
Canary Islands Evangelical Council rejects homosexuality
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, March
13th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
The General Assembly
of the Evangelical Council of the Canary Islands has published
a communiqué entitled: ‘The position of the Evangelical Council
of the Canary Islands regarding the proposal of the Spanish
government about homosexual marriage and adoption rights.”
“We believe in respecting human decisions and tendencies in
all areas of life, including that of sexual orientation. We
respect those who have decided to live differently from heterosexuals
and they have every right to defend and promote the principles
behind their decisions. By the same token, the Christian Church
has the right to express its disagreement with behaviour which
is contrary to its faith, and to promote alternative lifestyles
it considers suitable.”
We believe the State has the duty to regulate so that all citizens
have the same freedom and rights, so that no one is discriminated
against on political, religious, ethnic or sexual grounds. We
evangelicals have been systematically discriminated against
in our country, and even today our rights are not the same as
those of the Catholic Church.”
“We believe marriage is an institution that is only possible
between a man and a woman. Homosexual relationships are not
marriages. The State should find a way to regulate and call
these relationships without taking away the name which belongs
to heterosexual couples.”
“We believe orphaned children have the right to the closest
possible to a biological family, that is, they should have the
opportunity to have a man as father and a woman as mother. A
heterosexual marriage is the only relationship which fulfils
the requirements of a natural or biological family. Children’s
rights must come before those of others, and children should
not be used to achieve personal ends, nor the social legitimacy
sought by a particular group.”
“We believe all sexual activity outside heterosexual marriage
goes against Christian morals. However, we do not reject nor
condemn those who engage in such activity, though we are against
the anti-Christian behaviour in which those people are involved.
The Gospel calls everyone without exception to experience through
salvation the lifestyle taught by Jesus Christ.”
Source: CECanarias. Editing: ACPress
Official
recognition of prison chaplains comes closer
Madrid, March 16th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
A new draft agreement
covering prison visiting by the three non-Catholic recognised
religions, including evangelicals, is being given its final
touches by the Justice and Interior Ministries.
The document seeks to guarantee religious prison services for
Protestants, Jews and especially Muslims, given that there are
a high number of them in Spanish prisons. It would recognise
the figure of a chaplain, someone appointed by his own church
or religion to visit inmates of the same religious persuasion.
The chaplains would be designated by the recognised Federations
of each of the three religious groups, although the State would
retain the last word on the appointment. It can also remove
them if it considers they are not doing what they were appointed
for, or if they fail to adhere to current prison legislation.
Some issues still need to be thrashed out, such as meals during
Ramadan or the use of prison rooms for Friday Islamic prayers.
Source: ABC. Editing: ACPress
Undergraduates don’t trust the Catholic Church
Madrid, March 16th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
The ‘average’ undergraduate,
according to a recent study, is Left-leaning, has little or
no time for religion, pro-European though with some reservations,
critical about globalisation and optimistic about the effects
of immigration on Spain.
52% of the 3,000 students interviewed said they were not religious
at all, even though 78% of them had been educated in a Catholic
environment. Almost 60% of them said they never went to church
services, except for weddings, christenings and first communions.
Children of their time, they are not at all bothered by the
moral issues facing society: living together before marriage
(8.8 points of acceptance out of 10), homosexual ‘marriage’
(7.9), euthanasia (7.5), abortion (7) and adoption by gay couples
(6.8).
45% of students who identify themselves in some way with the
Catholic Church believe its views on sexuality are outdated.
In fact, it was one of the institutions which scored the lowest
acceptance score (2.9 out of 10), as they clearly expressed
their lack of confidence in it.
Source: EL MUNDO. Editing:
ACPress
Government has no intention of removing Catholic special
status
Madrid, March 16th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
The Socialist government
has clearly distanced itself from any revision of Spain’s special
agreement with the Vatican, which affords the Catholic Church
a privileged status even in Zapatero’s era of ‘militant laity’.
Although Madrid does not rule out the possibility ‘one day’,
it would merely be to “accentuate” the non-confessional nature
of Spain. The comments came in a written response to a question
by a nationalist MP, Francisco Rodríguez, who had asked for
the government’s position on what he called “the increasing
provocation and interference by the Catholic Church, the Vatican
and even the Pope in Spanish state business.”
As for the questioner’s insistence on whether the 1976 Accord
would be overturned or updated, the government pointed to the
issue of Religious Education, which is an ongoing area of negotiation
and conflict.
The reply came two days before a high-level meeting between
the Vice-President, María Teresa Fernández, the Minister for
Justice, López Aguilar, and two leading Catholic clerics, Archbishop
Aguilar and spokesman Martinez Camino. Clearly, even this government’s
radical agenda has its limits.
Source: EL PAÍS. Editing:
ACPress
A whole week of prayer in Seville
Seville, March 16th, 2005
(ACPress.net).
Once more, the believers
of Seville have joined together to pray. Christians signed up
for times of prayer throughout the week of February 20th-27th
at a central location, combining to offer up a whole week of
prayer – 24 hours a day for seven days.
The week-long event was called 24/7 and brought together Christians
from all different denominations in a show of unity across the
capital of Andalusia. Lists were posted so that people could
choose what time they wanted to come and pray, so that the whole
week was in this way covered. Organisers were delighted at how
smoothly the event went, and found inspiration in Paul’s words
to ‘pray without ceasing’.
Source: Lidia Ruiz Galafate.
Editing: ACPress
Adventist world leader visits Madrid
Madrid, March 16th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
Pastor Jan Paulsen, the
World Chairman of the Adventist Church of the Seventh Day, has
just paid a visit to Madrid to meet representatives of his organisation
in Spain.
The Adventist Church has been the source of some controversy
within Spanish evangelicalism. They are a member of the Federation
of Evangelical Organisations and count themselves as part of
the evangelical fold. However, most conservative evangelicals
regard their group as heretical due to unorthodox views on certain
doctrines. This was made clear in a debate between an Adventist
leader and evangelical theologian at a public debate a few years
ago in Madrid. The Adventists are also well-known for their
defence of religious liberty and for their social work.
Source: INFOEKUMENE. Editing:
ACPress
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