{"id":3380,"date":"2023-10-30T01:09:44","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T01:09:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/30\/argentina-takes-further-action-to-officially-recognize-evangelical-community-news-reporting\/"},"modified":"2023-10-30T01:09:44","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T01:09:44","slug":"argentina-takes-further-action-to-officially-recognize-evangelical-community-news-reporting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/30\/argentina-takes-further-action-to-officially-recognize-evangelical-community-news-reporting\/","title":{"rendered":"Argentina Takes Further Action to Officially Recognize Evangelical Community | News & Reporting"},"content":{"rendered":"


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This Reformation Day, 18 of Argentina\u2019s 24 provinces will celebrate evangelical and Protestant churches.<\/p>\n

Evangelical leaders hope that someday soon, the whole country will join in.<\/p>\n

Last month the federal government moved closer to nationally recognizing October 31 in honor of these communities when the Chamber of Deputies approved a bill<\/a> that has since headed to the Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor many evangelicals, appearing on the country\u2019s public legislative agenda is very important. It responds to an aspiration for visibility in the community,\u201d said Viviana Barr\u00f3n, rector of Baptist school Seminario Internacional Teol\u00f3gico Bautista. \u201cYears ago, many said that our churches were practically invisible to governments. That has been changing and is received with joy by many.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our country, evangelical Christians are second-class citizens,\u201d said Joel Issachar Stefanini, president and founder of the Federaci\u00f3n Iglesias Pentecostales Aut\u00f3nomas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been fighting for more than 40 years, since democracy arrived again in our country, to be recognized as a Christian church and to have equal rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many evangelical leaders have been frustrated as to what they interpret as a 150-year-long state snub toward their community.<\/p>\n

According to CONICET, Argentina\u2019s national scientific research council, the evangelical community grew from 9 percent to 15.3 percent<\/a> of the population between 2008 and 2019. The same report put the Catholic community at 62.9 percent. (Argentina has 46 million people<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Argentina\u2019s Supreme Court has ruled that the country has no official or state religion. But although its constitution guarantees freedom of religion, it also states<\/a> that \u201cthe Federal Government supports the Roman Catholic Apostolic Faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

While this relationship has been renegotiated over time through various laws and court cases, its most lasting manifestation has been a national worship registry implemented in 1979<\/a> during one of the final years of the country\u2019s dictatorship. Under this law, the Catholic church does not have to register with the government. Meanwhile, all non-Catholic religious groups must register<\/a> in order to enjoy privileges such as not paying municipal taxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe progress of the bill is good, but that only confirms that we have a very uneven dynamic with respect to the Catholic church, which is the one that holds religious political power and official support from the Argentine State,\u201d said Ana Valoy, a pastor and political analyst from the northern city of Tucum\u00e1n.<\/p>\n

Argentina is known for its cultural and religious diversity, wrote<\/a> Renata Viglione, a Christian psychologist who co-authored the current bill, in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, it is inexplicable that several centuries after the arrival of the first Protestants in Argentine territory, [and given the] public recognition of the contributions made by the Argentine evangelical community as a whole, and the right to religious equality guaranteed by the national Constitution, we are still waiting for the first national evangelical commemorative day,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

In 2017, Entre R\u00edos became the first province to institute an annual day of commemorating the Protestant Reformation\u2014on the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther\u2019s 95 Theses\u2014thanks to the efforts of local Christian leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time, we are officially recognized as a religion,\u201d Carlos Duarte, a pastor in the Iglesia Evang\u00e9lica del R\u00edo de la Plata (Evangelical Church of the River Plate) denomination, said<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n

The current legislation began at the initiative of citizens like Viglione, who reached out to lawmakers all the way back in 2014. While numerous provinces and municipalities have since adopted their own proclamations and laws recognizing evangelicals, it took years for Viglione and her colleagues to educate the Argentine church about the proposed bill and for the different political parties to agree on what language they would support for the initiative.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am optimistic that the Senate will discuss the project in the next session and approve it,\u201d said Dina Rezinovsky, one of three evangelicals in the 257-seat Chamber of Deputies, who co-sponsored the bill along with three of her Catholic colleagues.<\/p>\n

For Argentine evangelicals, political recognition validates the nation-building work they have committed to for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the beginning of our nation, evangelicals have collaborated in the progress of the country through teaching principles and values that emanate from the Bible and through founding schools, nursing homes, orphanages, rehabilitation centers for drug addicts, and helping the most neglected sectors of society,\u201d said Ciro Pablo Crimi, who leads Seminario B\u00edblico de Fe.<\/p>\n

Among other things, Argentine taxes help support the salaries of bishops and priests, says Crimi, and evangelicals\u2019 frustration with this arrangement has at various times led them to organize more formally in opposition.<\/p>\n

In September 1999 at the obelisk in Buenos Aires, 250,000 evangelicals gathered under the motto Jesucristo por todos y para todos<\/em> (\u201cJesus Christ for all and to all\u201d). They requested a religious freedom law that would ensure equal treatment of faiths, notes Crimi. Two years later, 400,000 evangelicals gathered again in September under the motto \u201cFor my country, I want religious equality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGod\u2019s justice demands equality without discrimination or exclusions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While this type of recognition is validating to a community with a history as long as that of evangelicals, Jesus\u2019 teaching cautions his followers about the danger of public recognition. Seeking the approval of others can disqualify people as ministers of Christ, and believers should seek to please God, not others, says Ruben del R\u00e9, who is the head of the Sociedad B\u00edblica Argentina.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur purpose must be aligned with what our Lord clearly taught in the Sermon on the Mount: that men, seeing our good works, glorify God,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it is not about public recognition of our work, nor about achieving greater social prestige. The church of Christ will never need that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Further, establishing a day celebrating Protestants and evangelicals is easier than changing the religious freedom law. Congress tried multiple times to do so from 2001 to 2019, noted Rezinovsky.<\/p>\n

\u201cLegislators do not want to deal with the reform of the religious freedom law that dates back to the 1970s. This type of decision can be seen as a way to calm the underlying discussions that have not taken place,\u201d said Barr\u00f3n. \u201cWe continue to wait for a country where belonging to a religious group does not give privileges to anyone. But there is a long way to go for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Viglione sees the growth of October 31 celebrations and the current legislative success of her bill as a step forward in redressing the government\u2019s imbalanced relationship with non-Catholic faiths.<\/p>\n

In Argentina, \u201cwe freely profess our faith, we can freely speak on faith, we can organize gatherings. \u2026 In that sense, there is absolute freedom,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we needed equality, and I think that\u2019s what they finally realized.\u201d<\/p>\n


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