God
in the wasteland
CEUTA, -
November 21, 2008
An
international study concludes that 27% of Spaniards say
they are “very
religious”, while 19% call
themselves agnostics. More than half of those who say they
believe in God do not practice their
faith.
Spain may still be ´religious´, whatever that means, but it
has little impact on the daily lives of its citizens,
according to research conducted by the German trust,
Bertelsmann Stiftung. 79% consider themselves religious,
19% do not. The first category is dominated by women and
the elderly, the second by the young. One in three women is
very religious, but only one in five among men. Half the
over-60s are very religious.
However, below the age of thirty, only 11% are religious,
even though the vast majority of young adults were educated
in a religious environment. 24% of this age-group do not
belong to any religious organisation, even nominally. The
report concludes that Spaniards hold their religious ideas
subconsciously, rather like “background
music” to their lives. 34% go
to church ´regularly´ (at least once a month), 31% go less
frequently, and the rest hardly at all or not at all.
A third still pray regularly, though 37% say they never
pray. 15% are very interested in religious matters, but 42%
are not. 36% believe in God (or some divine force), 27% are
caught between faith and doubt, while 22% don´t believe in
anything. Two trends are noted: the pace of secularism has
slowed, but the intensity of religious belief is much
greater in the over-60s than in the under-30s. 78% call
themselves Catholics, 5.9% atheists, and 12.3% simply say
they don´t believe. 1.8% belong to non-Christian faiths,
but Evangelicals don´t seem to get a mention in the study.
Source: ADN,
Europa Press / ACPress.net
Going, going,
divorce
CEUTA, -
November 21, 2008
During
the first six months of this year, more than 70,000 couples
split up, according to official figures released by the
Institute of Family Policy (IPF), which itself got the
statistics from the General Judicial Council.
In the period covered, there were 34,480 divorces, 2,566
separations and 56 annulments, giving a total figure which
is up 12.5% on the previous six months. This works out at a
family break-up every three and a half minutes, or more
than 400 a day. In the light of such bleak news, the
Chairman of the IPF, Eduardo Hertfelder, says
“the
right to conjugal stability, especially for couples with
children and facing conflict or crisis, must be a top
priority for the authorities, who cannot continue to ignore
this terrible problem. ”
Hertfelder called for the creation of centres of family
orientation and the development of a nationwide law on
mediation in family conflicts.
Andalusia heads the separation rankings, with 13,206 splits
in the first six months of 2008, followed by Catalonia
(12,758) and Madrid (9,756). Virtually everybody heads for
divorce (93% of cases), with a mere 6.8% opting for
separation. Since divorce was made much easier to obtain,
it has almost done away with the less radical alternative.
The IPF says children are the main victims of family
break-up, with a staggering 54,790 children under the age
of 18 affected in the period from January to June this
year.
Source:
ACPress.net
Evangelicalism -
a new social phenomenon
MÁLAGA, 11/13,
2008
José
Jiménez is an itinerant market trader and Evangelical
pastor in one of Seville´s most conflictive districts,
known as ´Three thousand homes´. It´s an area out of which
the police, local politicians and social services have
often opted. It´s home to about 20,000 people, almost half
of whom cannot read or write and who are out of work.
Drug-ridden, the fire service no longer go in, there´s no
postal service, bus service or even rubbish
collection.
Jiménez was first taken to church by his fiancée, shortly
before their marriage. “Until then I was a
sinner; I´d done bad things.” Today he works to help
“people whose lives are going astray, as we´ve got
people here on the run from the police, robbers,
kidnappers... ”
So reads a recent article in Spain´s best-selling daily
newspaper, El
País,
in recording a growing phenomenon; Evangelical work in
Spain, especially among the gypsy community, where churches
have put into action countless social projects. They use
the Bible as their teaching material, and many people are
turning away from drugs, and turning to Christ. It is
estimated that around 150,000 gypsies are Evangelicals,
which is about 10% of the total in Spain, but more than a
third of the total number of Evangelicals who were born in
Spain.
The secular Press in Spain is coming to terms with the fact
that churches like the one pastored by José Jiménez are
achieving something which the Catholic Church is unable to
do; get alongside people in congregations where the pastor
is not a ´cleric´, but one of them. This is particularly
true in poorer districts. Gypsies often feel marginalised
in the Catholic Church, whereas in Evangelical Churches
they are the church. Another difference, recognised
recently by the Pope, is that Evangelicals are avid Bible
readers, whereas the average Catholic does not read it
enough.
In fact, illiteracy among gypsy Evangelicals is relatively
low, because of the great Protestant tradition of
encouraging people to read, not least so that they can read
the Bible. Other gypsies, who can barely read, learn Bible
verses off by heart. Last year in Spain, the most popular
Protestant translation, Reina-Valera,
sold 86,000 copies, according to Bible Society figures. A
further 20,000 were imported, while worldwide around 27
million Spanish Bibles were sold last year.
El
País
noted that while it is hard to find even a copy of the
Gospels in many Catholic homes, in most Evangelical homes
each member of the family has their own Bible.
The Ministry of Justice has a total of 1,437 registered
Evangelical Churches. The Federation of Evangelical
Organisations has 2,600 church buildings on its register
(though some churches have more than one building), and a
further 500 independent places of Protestant worship. The
growth of the Evangelical Church can be seen by some
statistics from Andalusia. In the region in 1970 there were
59 churches; today there are 546. The total number of
baptised believers in them has risen from 16,000 to 40,000.
Source: El País
/ ACPress.net
Homeschooling
debate cranks up
MÁLAGA, November
13, 2008
The
homeschooling debate is hotting up in Spain in the wake of
a court decision in the Basque provinces giving an
Evangelical couple the right to educate their children at
home.
This decision, and the support of the Popular Party in the
Basque provinces, has encouraged the 400 or so families
across Spain who want to teach their children at home. The
presence of many foreign families from countries where
homeschooling is legal also lends weight to the campaign.
Supporters of homeschooling say it has many advantages, not
least that each child is given personal attention that they
would not get in a large school. Yet homeschooling is not
regulated under Spanish law, and technically is seen as
truancy. Home education is only permitted if the child has
a serious medical condition, if the parents have an
itinerant lifestyle, or if the family lives abroad.
Opponents of homeschooling say the child misses out on
social aspects with regard to relating to other children,
and that no parent is competent in every subject.
Supporters reply that social aspects are not only covered
at school, and that homeschoolers often get together to
study a wider range of subjects than could be covered
exclusively by their parents.
Although some claim that homeschooling is illegal, no one
has yet been punished in the courts for practising it. The
Education authorities in the Basque provinces wanted to
prosecute Ketty Sánchez and her husband over their decision
to home-school their children, but in the end were obliged
to file the case. Although educationalists differ in their
opinions on homeschooling, they agree that it is not the
same as truancy, that it should be regulated, and that each
case should be examined individually.
Source: El País
/ ACPress.net
Protestant growth is ´unstoppable´
MADRID, 11/03,
2008
Statistics don´t lie? There
were just 4,000 a century ago. Their number reached 22,000
by 1932 in the Republican era. Franco saw this back to
7,000, but today there are 400,000 Evangelicals in Spain.
According to figures from the Federation of Evangelical
Organisations (FEREDE), to this figure should be added a
million Protestant immigrants. Manuela Cantón of Seville
University says because their groups are smaller and they
encourage lay participation, their faith is more dynamic
than that in the Catholic Church, which he describes as
very hierarchical.
The Pope is worried at the way the Catholic faith seems to
be dying out in certain countries, and although he didn´t
name it, Spain is one of them. However, while Catholicism
declines, other faiths are growing. Cantón puts it like
this: “Catholic faith is
being extinguished, but not that of their cousins, the
Protestants. Their growth is unstoppable.
” This is
especially true among the gypsy population. What are the
reasons for such growth? José Pisa, a young pastor in
Seville and grandson of the first Evangelical gypsy pastor,
says the coming of democracy played its part.
“Under
Franco it was difficult to meet; with freedom of speech and
religious belief, we´ve been able to extend our work more
effectively. ” Jorge Fernández, Head
of Communications at the FEREDE adds: “Evangelical
Protestant Christianity is dynamic and participative and
tends to grow where there´s freedom.
” This is a
strange comment to make, given the fact that the Church is
growing least in the democratic West, and fastest in areas
where there is often great opposition and persecution.
Cantón, who has spent 20 years studying Evangelical growth
in Latin America and Spain says “Catholicism has long
been losing ground to Evangelical Churches, which are much
more flexible. ” Many of the first
Spanish Protestants, in the 16th century, were upper-class,
while today most are either middle-class or working-class.
Some experts point to Evangelical growth in poorer areas of
cities, districts that the Catholic Church has lost to a
large degree. Cantón prefers not to speak of a withdrawal,
but “a general rejection
of the Catholic Church, (which is) seen as reactionary,
opulent and brings back memories which are obstacles (to
faith). ”
Meanwhile, there are more and more Evangelical Churches in
the rougher and poorer parts of Spanish cities, and this
has contributed to their growth. However, fruit from
earlier work in such areas by the Catholic Church in the
1950s and 1960s still persists. A good example of this is
Gabriel Delgado, a Catholic priest. He works among
immigrants and locals in Cádiz, heir to a tradition of
working-class priests. He prefers to speak of
“different
strategies. The Mormons, Jehovah´s Witnesses and (gypsy)
Evangelicals go out to win people. We don´t have that
strategy of hunting and capturing people. Our approach has
more to do with being there and showing commitment. ”
“In my diocese we have always been out on the
streets. Years ago we were in the factories, today we´re
with the immigrants. ” However, the view on
the street in the poorer parts of town is that Catholicism
has been reduced to a minimal presence, while
Evangelicalism is now seen as the faith of the poor.
Source: El País /
ACPress.net
Even Catholics
don´t want to pay for Catholic Church
MADRID, November
3, 2008
The
majority of Spaniards might still, technically, describe
themselves as Catholics, but they aren´t prepared to put
their money where their mouths are, not even some of their
tax which they have to pay anyway.
Only one in four Catholic taxpayers bothers to tick the
little box which would send a small percentage of his tax
to the Catholic Church. A recent poll found that 78% of
people said they were Catholics, but fewer and fewer seem
to want to finance the institution of that name. This is in
line with a decreasing number of practising Catholics
generally. 56% of Spaniards hardly ever attend mass or
religious services apart from weddings, funerals and the
like. 16.7% say they go several times a year, 9.6% once a
month, and 2.1% several times a week.
The same poll found that 18.5% of taxpayers tick the box
marked ´Catholic Church´, while a further 6% tick it as
well as ticking another box marked ´Other charities´. In
this latter case, it means that the tax is shared between
the two. A further 30% just tick the charities box, and the
rest tick no box at all.
The most recent agreement between the Spanish government
and the Roman Catholic Church in Spain says that the State
will give the Church 156 million euros in 2009 as an
advance on the money it then hopes to recoup through tax
returns by the method just explained. However, it is quite
clear that there is little chance of raising anything like
this amount. So what will happen? The State will cough up
the rest. In other words, it will come from taxpayers
whether they have ticked boxes to that effect or not.
The agreement does allow for either party to repay any
money made over and above the agreed total, but one can
hardly envisage the Catholic Church finding itself in such
a position. The whole point of the scheme was to help the
religious institution become self-financing, but this
remains as far off as ever and is why the government has to
make up a hefty annual shortfall.
Source:
Agencias / ACPress.net
French and Spanish are the Europeans who least read the
Bible
November,
2008
77% of Spaniards believe in God, 73% pray, 20% go to mass
once a week, but they are - together with the French - the
Europeans who least read the Bible, even though 27% of them
think it should be taught in schools.
These are some of the results of a survey organised by the
Catholic Bible Federation (CBF) which interviewed 13,000
people in 11 countries (Spain, France, Italy, USA, UK,
Holland, Germany, Poland, Russia, Argentian, Phillipines
and Hong Kong). The survey was presented alongside the
signing of an agreement signed by the CBF and the
(Protestant) Bible Society, to promote the translation and
distribution of the Bible around the world. It is to be
assumed that the CBF will continue to distribute the
Counter-Reformation version of the Bible, including the
Apocrypha. Quite how that squares with the historic
position of the Bible Society is hard to say.
The Americans head the list of the proportion of their
countrymen who pray (87%), though 73% of Spaniards said
they prayed (37% of whom said they did so every day). The
figure of 77% of Spaniards who say they believe in God has
dropped, as it increased to 86% when including those who
said they used to be believers. The Phillipines topped the
belief in God list (99%), while France registered the
lowest percentage (59%).
Only 20% of Spaniards said they had read a chapter of the
Bible in the past year, just behind the French (21%). Again
the Americans did best, with 75% saying they read the
Bible. 61% of Spaniards possess a Bible, and 41% believe it
is inspired by God but that not all of it should be
interpreted literally. 34% think it´s an old book of
legends, while 17% believe it has come straight from God.
50% think the Bible´s contents are abstract, 32% true to
real life, and the rest don´t know. But when one considers
that only 20% actually bother to read it...
48% say it´s hard to understand, and 31% think it´s easy.
60% think it´s interesting, and 21% boring. How do they
know?
Source:
La Vanguardia / ACPress.net
