wfn.org | ALC Noticias November 21 2004 Ecuador Uruguay Brazil Venezuela

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

ALC NEWS SERVICE
E-mail: director@alcnoticias.org

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CONTENT

ECUADOR: Evangelicals calls on governments to recognize legal equality
URUGUAY: Preventive peace, proposes WCC general secretary
BRAZIL: A new world is possible and is on its way, said pacifist
BRAZIL: IURD lost ground in recent elections
VENEZUELA: Evangelicals support Criminal Code reform
ECUADOR: rganization of Evangelical Indigenous in the eye of the storm

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ECUADOR
Evangelicals calls on governments to recognize legal equality

By Manuel Quintero

QUITO, Nov. 19 (alc). The Andean Consultation on Religious Equality, which
brought together pastors, lay leaders and specialists to analyze this issue,
called on authorities from countries on the continent to recognize the right
that Evangelicals have to Religious Equality in the profession of their
faith.

In a statement approved by consensus in the final session Friday,
participants recognized that in recent years Latin American States "have
abandoned their confessional nature and have included freedom of conscience
and exercise of all worship in their constitutions."

However, continued the document, "reality shows us the persistence of
discrimination and legal inequalities in how minority confessions are
treated, which violates the constitutional order and International Law."

For this they consider urgent "the creation and improvement of norms that
consecrate legal statues that consolidate equal rights and obligations for
all religious confessions through legal and social instruments that are
pertinent and just."

Delegates from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Spain, Peru and
Venezuela affirmed that freedom of conscience is "a fundamental right for
human beings that allow them to choose their own religious practices and
convictions and to not be persecuted or limited in their exercise within the
framework of human rights."

The consultation was held November 17-19 at the invitation of the Latin
American Council of Churches (CLAI), the Ecuadorian Evangelical
Confraternity (CEE) and the Council of Peoples and Evangelical Indigenous
Organizations of Ecuador (FEINE) and allowed for an exchange of information
and experiences regarding current legislation and practice in the religious
material of the represented nations.

Participants also emphasized the importance of a separation between the
Church and the State "as a primordial form of life together that allows for
the full development of citizenship in the exercise of their civilian
rights."

In the statement, Evangelical leaders warned of the need to continue the
reflection, to disseminate the results of this consultation and to take this
dialogue to Churches together with their associations, federations and
confederations.

They also emphasized the importance of involving other religious confessions
in this process and civil society in general. For this, they proposed
creating commissions for the reflection and promotion of legal equality and
treatment in the religious field.

At the same time, they committed themselves to "strengthening organizations
and the union of existing Evangelical Churches and working to establish them
in each country where they do not exist."

These institutions, said the declaration "will be responsible for an
official unified representation before the State, the defense of religious
freedom, the rights of the churches and the development of common actions.

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URUGUAY
Preventive peace, proposes WCC general secretary

MONTEVIDEO, Nov 19 (ALC) The concept of "preventive peace" was raised by
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary the Rev. Samuel Kobia as
an alternative to the US "preventive war" thesis.

Kobia, who held a swift visit to Uruguay November 17-19, met with the mayor
of Montevideo Mariano Arana and vice president elect Rodolfo Nin Novoa, as
president elect Tabare Vazquez was traveling in the interior of the country.

The WCC leader spoke about "preventive peace" when he spoke about the
international situation and the war in Iraq with the two Uruguayan
authorities.

Kobia emphasized that the WCC is opposed to the US invasion of Iraq and
emphasized that among important WCC programs is the "Decade to overcome
violence."

  On both occasions, Kobia was accompanied by the president of the Federation
of Evangelical churches of Uruguay (FIEU), Pastor Oscar Bolioli, and the WCC
delegation that included Marta Palma, Argentine Bishop Emeritus Federico
Pagura and the person responsible for press for the WCC, Juan Michel.

In the meeting with vice president elect Nin Novoa, Kobia spoke about the
convenience of applying a law that would allow the government to investigate
events related to the forced arrest and disappearance of people during the
past civic-military dictatorship. They also spoke about poverty in the
southern nation.

Kobia met with representatives from the Organizations of the Families of
Detained Disappeared and delegates from the different Churches. He also met
with representatives from the Catholic Church and the Jewish community.

Regarding violence, the visitor indicated that this year the emphasis of the
Decade to Overcome Violence is focused on the social situation in the United
States.

He noted that regarding its concern about violence against women and
children, the WCC promotes concrete actions with the support of its 342
members Churches in 100 countries that represent 400 million Christians.

Regarding the new Uruguayan government, elected last October 31 he said "the
message that we gave the vice president is that in Uruguay there are great
expectations in many aspects and above all the social situation."

Kobia specified that, according to the daily La Republica, the WCC "has
supported the Uruguayan people in different tasks for many years," and said
that he expected this work to continue for the next years.

On Thursday Kobia also visited Colonia where he was received by leaders from
the Waldesian and Reformed Church and spoke about the upcoming IX WCC
General Assembly to be held in Porto Alegre, Brazil in February 2006.

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BRAZIL
A new world is possible and is on its way, said pacifist

SAO LEOPOLDO, Nov 19 (alc) - War is one of the most profitable businesses in
the world. Every second $30,000 is spent on weapons and this amount would
make it possible to solve the majority of social problems on the planet,
affirmed Catholic priest and communicator Marcelo Rezende Guimaraes.

The application of war resources to save human lives is defended by the Rev.
Rezende in his book "A new world is possible," that was launched at the
Porto Alegre Book Fair held in Plaza de Alfandega from October 29 to
November 15.

The book presents the main reasons to practice tolerance, to educate for
peace, to promote inter-religious dialogue, to be in solidarity and to
defend human rights. "The new world is not only possible but is already on
the way," Guimaraes told ALC.

His book is not just limited to analyzing the geography of existing
conflicts. Regarding the conflict between Israel and Palestine, he said the
media tells histories of men who bomb and Israeli army reprisals against the
Palestinians.

"However, few know that more than 1,000 Israeli officers are in jail for
refusing to combat the Palestinians. Few know that in many schools children
from these rival nations are in the same classroom," he said.

Rezende emphasized the importance of dialogue to sow a culture of peace and
to uproot fundamentalism that is not only Islamic but also Christian. "In
many cases it is present within each of us," he noted.

He said that education for non violence is a process that you learn over the
course of life and he said that the current situation promotes aggressive
behaviors.

The family and religion, he said, have the same ambiguity as all other
institutions. They constitute tools for peace, favoring socialization but
also reproduce a culture of violence.

The war culture, he said, is clearly manifested in different cultural
aspects of contemporary society. Many streets have the name of military
heroes but I have never seen a street named Mahatma Gandhi, he said.

"Violence structures our behavior. For this reason, we need to unite
political and economic elements that should orient a society of peace," he
said. The formation of this new society constitutes a process that is
already underway. "We need to combat this apology for chaos, propagated by
the media that ends up saying that the apocalypse is imminent and will take
place in six hours," he said.

Regarding the responsibility of Churches in promoting peace, Rezende said
that Churches should be more daring, leave aside discourse and calling on
believers to an effective practice of attitudes in favor of peace. "This is
the only way that Churches will be faithful to the Gospel," he said.

Marcelo Rezende is coordinator of the NGO Educators For Peace, of Porto
Alegre, that offers a distance education course and trains teachers in order
to form a more just, human society marked by greater solidarity.

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BRAZIL
IURD lost ground in recent elections

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 18 (alc) - An investigation, published in the daily O
Globo, indicated that in municipal elections on October 31, the Universal
Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD) lost ground and that of 350 alderman
positions in different municipalities it now holds 70.

In the state of Rio de Janeiro it said, the number of aldermen supported by
the IURD fell from 32. to 16, 80 to 12 in Sao Paulo, 20 to six in Bahia and
20 to four in Pernambuco and from eight to three in Ceara.

This does not mean, however, that the IURD reached the limit of its growth
but rather that it now confronts the rivalry of other Churches, said
Professor Maria das Dores Campos Machada, coordinator of the Religious
Investigation, Social and Political Action Group from the Social Services
School at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Evangelical Churches have begun to compete among themselves when it comes
time to elect representatives to municipal councils, in the legislative
assemblies and in the federal Congress, she said.

In the National Congress, however, if a moral issue comes up Evangelicals
forget their doctrinal and partisan interests and vote together. The
Evangelical bench includes 58 congressmen, and three senators from 12
parties.

"We are 100 percent opposed to the stable union of people of the same sex,"
Congress representative Adelor Vieira, of the Democratic Brazilian Movement
Party of Santa Catarian and coordinator of the evangelical bench, told Carta
Capital magazine.

Evangelicals concentrate their efforts on rejecting projects that seem to
impose taxes on Churches and on projects related to social communication
media, Antonio Augusto de Queiroz told that same magazine. Queiroz is
director of the Inter-Union Department of Parliamentary Advise (DIAP).

Another interesting aspect that Carta Capital points out is related to the
campaign costs of federal representatives. In 2002 elections for National
Congress, evangelical candidates from 14 Brazilian states spent more on
average than their non believing opponents.

Nearly 60 percent of Evangelical representatives in the national Congress
come from south and southeastern states. Five states from the northeast did
not elect a single Evangelical representative.

As a whole, the 56 federal Evangelical representatives elected in 2002
garnered little more than 4.6 million votes, while the Evangelicals in the
country number 26 million, demonstrating that Evangelicals do not
necessarily vote for Evangelicals.

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VENEZUELA
Evangelicals support Criminal Code reform

CARACAS, Nov 15 (ALC). Women from Venezuelan Evangelical Churches, meeting
in the VIII National Christian Women's Event, convened by the Latin American
Council of the Churches (CLAI) agreed to support a criminal Code reform
currently being debated by Congress.

The event, held November 5-7 in Cuara, Lara in northeastern Venezuela
brought together approximately 70 women.

Presbyterian, Lutheran, Anglican, Pentecostal, Free Church, Catholic women
were represented along with women from ecumenical institutions that support
the work of women in the country, in order to analyze the issue of women's
rights and sexual and reproductive health.

The Rev. Judith Van Osdol, continental coordinator of CLAI's Women and
Gender Pastoral Committee spoke about the poverty, marginalization,
invisibility and regression of human rights currently taking place in Latin
America.

Institutions that work in favor of women's rights presented their
experiences in their respective fields of work. These included the Proyecto
Vida Foundation, that helps women with HIV-AIDS, the Women's Bank, the
National Women's Institute, the Ministry of Pastoral Counseling.

Participants agreed to create a Reference Commission with all the
represented Churches, who committed themselves to following up on the issues
raised at the event, as well as to support holding the IX Event, slated to
take place November 4-6, 2005.

The final declaration states that God created women and men to live together
in equality, in parity and with gender equity and that life is a gift that
God has given us and that the body, as a temple of the Holy Spirit requires
the necessary care to live with dignity, with a capacity for pleasure and
reproduction.

Through the ministry of Jesus we ratify the active role of women in the
history of human salvation. At the same time we are aware that we live in a
world full of anti-values, immersed in a culture of death and violence,
added the document.

We say NO to silence, to a double morality, to religious hypocrisy. We say
NO to violence no matter where it comes from. We say NO to unwanted
pregnancies, to rape, to incest, to the lack of self-esteem, lack of
affection and communication, it added.

We reject all ideological, political, religious, communicational traps that
have been constructed regarding women's bodies, impeding the development of
responsibility sexuality, affirms the declaration.

We are committed to promoting mixed spaces, women and men, for discussion,
analysis and study in the area of sexual and reproductive rights, concluded
the declaration.

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ECUADOR
Organization of Evangelical Indigenous in the eye of the storm

By Manuel Quintero

Quito, Nov 18 (alc). The political activism of Evangelical indigenous, a
recent phenomenon in Ecuadorian life, reached new and spectacular levels
November 16 when some 200 attempted to enter the National Congress in order
to lash legislators, according to the press.

The indigenous belong to the Evangelical Indigenous Federation of Ecuador
(FEINE) whose president, Marco Murillo moved public opinion a few weeks ago
when he said it was necessary to "dissolve Congress."

Murillo's words led Congressman Pachakutic Mesias Mora to file a legal suit
against him.

Some 3,000 Evangelical indigenous, also mobilized by the FEINE, has
previously marched to the center of Quito to support Murillo and the
President Lucio Gutierrez government and to demand that the legislators
rectify their position.

The indigenous concentrated in the El Arbolito Park and headed to the
Pichincha Attorney's Office. There, the first confrontation between public
forces and demonstrators took place, when they tried to enter the Public
Ministry building.

 From there some 200 indigenous marched to the Central Bank where the
National Congress operates. There they were received by hundreds of police
who set up a special operative to impede their access.

Indigenous evangelicals alleged that they had asked to be received by the
Legislative plenary and their request had been accepted.

Congress President Guillermo Landazuri, of the Christian Left party said
that the FEINE leadership had asked to be received by the Congressional "but
under pressure and threat no group can be received no matter how
respectable."

Before the presence of the FEINE contingency on the Congress patio,
representative Alfonso Harb of the Christian Social Party took a weapon from
one of this body guards.

"If 200 or 300 indigenous came in at that time, they would kill me or I
would have to use my weapon," he said.

The backdrop to these events is a recent political conflict in Congress,
created when some opposition blocks sought to impeach President Gutierrez
for supposed embezzlement.

However, some representatives from these groups backed down last week. As a
result, the opposition lost the majority and the possibility of putting the
president on trial was suspended.

In this volatile scene, the new Government and Police Minister, Jaime
Damerval threw fat on the fire November 14 when he said the government was
proposing a political reform that contemplated dissolving Congress and the
integration of a Constituent Assembly.

Murillo has rejected the criminal process he faces, alleging that this trial
seeks to restrict freedom of expression and deny the possibility of telling
the truth to authorities.

The march of the Evangelical indigenous, that represented delegations from
20 provinces in the country, is geared toward proposing a political reform
to the National Congress, said the FEINE president.

This reform is aimed not only at changing Congress, but the three State
powers so they work in favor of the needy, he said.

"We want corruption in the three State powers to end," said Murillo, who has
also called on President Lucio Gutierrez to make some rectifications.

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