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FEREDE keeps out of ‘Focus on the Family’ demonstration
Madrid,
May 26th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
The Spanish branch of
‘Focus on the Family’ is planning a large demonstration in Madrid
for June 18th, and has the support of the Catholic Episcopate,
whereas the FEREDE (Federation of Evangelical Organisations,
the official body which represents Protestants to the government)
is keeping its distance.
The FEREDE says that for the time being, it will go no further
than the joint statement put out with other religious confessions
against new legislation which allows homosexual ‘marriage’.
However, ‘Focus on the Family’ has no such qualms and collected
more than 600,000 signatures in an impressive campaign to defend
the traditional and biblical understanding of marriage. The
alliance is made up of more than 5,000 associations, 20 confederations
and 117 federations representing around 4 million families.
The demonstration, which will march through central streets
in the Spanish capital, will call for an integrated policy on
the family. The FEREDE, while not joining in the protest, says
it will tell its member churches about the demo, thus giving
them the chance to participate should they wish to. Many member
churches have already supported the ‘Focus on the Family’ campaign
by signing the petition. Its Director, José Gabaldón, says that
‘Focus’ is “by definition, non-political and non-confessional.”
Therefore, they have not invited any political party to join
them as such, though they hope that members of the opposition
Popular Party will do so, and don’t discount completely the
possibility that some Socialists might join them. Gabaldón says
he doesn’t expect anyone from the Catholic Church, even though
- along with Muslims, Jews, Orthodox and Protestants - they
have shown their support.
Source: Agencias, FEREDE.
Editing: ACPress.net
Leading radio station ‘copies’ Christian news agency
Madrid,
May 26th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
Spain’s leading radio
station in terms of audience, ‘Cadena Ser’, which has around
6 million listeners, has launched a ‘podcast’ service, ‘copying’
a practice introduced by RedIMIR’s e-Mision nine months ago
which has already brought the Christian news agency up to about
7% of Cadena Ser’s initial download total.
The commercial radio station considers the introduction of its
podcasting a great success, as in its first month of service,
listeners have downloaded about 700 gigas of information. After
9 months of the service, e-Mision.org - the audio arm of A.C.Press
- had reached the download total of 50 gigas. Considering its
audience is around the 400,000 mark, compared to Cadena Ser’s
6 million, the small, Protestant outfit is not doing too badly.
The podcast enables the listener to establish automatic downloading
of sound from a specific source, such as Cadena Ser or e-Mision.
Both these agencies allow web surfers to download automatically
to their computers and then transfer their sound selection to
a portable, audio digital player.
You can find them, respectively, at www.cadenaser.com; and www.e-Mision.org
Sources: Cadena SER. Editing:
ACPress.net
Christian musicians can continue in secular world
Madrid,
May 26th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
‘Should a Christian singer
or musician give up the world of secular music?’ was asked in
a recent survey at Protestantedigital.com. The clear answer
was no.
81% of respondents said they thought having a job in the secular
world of music is compatible with being a Christian. More than
half thought the person could simply be one more professional,
while 27% felt the Christian, though able to continue in the
job, should surround himself with a Christian team or group
of friends. Only 3% believed the Christian artist should devote
himself mainly to ‘Christian’ music, but 13% thought he should
do so exclusively.
Source: Protestante Digital. Editing: ACPress.net
The times, they are a-changing
Madrid,
May 26th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
Surprising things are
happening in the often murky world of inter-religious cooperation.
This time the closeness is not down to the efforts of church
leaders but to the political situation in the country. The ‘blacklist’
of immoral legislation being driven through by Zapatero’s Socialist
government is achieving what many an ecumenical initiative has
failed to do; draw people of different confessions closer together.
First up was the joint communiqué by Catholics, Protestants,
Jews and Orthodox against homosexual marriage. The Chairman
of the Catholic Episcopate, Ricardo Blázquez, said “the structural
change to marriage exceeds the authority of those who exercise
national sovereignty.” Antonio José Chinchetru, spokesman for
the Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain, added that “the
government should listen because our opinion is shared by a
large part of society. It’s alright to recognise the rights
of homosexuals, but their relationship should not be called
‘marriage’.
Mariano Blázquez, Executive Secretary of the FEREDE, commented:
“It is not a question of harming anyone’s rights, but of respecting
the historic concept of marriage. The government has chosen
to adopt a position without consulting us and it should look
for an alternative course of action that does not hurt anyone.
Certain types of measure cannot be undertaken lightly nor imposed
by a parliamentary majority. One must legislate with common
sense and genuine dialogue.”
Such comments, and those opposing allowing homosexuals to adopt
children, find an echo in the Catholic press. A newspaper such
as ‘La Razón’, of ultra-Catholic tendencies, which has never
spoken in positive terms of evangelicals, suddenly announces:
“Identical position as that held by the Catholic Church.” When
it’s a case of backs to the wall, even a Protestant shoulder
is worth having.
Source: LA RAZÓN. Editing:
ACPress.net
Journalist blows open the deceitful world of saints,
trinkets and religious magic
Valencia, May 26th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
A journalist who penetrated
the dodgy world of clairvoyance, the sale of religious trinkets
and divination, has confirmed what was an open secret: that
the whole thing is an immense fraud which abuses the misplaced
faith of its customers.
In a book written under a pseudonym, for safety reasons, and
entitled ‘The business of faith’, the journalist offers proof
to show how unscrupulous clairvoyants and religious diviners
con their customers out of large sums of money, leaving many
of them desperate and bankrupt. Dishonesty and deceit are the
order of the day.
Saint-worship originated in Cuba, uniting Yoruba elements with
the worship of Catholic saints (so-called). Exiles from Castro’s
regime took the belief to the USA in 1959, and from there it
reached Europe. It has been promoted in Spain in recent years
through the arrival of immigrants from South and Central America.
A well-known journalist wanted to expose the fraud which, he
claims, “hurts many more people than we might think, morally,
psychologically and economically.” He pretended to be a diviner
and saint-dealer, and for a year immersed himself in that world.
In this business, those who claim to be priests practice divination
rituals in which they throw snails. Depending on how the shells
end up, the person’s future may be determined.
People with no gift beyond that of the gab man phone lines and
tell people what they want to hear. For a nice sum, of course.
The favourite tasks of these dealers in ‘religious magic’ include
subjugating a person’s loved ones, imposing oneself on others,
and scaring away evil spirits. The ‘master of the dark arts’
usually begins with a cleansing ceremony to purify the customer’s
body, and completes the ritual with a sacrifice. The journalist
discovered that, despite being forbidden by Spanish law, animals
are often sacrificed for ritualistic purposes.
As for the herbs and so-called ‘magic’ products, it has been
demonstrated that they are merely simple cosmetics, soaps and
perfumes like those found in hotel rooms, with a legal licence
so as to avoid problems with the authorities. Their only ‘secret’
could be the faith of the person who uses them.
Even though the practice is quite obviously a con, and anything
the rituals get right can be put down to chance or autosuggestion,
the psychological fragility of the people who look to these
diviners means they do not give up the habit easily. They do
not accept the inefficiency of the supposedly magical methods,
and continue to spend money and energy in going to these dubious
characters.
Source: LA RAZÓN. Editing:
ACPress.netProtestant
encyclopaedia out this week
Madrid,
May 26th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
This week sees the presentation
by the Evangelical Council of Madrid of a ‘Protestant encyclopaedia’,
written by 49 different authors - all Spanish Protestants -
with a Prologue by the renegade Catholic theologian, Juan José
Tamayo. The book is entitled ‘Protestantism in 100 words.’
The presentation will be attended by Mercedes Rico, Director-General
of Religious Affairs in the current government, the aforementioned
Tamayo, who now lectures in Theology at a university in Madrid,
Fernando Bandrés, Dean of Health Science at the European University,
and Máximo García, a Protestant who heads up the Evangelical
Council of Madrid, and lectures at a theological institute in
the Spanish capital.
Source: CEM. Editing: ACPress.net
Spanish NIV rolls off the presses as well
Madrid,
May 26th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
Following the extraordinary
success of the New International Version (NIV) in English, the
International Bible Society has produced an equivalent translation
into Spanish, claiming it to be “fresh, exact and elegant.”
If this proves to be true, then it will be quite different from
the English NIV, which is anything but elegant and has caused
controversy through its ‘rounding’ of texts by its use of the
principle of ‘dynamic equivalence’.
The Spanish NIV has taken nearly 10 years to complete, having
been translated directly from the original Bible languages -
Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. There are two versions, one for Latin
American Spanish, and another for what the Spanish Bible Society
calls ‘peninsular Spanish’, ie. that spoken in Spain. The official
presentation of the new version in Spain will be held in General
Lacy Baptist Church, Madrid, on June 8th. The presentation
will be preceded by a talk by the Chairman of the Translation
Committee, Luciano Jaramillo.
Source: SBI. Editing: ACPress.net
Get off your (fat) backside, and walk!
Madrid,
May 26th, 2005 (ACPress.net).
More than half the adult
population of Spain weighs more than it should, according to
government figures presented recently by the Minister for Health,
Elena Salgado.
13.6% suffer from obesity, and 36.8% are merely overweight.
These figures are for 2003, and are up 6.25% on the previous
figures, which were for the year 2001. However, Spaniards do
not seem unduly concerned. They maintain a generally positive
outlook regarding their health, for according to the survey,
75% of men and 67% of women are ‘satisfied’ with their condition.
Salgado highlighted habits and lifestyle as the major problems
regarding the nation’s health.
54% of people said they took no physical exercise in their spare
time. In all age-brackets, women take less exercise than men.
Salgado pointed out that exercise does not have to mean two
3-hour gym sessions a week, but offered the 4 x 40 forumla:
walk for 40 minutes, four times a week. Television was identified
as the main culprit for the lack of exercise among children.
Dairy products made up 90% of people’s diets by 2003, and more
and more people ate meat at least 3 times a week, the maximum
recommended. Fish consumption stayed more or less at the same
level as before. Advertising campaigns to reduce the amount
of sweet products eaten have failed to make an impact. 34% of
the population have something sweet on a daily basis, and the
proportion of children who do is 45%.
Salgado also said that 6.2% of the under-24s do not eat breakfast,
even though this is the most important meal of the day. A further
19.3% only have a drink for breakfast, usually milk or juice.
Source: EL PAÍS. Editing:
ACPress.net
A.C.Press:
The News Agency of the AEE (Spanish Evangelical Alliance)
Digital magazine at the website: www.ACPress.net
Telephone: 91 747 14 89; Fax: 91 747 59 24; E-mail: noticias@ACPress.net.
Postal address: Apartado 59198, 28080 Madrid, Spain.
Co-ordinator of A.C.Press News: Jonathan Dawson, E-mail: jdawson@acpress.net
A.C.Press is part of the Spanish Evangelical Alliance, whose
E-mail is: oficina@AEEsp.net (www.AEEsp.net)
The Alliance is a forum for fellowship, reflection and the development
of Christian thought, produces various publications, and is
involved in the struggle for religious liberty. It is also part
of the European and World Evangelical Alliances.
A.C.Press news items may be reproduced as long as their source
is mentioned (ACPress News) |
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