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Evangelical
Alliance shows how far from the truth was the Pope
Madrid,
April 18th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
The Evangelical Alliance
has expressed its sadness at the passing of the Catholic leader,
Pope John Paul II, but leaving aside the personal aspect, adds
that "despite the apparent openness towards inter-religious
dialogue, John Paul was a Pope who reaffirmed the most exclusive
and monopolising beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church".
Although it is evident that John Paul knew how to get through
to a certain sector of society, "who saw him as a personable
man, and as a defender of clear, moral criteria at a time of
general ethical confusion", the Alliance believes "that a Pope
as conservative as he, has created a greater distance between
the convictions of a Pontiff and those of the Catholic Church
at large, than at any time in history."
Ecumenical movement has been minimal given that John Paul has
gone back, to a large extent, to that established at the Council
of Trent, "without moving a millimetre from them." Another aspect
of the last Pope's tenure was his use of the motto 'Totus tuus'
(Only yours) to refer to Mary. The Evangelical Alliance points
out that he was "not close to the spirit of the Gospel or to
that of Protestants or evangelicals." Whilst the Alliance respected
John Paul as a person, it recognises that he was not just "very
Catholic, but also very Roman."
Quoting a document of the Theology Commission of the World Evangelical
Alliance, approved in 1986, it says "there are areas of possible
agreement between Roman Catholicism and evangelicals", but this
does not alter the fact that "we also stand by our call to be
alternative to the trend represented by current Catholicism
which, in terms of faith, is a church which mixes Christian
principles with others which are not; and in its structure and
institutions it is closer to being a multinational than to following
the biblical concept of Church."
The Alliance statement concludes by reaffirming its commitment
to the Protestant Reformation and the faith once delivered to
believers, whose maximum authority is the Bible, "which in theological
terms is a 'yes' to Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit,
and for the glory of God the Father. We believe Jesus is the
true foundation of the authentic Christian Church and its only
Head, a role which no person or institution can or should usurp."
Source: AEE. Editing: ACPress.net
When is a family not a family?
Madrid,
April 20th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
Raúl García, a Christian
psychiatrist, gave a talk on the subject of 'Family and homosexuality'
for the Baptist Forum in Madrid earlier
this month, analysing changes in recent years which have affected
the family.
García said "the hero Oedipus who faces his father (law, regulations
and power) and kills him to possess his mother" has been substituted
for Narcissus, in which pleasure is the aim. He says it is ironic
that homosexuals want to be accepted and recognised as having
family status, when originally the gay movement saw family structure
as dangerous and threatening.
He said that heterosexual couples have also undergone many changes,
especially regarding the roles of man and woman ("men are currently
seeking their own identity"), while there are now many family
types (separated and divorced people, re-married couples, etc.)
which have taken credibility and stability from the model of
the traditional, heterosexual married couple.
As for homosexuality, García said he had not found any obvious
genetic reason in the many studies which have been conducted,
and that the scientific data which exists supports the idea
that homosexuality is a personality development disorder, closely
related to conflicts over the relationship with and identification
of the person's parents, particularly the parent of the same
sex as them.
On the thorny issue of whether homosexuals should be able to
adopt children, García said the few studies so far carried out
have lacked objectivity. Yet he said that, being honest, one
cannot say it is definitely harmful for the children involved,
though neither can one be sure that the outcome will be harmful
in the longer term.
Source & Editing: ACPress.net
Religious delegates call for state neutrality
Madrid,
April 20th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
Margarita Pintos, Chairman
of the Madrid Association for Inter-Religious Dialogue (ADIM),
admitted at their second Congress that "religions are sometimes
an obstacle to human rights in society, and especially within
(the religions) themselves."
Plenty of experts were on hand to decipher such messages, with
representatives of a dozen religions present, plus the Head
of Religious Affairs, Mercedes Rico. The Congress's main subject
was religious freedom in a lay state. The multifarious religious
delegates agreed on the need to cooperate in dialogue with the
government, and to reform laws which often prevented the free
exercise of religious rights. They all called for the neutrality
of the State in order to guarantee equal rights for all religious
traditions because "the number of members should not be a criteria
for help or exclusion."
Ex-Socialist MP, Luis Gómez Llorente, commented that "the State
must remain neutral so as to represent everyone." The liberal
Catholic theologian, Juan José Tamayo, observed that "religious
freedom and freedom of conscience are inseparable", but added
that in Spain "the State does not treat all religions equally
because a) the Constitution gives the Catholic Church a privileged
position, b) it signed special pre-constitutional and international
agreements with the Catholic Church, prior to those with Islam,
Judaism and the Evangelical Churches in 1992, which are national
in scope and in many cases have not been fulfilled."
Another participant was José María Martín Patino, a key player
in the formulation of the current Law of Religious Freedom.
Source: El País. Editing:
ACPress.net
A meeting of primates
Madrid,
April 20th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
The Prime Minister and
the Roman Catholic Primate in Spain have had their first meeting,
giving priority to the forthcoming Education Bill.
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Ricardo Blázquez had a "cordial"
meeting in which both agreed on the importance of maintaining
a "fluid and constructive" dialogue for everybody's sake. They
have set up a number of committees which will examine different
issues of mutual concern, such as education, which was given
priority.
The government has been hoping that the appointment of Blázquez
as Chairman of the Episcopal Conference would lead to an improvement
in Church-State relations, which had become decidedly frosty
during the tenure of Cardinal Rouco Varela. The meeting was
somewhat overshadowed by the death of the Pope and the state
of flux in which the worldwide Catholic Church found itself,
yet both sides showed themselves ready to enter into fruitful
dialogue. Zapatero offered Blázquez his personal condolences
on the passing of John Paul II, and expressed his "admiration"
for the deceased Pontiff.
The appointment of committees is a kind of 'resurrection' of
a project started by Felipe González back in 1982, but which
has fallen into disuse. The aim is to start work as soon as
possible but no names for the committees were mentioned at the
meeting. The need to come to agreement on education is paramount;
the Catholic Church has strong feelings about the importance
of R.E. classes, while the Socialist government believes reform
is necessary. Both are looking for a workable pact on the issue.
Source: EL MUNDO. Editing:
ACPress.net
Catholic priest breaks up evangelical funeral in Málaga
Málaga, April
20th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
A Catholic priest burst
into the middle of a funeral for an evangelical woman being
held in a multi-confessional chapel in Málaga, and asked those
present to leave. First he interrupted the funeral, then requested
that everyone leave, and finally ordered them to remove the
coffin before friends had finished offering their condolences
to the family at the door.
The priest entered the building and went and sat in the altar,
near where the evangelical pastor was still preaching. Not content
with that, the priest went up to the microphone being used by
the pastor and told everyone to get out as quickly as possible
because he was in a hurry. The evangelical Christians present,
though upset, wanted to avoid further conflict and left out
of respect. However, the drama was not over. An eye-witness,
Isabel Pavón, said that the final straw came at the chapel door.
"While we were expressing our sorrow to the families of our
deceased sister, the irreverent priest dared to come down from
the altar and ask the person in charge to remove the body (in
the coffin, which remained inside the chapel), so he could come
in with the next coffin to say Mass."
Isabel Pavón has written to several local newspapers, which
have published her letter. "I am sure that if it had been another
Catholic priest who was officiating, instead of an evangelical
pastor, he would have had more consideration. They say that
John Paul II, spiritual head of Catholics, spoke a lot about
unity between brothers in the faith, and about tolerance. They
also say he apologised for the terrible crimes committed by
the Inquisition. They talk and they talk and they talk, and
say that where there was fire there are now ashes. Where is
the respect?"
Perhaps the priest concerned had inside information that Cardinal
Ratzinger was to become the next Pope, for it was the same Cardinal
who denounced all Protestants a couple of years ago as 'not
churches'.
Source: Isabel Pavón Vergara.
Editing: ACPress.net
Evangelical delegates named in religious minority Trust
Madrid,
April 20th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
The Trust for funding
recognised religious minorities, including Evangelicals, has
named those who will represent the evangelical community on
the government Trust. They had asked for names of people who
stood out in the areas covered by the aims of the Trust, but
who preferably had no link to the Federation of Evangelical
Organisations (FEREDE).
The delegates are Joan David Grimà i Terré, Vice-Chairman of
a phone company, Eliseo Vila, FEREDE treasurer and Managing
Director of Clie publishing house, the main evangelical publisher
in Spain, and Marcos Araujo, a Madrid lawyer who specialises
in International Law. It is assumed that Vila will relinquish
his post at the FEREDE.
The Trust is chaired by the Justice Minister, and made up of
12 government representatives, and 9 from the three religions
represented. The positions are unpaid, though costs will be
covered. The Trust's Board will be officially constituted soon,
and should meet at least once every 3 months. It will be responsible
for deciding which projects presented to it by members of the
three religious communities should be funded. The Trust also
needs to decide how the projects will be evaluated, what timescales
are envisaged, and what steps need to be taken by those requesting
aid.
Source: FEREDE. Editing: ACPress.net
Protestantism in 100 words
Madrid,
April 20th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
A new book has been published
by Madrid Evangelical Council (MEC) entitled 'Protestantism
in 100 words'.
Organised like a dictionary, with a series of entries set out
alphabetically, 49 different authors from across the evangelical
spectrum offer definitions of 100 terms to do with Protestant
faith, theology, history, ecclesiology and thought. Eight of
the authors are members or regular contributors to ProtestanteDigital,
the web magazine companion of A.C.Press, and where this bulletin
may be found weekly.
The eight are Mario Escobar, Manuel López, Jaume Llenas, Juan
Antonio Monroy, José de Segovia, Juan Simarro, Pedro Tarquis
and César Vidal. The reference work runs to 380 pages and has
been edited by Máximo García, Executive Secretary of MEC, and
partly funded by the local Education authorities. The book costs
18 euros.
Source: CEM. Editing: ACPress.net
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