EUROPE/SPAIN - Bishop of Tarazona shows concern for the religious freedom law that could lead to radical secularism

Tarazona (Agenzia Fides) - Bishop Demetrio Fernandez of Tarazona (Spain), in his most recent Pastoral Letter, showed his concern for the reform of the religious freedom law that the government has announced will soon take place. The main cause for worry in this reform bill, is that it “takes up postures expressed on recent occasions, in which any religious manifestation is eliminated from the public sector.”
According to Bishop Fernandez, the problem is not that “other religions in Spain obtain recognition of their civil rights,” as “before the Spanish government proclaims it, it should be known that it was already proclaimed over 40 years ago by the Second Vatican Council, and we hope that all citizens in every nation on earth obtain these rights.” There are still many places, in fact, where “Christians are persecuted by ferocious and masked atheism or amidst fundamentalism that does not permit any other religion except its own.”
The Bishop also recalls that no one can be obliged to profess a certain religion. “It is precisely because we defend freedom of conscience that no one can impose a belief on someone else, whether it be a religious belief or an atheist belief. The conscience must take into account the respect of the natural law and the common good.” In this sense, “the governments should find a way of ensuring these rights.”
For this reason, it is up to the State to ensure “a healthy secularism, that is, the autonomy to rule all according to the common good. The State does not endorse a particular religion, so that it can support all religions and not go against a single one.” However, the Bishop says, “when there is an intent to take God out of the public sector, we have gone from neutrality to atheism, where every religion becomes a nuisance.” This is where his concern for the new Law comes in, as there is “a secularism, of European origin, that attacks what is religious and seeks to eliminate God from the public sector, at all cost.” With that said, there is also a healthy secularism, “where the religious dimension, in the diversity of its expressions, is not only tolerated but it is also valued as the ‘soul’ of the nation and the fundamental guarantee of rights and duties of the human being.”
Therefore, “if the reform of the law of religious freedom continues on the way towards healthy secularism, there is nothing to fear...However, if the reform moves toward paths of radical secularism, that sees everything religious as suspicious or as a threat to society, we are afraid that the Parliamentary majority may end up trampling fundamental rights that are recognized by our Constitution and that a regression may be produced in the area of freedoms,” Bishop Fernandez concluded. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 14/5/2008; righe 32, parole 462)