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Of
Protestants and popes
Madrid,
April 11th, 2005 ( ACPress.net).
Amidst the outpouring
of public sentiment upon the death of John Paul II, even among
some evangelicals, a balanced reaction is like an oasis in the
desert. Jaume Llenas, General Secretary of the Spanish Evangelical
Alliance, has been attempting to steer a middle course between
media hype and Protestant indifference.
“We regret the death of Karol Wojtila as a person, but that
does not remove the huge theological differences between his
policy and views and those of evangelical Christianity.” Protestant
Christianity does not accept the authority of Tradition nor
that of the Church above that of the Bible, as in practice happens
in the Roman Catholic Church, especially in its justification
of a papal figure.
As Llenas pointed out, the doctrine of papal supremacy – utterly
contrary to biblical teaching – is only a few centuries old
in any case. He said he respected John Paul as a person and
as the leader of the Catholic Church, but was unhappy at the
way his last days had been used by the Catholic hierarchy for
ideological reasons. “He should have spent his final moments
in peace.” As for this pope’s record, Llenas recognised his
role in helping undermine Communism, but noted that he his tenure
has seen “a return to the most reactionary social postures.”
He added that the Catholic Church has gone backwards from Vatican
II to the “most antiquated doctrines of Catholicism”, dogma
rather than the Bible.
In this regard, Llenas highlighted the appalling Mariology under
John Paul, seeing her as a mediator between God and man, when
in the Bible the only mediator is Jesus Christ. Llenas believes
the Catholic Church is split into factions, and that the gap
between the hierarchy and the rank-and-file is greater than
ever. Never mind how they venerated the pope at his death, they
have by and large ignored his moral teaching, as has society
at large. Llenas agreed that Protestantism shared many of the
Roman views on ethics, but not its attempt to impose them on
society in what he called “a return to Constantine”, whereby
the state gives the church moral support while the church supports
the state legally.
As for ecumenism under John Paul, there have been more gestures
than real action. “An agreement on justification by faith was
signed with the Lutheran Church but never taught in Catholic
parishes. It did not show that justification is not by works,
but only by faith in Jesus. The Catholic Church continues to
proclaim that it is the only true Church, and that the rest
are not. It is the same old story; nothing’s changed.” As for
the Catholic Church’s apologies in recent years, Llenas believes
they are alright as far as they go but have not been backed
up in practice: it admits mistakes but still claims to be infallible,
which prevents anyone having meaningful dialogue with it. The
claim that only Rome is ‘church’ makes any apology a contradiction
of its own stated position.
Source: eMision.net. Editing:
ACPress.net
Recalling a lesser-known Spanish Reformer
Cordoba, April 10th, 2005 ( ACPress.net).
This week sees an exhibition
in the southern town of Montilla about one of the lesser-known
figures of the Spanish Reformation, Juan Pérez de Pineda. One-time
Secretary to Emperor Charles V and later pursued by the Inquisition,
he ended up translating the New Testament into Spanish in exile
in Geneva.
The week of events are being organised by Montilla Council and
the local Evangelical> Church. Few of Pineda’s fellow townsmen
today in Montilla have heard of him, and fewer still in the
rest of Spain. The aim of the exhibition is to rescue his memory,
and make his life and literary work better known. He was born
in Montilla in the late 15th century. He was Secretary to the
Emperor in Rome, and then a Theology lecturer in Seville. He
was identified by the Inquisition as a sympathiser of the Lutheran
Reformation and he had to flee Spain. He took refuge in Geneva
and spent his time translating the New Testament into Spanish.
It was published in 1556, and Pineda died in Paris in 1567.
The week of events include the exhibition, open each day, atalk
about Montilla’s work, a talk about translating the New Testament
today, and closes with the Sunday morning service at the Evangelical>
Church on April 17th. On Saturday, April 16th there is a concert
of Christian music from Reformation times to the present, held
in the courtyard of the Town Hall.
Source: CER. Editing: ACPress.net
Conference on political responsibility
Madrid,
April 10th, 2005 ( ACPress.net).
The group ‘Evangelical
Fraternity’ have organised a conference under the title ‘Political
responsibility’ to be held on May 12th-May 14th just outside
Toledo.
Among the speakers will be César Vidal, prolific author, A.C.Press
columnist and radio presenter, and José Monels. The worship
group ‘Misión’ will also be taking part.
Source: FE. Editing: ACPress.net
Overwhelming support for Anglican anti-gay decision
Madrid,
April 11th, 2005 ( ACPress.net).
In a recent survey organised
by ProtestanteDigital, the firmness of the decision by the Anglican
Church not to allow practising homosexuals to work as ministers
was unequivocally supported by 80% of those who voted.
Only 5% selected the option that lamented the decision, saying
the issue could have been resolved, and a further 5% opted for
finding other ways round the problem. This means that 10% were
against the Anglican decision, but that 80% supported it fully.
Of those, 8% thought it was the best solution to this kind of
problem, while 72% said there must be clarity on important ethical
and doctrinal issues.
On a completely different subject, only 70% believe God created
the world and man as he is today, while another 17% went for
the option that God created the world but made man appear out
of evolution, so 87% at least accept that man was created by
God. 7% think that God created the raw materials, leaving evolution
to do the rest. 1% put the whole lot down to evolution. 4% were
not sure.
Source: Protestante Digital.
Editing: ACPress.net
Cardinal’s re-election should not be interpreted politically
Madrid,
April 10th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
Cardinal Rouco, the Catholic
Archbishop of Madrid, said his re-election
as Chairman of the Spanish Episcopal Council (CEE) “does not
affect the existence of the Church, nor its teaching, nor the
continuity of its mission”, and added that “it’s not necessary
to make a political interpretation (of the election).”
In his speech, Rouco said the state “exercises the legitimate
monopoly of authority to make the common good work.” The Church,
in his opinion, can help seek the common good, not through institutions
so much as through its individual members. This does not mean
a state-church union, and Rouco defended the separation of the
two, but said that “Catholics should participate in the construction
of social and political life.” But “freely, not directed mechanically
by their bishops.” The responsibility of the laity is decisive.
Without actually naming the current government, Rouco made it
clear that there are forces which wish to curtail the freedom
of the Catholic Church and its influence in society. One area
where some wish to silence the Church is in the area of family
life. Rouco said one must look beyond mere usefulness, whether
medical or scientific. Placing the welfare of a human being
alongside that of scientific advancement would be a great mistake.
Source: LA RAZÓN. Editing:
ACPress.net
Schiavo was murdered, says Christian doctor
Madrid,
April 10th, 2005 ( ACPress.net).
Manuel Suárez, a doctor
who specialises in nutrition and who is also Chairman of the
Galician Evangelical Council Press department, says Terry Sciavo
was not in a vegetative coma, but suffered deteriorating brain
function due to a poor diet, which brought on the fatal heart
attack.
The cause of death was to refuse her “the food which is given
to many patients who cannot feed themselves, for various reasons.”
Thus what was withdrawn was not an active, therapeutic course
of treatment, but a simple maintenance measure. Suárez believes
it was not even a case of euthanasia, in which extraordinary
measures may not be carried out, but was a case of a non-terminal
patient being starved to death. The legal decision not only
led to her death, but prevented her parents from helping her
as they wished.
This leads Suárez to believe that an attempt is being made to
stop death being seen as something on which to reflect, and
create a concept of death which goes alongside the concept of
life. “Political and legal power is not morally neutral, as
consciously or not it legislates with moral criteria about life
or death; in Schiavo’s case with a great lack of humaneness
and against Christian values.” “Children of this generation
will not take their parents to a home, but will ask for active
euthanasia to be applied. If we (Christians) remain silent,
we are consenting to this.”
Suárez finishes by saying with great concern: “We have witnessed
a legal assassination which, apart from being cruel, puts the
whole of current society in a situation of being beyond care.
Society needs Christian values more than ever. Legalisation
does not always confer legitimacy.”
Source: eMision.net. Editing:
ACPress.net
Evangelicals take out whole-page ad in favour of traditional
marriage
Madrid,
April 11th, 2005 ( ACPress.net).
A group of evangelical
organisations have taken out a whole-page advertisement in the
leading Spanish newspaper, ‘El Pais’, defending traditional
marriage and complaining against the proposed homosexual equivalent.
The advertisement includes a statement which begins by defining
marriage “just as we Christians understand it, the union between
a man and a woman”, and, “according to the Bible, established
by God, including it within the very nature which he gave humans:
‘male and female He created us.’ To alter this would be to threaten
the very structure of society.
The statement says that arguments in favour of homosexual ‘marriage’
are superficial. “There are many love commitments which are
not marriage.” As well as historical reasons, “marriage is the
way our culture promotes monogamy, and provides a way for men
and women to build a life together, and guarantees that every
child has a mother and a father.” It goes on to say that legalising
homosexual ‘marriage’ would demolish the concept of maternity
and paternity, opens the door to polygamy, could lead to the
loss of the sense of gender, and would teach future generations
of children that sexual differences were merely a question of
personality.
The statement also points out that in Holland, where homosexual
couples are recognised legally, men in them have great difficulty
in remaining faithful. A British newspaper said that the average
length of a homosexual relationship was 18 months, and even
then a homosexual man has an average of 8 sexual partners a
year, outside what is supposed to be his ‘committed relationship.’
“Marriage is not just an issue of private life. Every marriage
is a public act because it supports human sexuality between
a man and a woman in a responsible way, with mutual cooperation
and benefit. It also offers the protection for children of a
mother and a father. The whole of society benefits from the
welfare of traditional marriage. When we support marriage we
support the welfare of society; when we don’t, we harm it. This
is why we believe it is vital to keep the legal definition of
marriage as just one type, the union between a man and a woman.”
The statement is signed by SEFOVAN Bible College, Madrid,
‘From Family to Family, COMEC and AMEC (two ministers’ fraternals
in Catalonia), and COMIMA (a pastors’
group in Madrid).
Source: El Pais. Editing:
ACPress.net
Confessional R.E. stays in new law
Madrid,
April 11th, 2005 ( ACPress.net).
The debate on Religious
Education goes on. The new law allows for R.E. to be taught
according to the agreements which the state has with the four
recognised religions: Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam and
Judaism.
Confessional R.E. classes should be offered in all state schools
and pupils may opt to take it or not. However, as in the previous
law, no provision is made for those who do not want to study
the subject; what will they do? No syllabus has yet been approved
for the alternative lesson to R.E. It is thought that confessional
R.E. exam marks will still count towards the school certificate
(equivalent of GCSEs) which pupils sit after 4 years at Secondary
School (so aged 15 assuming they have not repeated a year).
Much controversy has raged over the content of the alternative
subject, whether it would be an Ethics class, History of Religions
or something else. A paper on the issue published last September
raised the question of whether individual pupils could opt out
of the alternative, but there is no mention of this in the new
law. So Christian parents may continue to request evangelical
R.E. for their children, though a minimum of 10 pupils is required
before a teacher is contracted, always assuming there is a qualified
teacher to take the class.
Source: EL PAÍS. Editing:
ACPress.net
Christian Socialists suggest halfway-house for R.E. classes
Madrid, April 11th, 2005 ( ACPress.net).
The government has received
many suggestions as to what to do about Religious Education,
including one from the 200-strong Christian Socialist group,
led by Carlos García de Andoín. They propose a new subject entitled
‘Citizenship and Meaning’, which would be compulsory, and would
include “values, beliefs, feelings and practices”.
Part of the syllabus would be general for all pupils, and part
would cover the confessional aspects of each religion, with
each pupil choosing whether to go to Evangelical, Catholic,
Moslem or Jewish classes. Andoín says this could be organised
on a termly basis whereby for one term all pupils were together
studying the general syllabus, and then in the following term
they split into their different groups. Those opting for confessional
R.E. would go to their respective religious groups, while the
rest would do further study on lay issues, such as democracy,
solidarity and so on.
The Christian Socialist group does not see any difficulty in
modifying the special agreement with the Vatican, and also calls
for the working conditions of R.E. teachers to be improved.
The Citizens’ Platform for a Lay Society, made up of 60 charitable
groups, rejected this proposal and criticised the Christian
Socialists for what it called “a backward step”, and for acting
more like Catholics than members of the Socialist Party, whose
“fundamental mission” is the establishment, some would say imposition,
of a completely lay society.
Source: El País. Editing:
ACPress.net
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