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ALC HEADLINES:
BRAZIL: 2000 Census shows revealing data about religion
SPAIN: Interior ministry project unsettles religious leaders
BRAZIL: Library makes 70,000 titles available via internet
CHILE: Polemic about the day after pill grows

BRAZIL
2000 Census shows revealing data about religion

BRASILIA, May 3, 2004 (alc).  The largest group of Brazilian Christians are 
between 30 and 39 years of age, followed by those aged 40-49, according to 
the 2000 Demographic Census.

This is true both for Catholics and for Protestants, whether they are 
members of mission, historic or Pentecostal Churches.

The data forms part of the results about the population by religion and by 
age groups, carried out by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and 
Statistics (IBGE) in the 2000 Demographic Census.

Among those who say they have no religion, the largest group is aged 30-39, 
followed by 15 to 19-year-olds.

Of 169.8 million Brazilians, 124.1 million are Catholic, and 26.1 million 
are Evangelicals, according to the Census 2000 data. Of the total number of 
Evangelicals, 17.1 million are mainly linked to four Pentecostal Churches: 
Assemblies of God, Christian Congregation, Universal Kingdom of God and the 
Cornerstone Evangelical Churches.

Among Evangelical mission Churches the Baptist Church is the largest with 
3,160,000 faithful, followed by the Adventist Church, with 1,200,000 
members and the Lutheran Church with 1,060,000 followers. In the country 
there are 981,000 Presbyterians and 341,000 Methodists. In all Christian 
Churches there are more women than men.

In the section about the population based on gender and place of residence, 
only the Catholic and Lutheran Churches have more men than women in rural 
areas. In all others, in the countryside and the city, the number of women 
is higher.

Kardecism has 2,260,000 members in Brazil, Umbanda has 397,000 and 
Candomble has 127,000. Buddhists in the country number 214,000 according to 
the Census. There are 86,000 Jewish people and 27,000 Muslims.

SPAIN
Interior ministry project unsettles religious leaders

MADRID, May 5, 2004 (alc). A proposal from the Interior Minister Jose 
Antonio Alonso, to create a registry of religious activities, supervising 
who is responsible for the worship services and what type of services are 
carried out fills us with an undeniable concern, said Jaume Llenas, 
general secretary of the Evangelical Spanish Alliances (AEE).

The majority of Islamic associations present in Spain also repudiated the 
ministers declarations. However, Monear Mahmoud, Imam of the Mosque of 
Madrid, the largest in Europe, said he was in agreement with a law that 
would monitor Muslim clergy.

The ministers project forms part of a group of proposals that seek to 
combat terrorism and is related to the fact that the presumed authors of 
the March 11 attack were Moroccans and therefore may have been inspired by 
the Muslim religion.

Llenas, for his part, said he respects the legislative power of the state 
as well as the duty of Churches and confessions to collaborate and respect 
its role. However, he added that what the ministry proposes creates a 
climate of suspicion and the idea that religions are negative or dangerous 
elements, which is neither fair nor practical.

The application of this proposal, said Llenas, would be equivalent to 
regulating and monitoring the activities of each of the political parties 
because it was discovered that a few politicians had links to terrorism or 
to contemplate the idea of controlling television programs because one of 
them is manipulative.

Maximo Garcma Ruiz, executive secretary of the Evangelical Council of 
Madrid (CEM) said that this project clearly violates the right to freedom 
of expression and, of course the right to religious freedom, which is not 
tolerable and cannot be justified in any way.

If the minister wants to battle against terrorism he should look for the 
terrorists where they are, investigate all those suspected of infringing 
the law, establish as many criminal detection measures as necessary, but he 
should not forget to do this respecting the right to freedom, including 
religious freedom, said Garcia Ruiz.

The AEE is a member of the European Evangelical Alliance, or EAA, an 
observer in the 10-million member European Union Parliament in Brussels. 
The AEE is Spains longest standing Protestant entity (127 years) and a 
co-founder of the Federation of Evangelical Religious Entities of Spain 
(FEREDE), the legal representative of the Evangelicals before the State.

The president of the Islamic Community, Malik Ruiz recognized that in 
Spain there is no requirement to become a preacher of Koran which means 
that anyone, even an extremist, can use the pulpit in the Mosques to make 
their call.  However, he also proposed that the Muslim centers themselves 
exercise the control.

The representative of the Federation of Islamic Religious Entities (FEERI), 
Masur Escudero said that the initiative is nonsense.

Mohamed Ahmed Moh, spokesman for the Islamic Commission in the city of 
Melilla recalled that there is already control in the Justice Ministry 
and that each year the requirements to access to corresponding registry 
are increasingly strict. Moreover, he also requested a meeting with the 
Interior Minister in order to seek mechanisms that guarantee the 
multi-confessional state protected by the Constitution.

The president of the Islamic association "Badr4"de Melilla, Abdelkader 
Mohamed Alm, said that the proposal was Islam-phobic, adding that it was 
a direct attack against freedom of expression and worship and was the 
result of a lack of knowledge and lack of reflection on the part of the 
minister.

BRAZIL
Library makes 70,000 titles available via internet

By Edelberto Behs
SAO LEOPOLDO, May 7, 2004 (alc). The Library of the Theological Institute 
of the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB) has 
implemented a data system via Internet that allows people to have rapid and 
easy access to 70,000 resources, including books, CDs and music.

The catalogue also contains 25,000 indexed magazine articles in both 
Portuguese and Spanish.

According to Allan Krahn, librarian from EST, the access to the catalogue 
via Internet allows students, researchers and external users easier access 
to the library.

The catalogue was first published in 1946, when the library was 
inaugurated. Up until 1996, it was updated through file cards. The system 
then moved to DOS. While this allowed external access, it was complicated.

Today, said Krahn, access to the catalogue through the world network is 
simple as it uses a standard search system such as those used by Internet 
search engines like Google.

Under the new system, anyone interested in obtaining chapters of works from 
the EST library can obtain them through the Comut System, in which the 
librarian obtains the requested material, copies it and sends it via 
regular mail for a fee.

CHILE
Polemic about the day after pill grows

SANTIAGO , May 7, 2004 (alc). The dispute about the so-called day after 
pill, previously limited to Catholic leaders, who are opposed, and the 
doctors and authorities that promote the pill, was stepped up when the 
Health Ministry was accused of violating the Constitution and when an 
Evangelical leader spoke out against Catholic leadership.

The Health Ministry, which has spoken out in favor of the pill, said that 
its distribution in emergency facilities in hospitals and health centers, 
slated to take place May 15, would be postponed until the end of the month.

Last Sunday, in a text distributed in all parishes, the cardinal and the 
archbishop of Santiago, Francisco Javier Errazuriz reiterated Church 
opposition to free distribution in state health centers because it has not 
been conclusively proven that it is not abortive.

We always want to respect civil authorities but sometimes we feel 
obligated to reflect on whether they have decided what is just in the eyes 
of God as, to the contrary, we must opt for obedience to God and not to 
men, said the Cardinal.

In the face of opposition on the part of some mayors who did not want to 
distribute the pills in health centers in their jurisdiction, last 
Wednesday Health Minister Pedro Garcia threatened funding cut backs.

Different sectors affirmed that this action would be anti-constitutional. 
The Ministrys threat was not well received in the presidential palace.

The debate between the Cardinal, the Health Ministry and the mayors 
extended further last Thursday when Evangelical Bishop Emiliano Soto, told 
La Tercera that the call on the part of Catholic authorities to not 
distribute the so-called day after pill is new interference into the way 
institutions should operate.

Soto said that Evangelical Churches condemn clandestine abortive practices 
but in the case of the day after pill as there is no clarity about the 
eternal discussion of when human life begins, we are respectful of freedom 
of conscience.

Moreover, we reject the attempt to pressure and impose values and 
religious convictions by force on all people by one single creed, he said.

Health Minister Garcia affirmed, as a doctor I am opposed to abortion. I 
am convinced that the pill is not abortive and it will be God who makes the 
final judgment. I am responsibility assuming this judgment as a Catholic.

The Womens Minister Cecilia Perez explained that it is not a public health 
policy to use the pill as birth control.  According to Perez, the idea is 
to offer it to rape victims after they are fully informed about its 
properties.

The president of the Chilean Institute of Reproductive Medicine, Dr. 
Horacio Croxatto, explained that Levonorgestrel only interferes with the 
generative process, altering ovulation. When a woman takes it at a point in 
her menstrual cycle when it can interfere with ovulation, it will prevent 
fertilization. If it taken when that has already occurred, the method will 
not work and the woman will become pregnant if she was fertile in that
cycle.

For his part, Cardinal Errazuriz received support from the Bishops of 
Calama, Guillermo Vera, of Copiaps, Gaspar Quintana, and of Melipilla, 
Enrique Troncoso.

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