Abortion and religious freedom in the government´s sights

MADRID, May, 2008

Deputy Prime Minister María Teresa Fernández de la Vega has again proposed in Parliament that the Constitution be modified, and a new electoral law be passed. Religious groups are most interested in her proposals affecting the Law of Religious Liberty.

De la Vega is arguing for limited but agreed changes to the Constitution, based on the widest possible consensus, in four main areas: that the Senate (Upper House) become more representative, greater recognition to be given to autonomous regions, gender equality to be guaranteed regarding the Head of State, and greater European integration.

De la Vega also announced the government´s intention of modifying the Law of Religious Liberty so as to make the State more neutral in matters of religion, by recognising plurality and guaranteeing the basic right of freedom of conscience. She also spoke about a ´human rights plan´ which will be presented before the end of the year.

The ´right´ (ie. liberalisation) of abortion is to be driven through, which could spell the end of religious members of hospital ethics committees. Anything or anyone that stands in the way of the Left-wing agenda is seemingly to be swept aside. She wants the Constitution amended so as to improve the working relationship between government and Parliament.

(Source: La Vanguardia / ACPress.net)

Spain comes 12th in world maternity league

May, 2008

A ´Save the Children´ report which analyses maternity in 146 countries worldwide and takes health and socio-economic factors into account, places Spain 12th in the international league table of nations. In other words, Spain is ranked 12th best nation for having a child in.

According to María Jesús Mohedano, a member of Save the Children, this is a good position, despite the fact that Spain was ranked 9th last year. However, the drop is due to the inclusion of new countries such as Ireland, Iceland and France, which for some reason haven´t been analysed before, but now slip in ahead of Spain.

The report, entitled ´State of the world´s mothers 2008´, puts Sweden at the top of the maternity stakes, followed by Norway and Iceland. Apart from Australia and New Zealand, the rest of the top ten are European countries. Bottom of the list comes Niger, and sub-Saharan Africa figures high among the lowest-ranked nations. Mohedano highlights the good position Spain has with regard to things like access to modern contraceptives (67% of women), the low maternal mortality rate (1 in every 16.400), and low infant mortality rate (4 out of every 1000 births). She also quotes the presence of women in government - 37% of the current Spanish administration - though what this has to do maternity rankings, goodness knows. One suspects the report has no room, nor gives credit, for women who stay at home to bring up their children.

Spain does not do so well though in financial terms, with poor child benefit and low average wages for women in comparison with men. As for measures to improve the situation in Spain - in other words, if Spain wants to climb the league table -, Save the Children recommends that fewer women get pregnant older (try and have your babies nearer the age of 30 if possible) so as to reduce the number of premature births, and that people take more care over domestic accidents.

Progress in maternity generally in Spain is described as “astonishing”, given that until the middle of the last century, the infant mortality rate stood at 100 children per every 1000 births, similar to that which is registered today in some sub-Saharan countries. The Spanish rate has improved by 80% since then, and shares third place in the world with a number of other countries, behind only Iceland and Sweden. In recent years, the annual number of under-fives who die has remained at between 2,000 and 2,200. 43% of these deaths are to do with organ problems, usually associated with premature birth and low weight.

The report does issue a warning about domestic accidents, which account for about a quarter of deaths among young children, ahead of traffic accidents.

(Source: La Voz de Galicia / ACPress.net)

Spaniards don´t know or read their Bibles

MADRID, 05/15, 2008

Spaniards read their Bibles less than anyone else. A study shows that while 75% of Americans have read a Bible passage in the last year, only 20% of Spaniards have done so.

The study, carried out by the Catholic Bible Federation (CBF) and presented at the Vatican, puts Spain at the bottom of a list of nine countries the report investigated. Not only that, but Spaniards are those who know least about the content of the Bible. The report looked at the situation in nine countries - USA, UK, Germany, Holland, France, Poland, Russia, Spain and Italy - and attempted to see what relationship existed between the adult population and the Holy Scriptures.

France is very close to Spain with only 21% having read the Bible in the last 12 months. Reading up the list, Italy comes next with 27%, Germany 28%, Holland 31%, Russia 35%, Great Britain 36% and Poland 38%. However, the difference between Europe and the USA is huge, with three out of four Americans saying they have read from the Bible during the past year.

One thing is reading it; another is knowing what it contains. Once again, Spaniards did not come out very well. Faced with questions like, ´Are the Gospels part of the Bible?´, ´Is Paul in the Old or New Testaments?´, and ´Did Jesus write a Gospel?´, only 17% of those asked in Spain answered correctly. This compares with 18% in Russia, 25% in Holland and 28% in France. The highest percentages of those with some basic Bible knowledge, between 32% and 37%, are the Americans, British, Germans, Italians and Poles. At the report´s presentation, the Chairman of the CBF, Vincenzo Paglia, said the “ignorance” and “lack of general Bible knowledge” means it is easy for “any old Da Vinci Code to confuse” people.

Interestingly, with the exception of France, the majority of people said they were in favour of the Bible being taught in schools. In Spain, 49% were in favour, 37% against, and 12% undecided. In Italy, 62% are in favour, 26% against, and 10% undecided.

73% of those asked in Spain said they were Catholic, 10% said they were atheist, 6% agnostic and 3% members of other religions. 74% of the Catholics said they went to church, but only 20% of them said they went regularly. 73% of those interviewed in Spain said they pray sometimes, but only 6% of them use the Bible to do so. 63% prefer to use their own words. The investigation was carried out prior to the forthcoming Catholic Bishops´ Synod which meets in Rome in October. Its motto is ´The Word of God in the life and mission of the Church´

(Source: El Mundo / ACPress.net)