Evangelicals, Muslims or Jews, according to News agency Efe, condemn the lack of common regulations for all of Spain in matters that are "very sensitive and that generate distrust and suspicion that could be avoided with clear rules", explains to EFE the spokesman for the Federation of Evangelical Churches of Spain (FEDERE), Jorge Fernández.
Arbitrary permits, contradictory rules, authorizations that do not arrive and constant and meticulous inspections are some of the problems faced by religious leaders, who see how over and over again that their places of worship are being closed down, prohibited or banished to the industrial zones outside of the urban areas.
In fact, the regulations relating to the opening and management of places of worship is the main bone of contention for all of the religious minorities in Spain.
"It is not a problem of xenophobia, it is a problem of not knowing how to deal with the new needs of the minority faiths due to not having a clear reference point", argues the technical director for the Observatory of Religious Pluralism in Spain, Puerto García.
The director of the Observatory, José Manuel López, explains that "until recently, if there was a religious matter to resolve, the priest called the mayor and everything was sorted out; this is no longer valid in a country with eight religions recognized as 'well rooted' and many other religious sensitivities".
Add to this the fact that in recent years, the majority of faiths have seen an increase in their number of followers and needs.
As such, García points out that the Protestants have been in Spain since the nineteenth century, "but they resign themselves to opening small meeting places with a little sign on the door that goes unnoticed".
The exponential growth of all the minority religions in recent years has "placed on the table" and makes visible the topic of religious diversity and requires the authorities, especially the local ones, to make decisions.
In the absence of precedents, the authorities "react in fear that the situation is getting out of hand and are being pressured to set limits", explains García.
For the Observatory, the existence of a state law that assumes the changes in Spanish society "would facilitate" the management of a matter that affects autonomous and local governments in a cross-sectional manner.
As such, the spokesperson for Federe gives the example of the fact that a few months ago, the councillorship for Town Planning in Lérida justified the investigations into the closing of evangelical churches arguing that City Council was merely “ensuring that full municipal regulations were upheld" regarding public places and that during the same period "many brothels and bars" had been closed as well.
In view of the deterioration of the situation, the evangelicals went out into the street to demonstrate in defense of religious freedom and to ask that the laws guaranteeing their free practice be upheld.
For that reason, evangelists are demanding that the next Government "apply once and for all in favor of all the guidelines of the Constitution" and the laws that regulate the right to religious freedom, that "they remove the existing obstacles" and that “real and genuine” freedom of worship be guaranteed.
Also the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain has been claiming for several years that the agreements derived from the Religious Freedom Act of 1980 "have not undergone any regulatory development ", something that is indispensable while a new law is promoted that updates the concepts and is best adapted to the new reality in Spain.
As such, in 2011, the president of the federation at that point in time, Jacob Israel, listed among the main difficulties faced by the Jewish community in Spain – consisting of close to 45,000 individuals – the possibility of offering spiritual support in prisons, hospitals or the Army, and the problem of granting land and authorizations for the construction of new places of worship. But the minority faiths are not alone in their complaints.
Also the Catholic Church considers it necessary to guarantee the "defense and the promotion of religious freedom for everyone", explains the director of the Secretariat of Interconfessional Relations of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, the priest Manuel Barrios.
"This not only implies no outside coercion in topics of religion, but also the possibility of being able to practice one’s own worship guaranteeing the conditions for it", emphasizes Barrios, who points out having adequate places of worship as one of the main ones.
Also the Jesuits are aware of the different treatment that the minority religions receive, as demonstrated by the fact that they included a specific point in the document "Prolonged crisis, reinforced solidarity" of proposals for the general elections.
As such, they consider it "essential to strengthen religious freedom and standardization in the presence of all faiths in Spain based on legislation, dialogue and the maximum respect for the beliefs of each person".
"Among other measures - emphasizes the text - it is necessary that all faiths be able to count on places of worship that are decent and accessible".
Also the Council of Europe, through a report from the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance recommended in February of 2011 to the authorities that it will guarantee the observance of religious freedom, as noted in article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
"It is not reasonable that in many instances the applications for the construction of new mosques are rejected" in Spain, he said. Furthermore, the report described it as "discrimination" that public schools are required to offer the elective religion class, meanwhile the remaining beliefs require a minimum of 10 students.
"There is a lot of mistrust and ignorance of the Muslims in Spain, when we amount to more than 1.5 million, of which more than a third have Spanish citizenship and vote in the elections", explains the president of the Union of Islamic Communities of Spain, Riay Tatary.
In his opinion, the new Government should "make an effort to draw close" to the Muslims in order to spread awareness of their reality, and to develop the existing legislation to "clearly specify" the rights of the minority religions.
"If clear regulations exist that are protected by laws, it would be easier for us to fight against discriminatory or racist phenomena that are currently hidden by the legal vacuum and arbitrariness", he concludes.
No comments:
Post a Comment