God´s on the bus
MADRID, 01/21, 2009

The atheist advertising campaign in England has been exported to Spain. Its posters displayed on buses and in other places say: ´God probably doesn´t exist. So stop worrying and enjoy yourself. ´ Now their Spanish equivalent will be seen in Spanish cities for two weeks this month.

In October 2008, the British Humanist Association started collecting money for a campaign which would make their views as visible as those of religious groups. The campaign received the backing of the militant atheist and biologist, Richard Dawkins, and started in London. Later, it spread to Birmingham, Edinburgh and Manchester, and now to Barcelona. The campaign´s promoters hope to collect money in Spain to pay for the adverts. So, what´s the point of the campaign? According to the organisers, the aim is to “make atheists, unbelievers and free-thinkers in general aware of the need to make themselves visible, to be proud of their convictions, and to claim the same rights as other citizens are given merely because they hold certain religious beliefs. ”

Nevertheless, free-thinking inhabitants of Barcelona will have to be pretty sharp-eyed, as the campaign has contracted just two advertising spaces on two buses, for two weeks. Mind you, the same bus can be used on different routes, so it might get about a bit. The campaign has been delayed by the conflict in Gaza, as organisers felt it wasn´t a time to be promoting the enjoyment of life. An agency is responsible for organising and placing adverts on public transport, but the transport company reserves the right to veto any advert which breaks the law. They say this campaign is acceptable in those terms.

The atheists behind the campaign say they are not setting out to offend anyone, but to make people think about the meaning of life, and free themselves from beliefs that, they claim, cannot be questioned but are “imposed by religions”. Another aim is to raise the profile of atheists and agnostics in society, and to allow people to make their decisions with as much information as possible. That sounds rather vacuous in the light of their slogan, as how will ´There is probably no God´ give people any more information? If the organisers raise enough money, they will take their campaign to Madrid and Valencia as well.

Pedro Tarquis, spokesman for the Spanish Evangelical Alliance, said the atheists were perfectly at liberty to hold the campaign within a free democracy, but commented that it was “absurd to relate life without God with an existence free of worries and full of joy. You need a lot of faith in atheism for that. ” On the other hand, Tarquis observed: “Faith in God brings hope, stability and joy to life when facing the problems that everyone has to face. ”

The Catholic Archbishopric of Barcelona, headed by Lluís Martínez Sistach, said in a statement that for Christians, faith “is not a reason to worry, nor an obstacle to enjoying life honestly. ” On the contrary, said the statement, faith is a solid foundation for a life lived in solidarity, peace and with a sense of the transcendent.

Source: Agencias, AEE / ACPress.net


Christian counter-campaign hits the buses in Madrid
MADRID, January 21, 2009

An Evangelical Church has decided to make the most of the atheist campaign and put out its own bus with messages in favour of Christianity. The bus will roam the streets in Madrid with the slogan: “God exists. Enjoy life in Christ. ”

The church, Centro Cristiano de Reunión (CCR), has ´gone on the road´ in anticipation of the arrival of the atheist ads in the Spanish capital. It has paid for adverts on a bus in southern Madrid, and soon will have a second one up and running. Currently the company responsible for advertising on public transport in the Spanish capital, Publisistemas, is in negotiations with the Madrid Association of Atheists and Free-thinkers about the latter´s desire to bring the campaign to Madrid.

The Spanish Evangelical Alliance believes the campaign, rather than an attack on Christianity, is merely a defence of atheistic ideas. However, they are obviously unaware of the roots of the campaign in England, where the British Humanist Association is an implacable opponent of Christianity.

Paco Rubiales, the pastor of CCR church, says he had no doubt about going on the counter-attack as soon as he heard about the campaign. The church is small, with about 75 members, but he says has made great sacrifices to make their counter-campaign possible, and pay for the bus ads. He adds that they turned out to be cheaper than they feared; 100 euros for the design of the poster, and 200 euros per bus per month.

The church also chose an emblematic date to begin their campaign: Christmas Day. A spokesman for Publisistemas said the only products banned from their adverts are alcohol and tobacco, even though they checked in this case with their bosses first, and were given the green light. Rubiales says he is surprised at the fuss the media are making about the atheist ads when his bus had already been on the streets for almost a fortnight. He says their campaign does not claim to represent all Spanish Evangelicals, just his congregation, though he invites all who want to support the project to do so through Youtube.

His aim, he says, is to “make people aware of our faith, ideas and beliefs. We want to tell the world that Christ exists and is the way to a better life. If they (atheists) can freely express their opinions, so can we”, adding that he held the utmost respect for everyone who makes their views known. The Evangelical pastor said he did not want people to think this was some kind of war. “We don´t want to fight against anyone, just exercise our rights. ”

In Barcelona, a Catholic group, E-Cristians, has announced that it will put out a similar campaign on Barcelona buses in favour of the existence of God, and congratulated the Madrid initiative for getting God out in the public sphere. Not everyone is pleased though. Antonio Alonso, from the Religious Diffamation watchdog, OAR, said “It shows a lack of respect to those of us who believe (in God). They associate God with something negative, which is not true. It´s not merely an innocent piece of free speech, because it makes fun of faith. ”

In Barcelona, the atheists have stolen a march on the Catholics, who spend a small fortune in TV advertising and the like, but not to promote God or the Christian faith, but to ask for money through the charity tax option. At least the atheists have put God in their adverts!

In the UK, the efforts of the British Humanist Association pale into insignificance beside the publicity given to the evangelistic Alpha course. This year alone, and Alpha has been running for 15 years, the course has been advertised on 2,400 buses, 1,100 trains and 860 large billboards. Since 1993, 11 million people have attended Alpha courses worldwide.

Finally, in the USA, the campaign asks ´Why believe in a god? Be good for goodness´ sake´, using the lyrics of the Christmas song ´Santa Claus is coming to town´. A Catholic mother from Washington, Jo Ellen Murphy, made up her own slogan as a reply: “Why believe? Because I love you and I created you, for goodness sake - God. ” So far via her website about 8,000 euros has been collected, and the pro-Christian ads will be shown on buses until the great March for Life on January 25th in the American capital.

Source: La Razón, Europa Press, EL Mundo


Almost as many Evangelical churches as Catholic ones in Barcelona
MADRID, January 21, 2009

60% of the 340 or so places of worship in the city of Barcelona belong to non-Catholic religious groups. According to the register compiled by the Inter-religious Centre in Barcelona, there are 141 Catholic churches, while the rest belong to minority groups.

However, the tag of ´minority´ may soon have to be modified, as coming up fast in second place are the Protestants, who already have 119 churches in Barcelona. There are 8 Orthodox churches, and one Essene Church. As for other religions, there are 18 Kingdom Halls, the home of the Jehovah´s Witnesses, four Seventh Day Adventist buildings, and two Mormon places of worship.

There is no mosque in Barcelona, but there are 16 Islamic oratories, or prayer centres. Then there are five Jewish synagogues, four of which represent the main traditions of that religion: progressive, liberal, conservative and orthodox. The fifth synagogue is situated in the medieval Jewish quarter, where the Grand Synagogue used to stand until its destruction in 1391.

Finally, there are 16 Buddhist centres of worship, three Hindu temples, two Sikh temples, and a handful of other places of worship for some of the minority Oriental religions.

Source: ABC / ACPress.net


Evangelicals reaching into the heartlands
MADRID, January 21, 2009

Evangelical growth is no longer confined to major cities like Barcelona (see previous article) but, after many barren years, is now spreading into the Catholic heartlands.

The small Castillian city of Avila is a case in point. Long regarded as one of the hardest patches for the Gospel, there are now about 500 Evangelical Christians there. This represents considerable growth, from about 0.2% to 1% of the population in the last seven years. The main reason for this is immigration from Latin America, and growth among the Spanish gypsy population. An example of this growth can be seen in Light for the Nations Church (Luz para los pueblos), which has grown from 13 members to 90. They have had to move to a larger building to accommodate everyone. “Our church is mainly made up of foreigners, with 17 different nationalities, mostly Latins”, says the church´s pastor, Luis Marcos Moreira. “The church has grown considerably in recent years due to the immigration boom. ”

There are three other Evangelical Churches in Avila. One of them is the gypsy Philadelphia Church, which has registered impressive growth to around 150 members. The oldest of the churches in Avila is the Brethren Assembly, which has been in Avila for almost 30 years. The other Evangelical Church is a Rumanian congregation which meets in an industrial estate. “Many of them are returning to their country so out of a total of 160, there are now about 60 left and we are looking at merging their congregation with ours”, says Moreira.

Moreira is very clear about the differences between Catholicism and Evangelical belief. “It´s not a difference of opinion, but a lifestyle. An Evangelical Christian is someone who has had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ, has been born again and whose life has been changed by the Lord. We believe in salvation by faith and not by works, and our services are very different because they are spontaneous, with music and dance. ”

Moreira explains that while they recognise Mary “as a holy woman chosen by God for a beautiful mission”, they do not accept her as divine nor that she can hear our prayers, as there is only one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ. Evangelicals also reject the role of the priest in confession, given that the Bible commands all Christians to confess their sins to one another, and to forgive each other on the basis of their being forgiven by Christ. They also reject the Catholic idea of forced celibacy for church leaders, which - says Moreira - leads to fornication and scandal.

However, Moreira finishes by saying that he is not in competition with the Catholic Church, but that his aim is to reach “the lost, needy people, such as the drug addict, the prostitute, the alcoholic and the marginalised. This is why we work in prisons because we believe the Gospel is the power of God to transform lives. ”

Source: Ávila Digital / ACPress.net

What’s a Catholic?

MADRID, - January 9, 2009

The latest figures on the religious habits of Spaniards suggest that 29% of adults call themselves ‘practicing Catholics’, 51% ‘non-practicing Catholics’, unbelievers 9% and atheists 7%. This trend has been noted for some years now, but a more interesting aspect of the research is what these so-called ‘practicing Catholics’ actually believe.

The ranks of the Roman faithful, it would seem, are sprinkled with heresy, as many of them do not subscribe to the official teachings of their church. In fact, two growing tendencies are a lack of faith generally, and the proliferation of heretical ideas. 15% do not believe Jesus is the Son of God, or have doubts about it, 16% face a similar dilemma with regard to the resurrection, and 17% question the virginity of Mary when Jesus was conceived.

The humanist and atheistic approach to science has undermined their faith, so that only 68% believe God created the universe out of nothing, 58% accept the account of Adam and Eve, while 67% believe in miracles and 65% in the existence of angels. The belief in hell is down to just 49% of ‘practicing Catholics’, though 71% still believe in heaven. Overall, this boils down to about 36% holding to orthodox Catholic teaching, a percentage that barely equates to 10% of the total Spanish adult population. Even this figure drops considerably if one includes all Catholic doctrines.

Yet, to paraphrase Chesterton’s famous remark, when a Catholic stops believing in his church, it doesn’t mean he stops believing, rather it means that he believes in anything (else). Many Catholics have replaced traditional beliefs with non-Catholic superstition. (Of course, there’s plenty of superstition within popular Catholicism as well.) 25% believe in astrology, 24% in the ‘evil eye’, 22% in witches and other curse-bearers. In total, 52% of practicing Catholics believe in some kind of superstition as well as their religious beliefs.

Therefore, when it is claimed that Spain is a majority-Catholic country, it should be borne in mind that this includes the 51% who call themselves ‘non-practicing Catholics’.

Source: Público / ACPress.net

All smiles at the Catholic cash machine

MADRID, - December 12, 2008

The Catholic Church is smiling at its accounts once again. In 2006, the Treasury failed to make good a discrepancy of almost 30 million euros between the money that it pays into a Church account month by month, and the total assigned to the Catholic Church by taxpayers through the ´charity box´ on tax returns.

The Treasury handed over 144.2 million euros, while taxpayers assigned 173.7 million. Yet the Bishops are not unduly worried, as the change in the law, from 2007, means a 34% increase in the amount allowed through the tax charity option. Indeed, the Episcopate has spent more than 2.7 million euros on an advertising campaign that explains the new system of ecclesiastical financing, and is delighted to see that the number of people contributing to them through tax returns has increased. The new agreement with the government means that the difference will not be made up, but also that the arrangement is on an ´indefinite´ basis, despite the fact that the Catholic Church, in theory, accepted the principle of becoming self-financing as long ago as 1979.

In 2006, 268,000 extra people ticked the box assigning 0.7% of their tax to the Catholic Church. Yet when one considers that this costs the taxpayer precisely nothing, while 7.75 million people are contributing towards the Catholic Church coffers, 66% of the Spanish population are not.

Source: El País, Público, ABC / Daniel Hofkamp, ACPress.net



Spaniards find it hard to combine work and home life

MADRID, - December 12, 2008

Spaniards, behind the Hungarians and the Portuguese, are the Europeans who have most difficulty in reconciling their professional and family lives, according to data published by the European Commission.

Two-thirds of the Spanish population say it is “difficult” or “very difficult” to combine work and home, while 32% say they have no problems. In Portugal and Hungary, around three-quarters of the population say they have difficulties in this area. Across the European Union, the average is about 50%. However, at the opposite extreme is Finland, where only 20% admit to having problems combining the two, while 69% of them say it is “easy” or “very easy”.

Those who suffer most are women aged between 25 and 54, as do those on lower earnings. Four out of ten of the better-off say it is hard to balance commitments at work and home, but this increases to two-thirds among the lower paid. Around half of all Europeans say they are “very satisfied” with their family life. Spain is at 51%, just on the average, with the two extremes being Denmark (75%) and Estonia (29%).

The major problems in family life are the cost of housing, and the upbringing of their children. Most families are unhappy at the financial help the State gives them, and are similarly discontent with assistance for those who care for elderly relatives. The best formula to look after children, according to 41% of those asked, is where one parent works full-time and the other part-time. 25% believe it´s better for one parent to be at home all the time, while others think both parents should work at least part-time.

The other options to look after children include nurseries, and grandparents. In Scandinavia, kindergartens are the most popular option, while in Holland and Malta, the child´s grandparents are the preferred choice when parents are unable to look after them.

Source: EFE / ACPress.net