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[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ALC NEWS SERVICE
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ALC HEADLINES:
PUERTO RICO: Episcopal Church asks for tolerance for homosexuals
ECUADOR: Ecuadorian communicators analyze religious journalism
NICARAGUA: Increasing violence against women in the Church
URUGUAY: Waldesian Church specifies position regarding draft abortion law

PUERTO RICO
Episcopal Church asks for tolerance for homosexuals

SAN JUAN, April 15, 2004 (alc). The Episcopal Church of Puerto Rico asked 
for tolerance for homosexuals, rejected the idea that homosexuality is a 
sin and spoke out against a campaign undertaken by Evangelical sectors 
against gay organizations.

Bishop David Alvarez, the main leader of the Puerto Rican Episcopalians, 
recognized that there are homosexual priests in his Church, similar to 
others on the island. Moreover, he said that fundamentalist groups have 
used Biblical texts that supposedly condemn homosexuality in a fragmented 
fashion that is out of context.

However, Alvarez spoke out against the celebration of marriages between 
same-sex couples. The Bible is clear in the sense that marriage is an 
organization to be shared by men and women. It is so clear that it refers 
to Christs relationship to the Church as if it were his wife, he said.

In statements to El Nuevo Dia, the bishop maintained that the Bible verses 
used by the fundamentalists refer to pagan orgies that were generally 
carried out by heterosexuals in ancient Greek tradition and even included 
children.

He said that these texts do not refer to homosexuality as it is known today 
and charged Christian groups with seeking to discriminate against people 
who prefer same sex relationships. He said that many people are homosexuals 
for genetic and cultural reasons and this is not a sin.

He recognized that in his Church and other religious denominations on the 
Island there are homosexual priests and said that these people should not 
be condemned for their sexual preference. He clarified, however, that he 
has no knowledge of a homosexual priest who is in an active relationship.

While he did not accept same sex marriages he voiced tolerance regarding 
civil weddings between homosexuals in some parts of the United States and 
said there are civil rights and opportunities stemming from civil unions 
that people of the same sex should also have.

We are in a pluralist society where we must respect the life styles of 
diverse sectors, he said.

ECUADOR
Ecuadorian communicators analyze religious journalism

By Manuel Quintero
GUAYAQUIL, April 16, 2004 (alc). In an unprecedented event, 30 journalists 
and social communicators attended a workshop on religious journalist, 
jointly organized by the El Universo Foundation and the Ecuadorian 
Ecumenical Fraternity.

The Fraternity, which groups together bishops, priests, pastors and lay 
people from different Evangelical Churches and the Catholic Church, 
promotes different ecumenical events and programs in the country. The 
foundation is an NGO sponsored by a newspaper of that name with the highest 
circulation in the country. Its aim is to promote activities that 
strengthen citizen participation, development and democracy.

During the first day of the workshop, April 13, three conferences were 
held: the Religious phenomenon today, by Professor Anastasio Gallego; 
The Ecuadorian Evangelical Movement, by the Rev. Jose Falconi; and 
Contemporary ecumenism, by Lutheran Pastor Felipe Adolf.

The following day participants also heard three conferences: Ethics and 
Religion, by priest and university professor Juan Ignacio Vara; The 
structure of the Catholic Church, by Msgr. Elias Davila, vicariate of 
Social Communication for the diocese of Guayaquil; and Journalistic 
Treatment of Religion, offered by Manuel Quintero, director of 
communications of the Latin American Council of Churches.

Professor Gallego referred to a broad investigation based on a survey 
involving 2,500 students in their final year of high school in 40 schools 
in Guayaquil.

The survey showed a significant decline in the Church as a space for 
religious formation for young people and surprisingly a weak belief in the 
resurrection, despite the fact that 75 percent of those surveyed said they 
were Catholic and 84 percent said they believe in God.

The same investigation demonstrated that for a majority of young people the 
responsibility of the Church is to orient morality, help the poor, and 
educate young people.

In terms of the religious practices of young people, many place a high 
value on reading the horoscope and a high percentage (58 percent of men and 
44 percent of women) consider themselves to be superstitious.

In his approach to the Evangelical reality in the country, Pastor Flaconi, 
who for many years was director of World Vision in Ecuador, emphasized the 
notable growth of Evangelical Churches in the past decade, from 4 percent 
to 12 percent of the population.

Falconi described the Evangelical movement as a changing reality, with a 
weak institutionalization and an emphasis on novel experiences of 
communion, praise and evangelism.

It could be considered the advance of irregular forces that promote faith 
and hope, he said.

However, its fundamental challenge is to eliminate sectarianism and 
religious fundamentalism and recover the apostolic tradition of Jesus 
Christ, he said.

Pastor Adolf spoke about the origins of the word ecumenism and about Jesus 
prayer in John 17 as the clearest expression of the Evangelical mandate for 
unity.

After referring to some contemporary processes that seek to respond to this 
mandate he emphasizes that it is a unity in diversity that recognizes the 
wealth of different ecclesial expressions and yet strengthens the testimony 
of Churches in society.

The Rev. Vara said that ethics and religion are not the same thing but are 
inter-related. All religion has an ethical dimension as it proposes 
determined values for its faithful to assume and from there, construct 
their lives, he said.

He added that the ideal would be for all religions to contribute to the 
realization of a minimum ethic that would ensure human dignity for all.

For his part Davila explained the significance of different authorities and 
government structures that mark Catholicism, as well as the role of 
specific bodies in the Ecuadorian context.

In his presentation, Quintero referred to the need for journalists and 
communicators to approach the religious phenomenon with more objectivity, 
taking into account the diversity of opinions that are the fruit of an 
increasingly plural society. He also called on journalists to go beyond the 
scandalous to analyze the impact of religion on culture, the economy and 
society.

During the second day of the workshop participants worked on three news 
events, the Ecuadorian presidents visit to an Evangelical event, the 
influence of religion in the social behavior of an urban marginal barrio 
and Mel Gibsons movie The Passion of Christ, in order to draft articles 
and reports.

At the close of the workshop, Dr. Nila Velazquez, director of the El 
Universo Foundation called on those present to recognize the complexity of 
the religious phenomenon and underlined the need to study it with care.

You, journalist colleagues, are called upon to carry out quality religious 
journalist that more precisely reflects the role and potential of religion 
in our country, she concluded.

NICARAGUA
Increasing violence against women in the Church

By Trinidad Vasquez
MANAGUA, April 16, 2004 (alc). One of the factors that makes it difficult 
to eradicate family violence in society, in Churches and in families, is 
silence said Brenda Consuelo Ruiz, in a conference with 60 women, including 
Evangelical pastors and Catholic leaders from rural communities.

Ruiz spoke about Family Violence: Myths and Realities, in an Educational 
Seminar for Women, promoted by the Evangelical Pro-Denominational Alliance 
Council of Churches (CEPAD) and the Evangelical Center of Pastoral Studies 
in Central America (CEDEPCA) that took place March 31 in Matagalpa, 140 
kilometers north of Managua. Participants included five lay men and one 
male pastor.

She said there are many myths that make it difficult to understand the 
problem. Among the most common myths is the idea that domestic violence 
only occurs in poor families and only affects a small sector of the 
population or the idea that incest only takes place in the countryside and 
that family violence is a private affair and no-one should intervene.

All of this, she said, is totally false. Another erroneous belief is the 
idea that domestic violence does not happen in Evangelical homes and that 
only girls and women are the victims of this violence.

In reality, boys and men are frequently the victims of sexual violence and 
there is no excuse for any violence. In order to detain violence, it must 
be denounced, she said, adding that many prostitutes were the victims of 
sexual abuse when they were children.

Ruiz explained that there are different types of violence: physical, 
psychological and economic.

She said that a survey of 320 women from four evangelical denominations 
that took place two years ago, confirmed that 62 percent of Evangelical 
women were abused in their homes in Managua.

In Nicaragua, she said, there are pastors who abuse women and young people 
in their Churches. It is sad but there are people who use the word of God 
to abuse. She affirmed that the Church is called to educate pastors, men, 
or it becomes an accomplice of machismo.

Pastor Nora Montenegro, from the Baptist Church, affirmed that in Matagalpa 
there is concern about the growing violence against women.

Isabel Martinez, wife of a pastor and leader of the Pentecostal Church, 
called on participants to become aware that they must not continue to 
suffer in silence. The Church must pay attention to this urgent problem. It 
is a reality that in Matagalpa violence in Churches against women increases 
on a daily basis. I advise several cases, said Martinez.

URUGUAY
Waldesian Church specifies position regarding draft abortion law

MONTEVIDEO, April 16, 2004 (alc). The Bioethical Team of the Evangelical 
Waldesian Church of Uruguay said it was not opposed to the draft law that 
would de-criminalize abortion being discussed by Uruguayan senators.

However, it added that, motivated by its Evangelical conviction, it would 
neither promote nor favor an indiscriminate practice of abortion as it 
always represents a negative, painful and traumatic event. However, we 
believe it cannot be condemned simply based on the (generalized and 
undefined) principle of defense of life, it said.

In the face of the painful situation this issue is raising in our country 
we reject the coercive imposition of pregnancy and we reject generalized 
and indiscriminate penalization, it said. .

Maternity is no longer a painful situation that must be accepted, said the 
statement from the Bioethics Team signed by Silvio Charbonnier Berger, 
doctor, Mirtha Gonnet, teachers, Cristina Garciol, psychologist and Pastor 
David Baret Ribet.

Maternity should not be a fatality. Behind every abortion there is an 
complicated history, where different types of violence interact such as 
incest, marginalization, poverty, lack of education, prevention methods, 
etc, indicated the document

According to the statement, after the interview that the Senate Health 
Commission gave to representatives from the Evangelical Commission of 
Uruguay (CREU), different communication media reported that the Evangelical 
Church of Uruguay is opposed to the draft bill to decriminalize abortion.

The CREU, it stated, does not represent the Evangelical Waldesian Church. 
We respect and defend their desire to express their convictions. However, a 
generalization that is both abstract and undefined can lead to serious 
erroneous interpretations.

The declaration states that the current legislation, dated January 24, 
1938, which, among other things, totally omits preventive policies, needs 
urgent substitution because it has proven ineffective in the effort to 
confront the problem of unwanted pregnancies and has given rise to a 
growing wave of clandestine abortions.

The Bioethical Team noted that it is not opposed to the Draft Law to 
Defense Reproductive Health approved by the Chamber of Representatives 
December 10, 2002.

It is fundamental to prevent abortion through an actualized, permanent and 
clear education on sexuality and the dissemination of multiple birth 
control methods that allow people to exercise a free, responsible, mature 
sexuality, under a paradigm of love and which avoids unwanted pregnancies, 
the statement said.

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