News, January and February 2012

Over 7,000 people gather in defence of full religious freedom

PRESS RELEASE Barcelona, 5th November 2011. The Spanish Protestant Community has gathered together, despite the constant threat of rain, over 7,000 people in the Plaça dels Països Catalans of Barcelona in defence of Full Religious Freedom. The gathering called for civil society to solidarity with the evangelical churches and denounced the closures of centres of worship which are repeatedly occurring. "If they will not listen to us we will have to take our denunciation to Europe. It is inconceivable that in the Europe of freedoms protestants have to go onto the streets to call for complete religious freedom", said Mariano Blázquez, Executive Secretary of the Spanish Protestant Federation (FEREDE). The event was presided over by 35 well known personalities of the Protestant churches which have given explicit support to the call to action. "What we demand is that in Seville, Bilbao, Valencia, Madrid, or in Barcelona protestants be allowed to buy or rent properties, be they plots, buildings or ground floor installations in blocks of flats, so that, with reasonable security measures, we may have at our disposal a place of worship. We do not ask for anything to be donated. We call for democratic and collective justice", demanded Guillem Correa, General Secretary of the Evangelical Council of Catalonia.

The meeting took place in a calm, happy, relaxed atmosphere and included a time to praise God in the Catalan and Castilian languages. During the event a Call for the Solidarity of society with the Protestant Community was read. The reading in Catalan was done by Cesca Planagumà, the anchor person for the Catalan TV show ‘Néixer de nou’ (Born again), while the Castilian version was read by Juli Pérez, the radio broadcaster and director of the Ona Pau (Peace Wave) channel. Both Blázquez and Correa referred to the democratic deficit which is currently being experienced in the Spanish State and wished to leave quite clear that the Protestant Church is fully committed with those who are suffering the consequences of the economic crisis.

After announcing that the Catalan regional government, the Generalitat, has committed itself publicly to work in search of a satisfactory solution, the General Secretary of the Evangelical Council of Catalonia called on all present to pray for the government and all the leaders of the various political parties of Catalonia and Spain. Correa called on all participants to light a candle " which will be the light of Jesus, to bring hope to all our hearts".