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A Brief Historical and Legal Description of Religious LibertyEcuador is a constitutional republic with a president and a 77-member unicameral legislature chosen in free elections. The 1994 midterm elections left President Sixto Durán Ballén's governing coalition only nine seats in the National Assembly.1
Ecuador achieved independence from Spain in 1822 when it became part of Greater Colombia, a union which dissolved in 1830 with Ecuador becoming an independent state. It became a member of the United Nations in 1945. Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion, however, since the revolution of 1895 replaced conservative rule with liberal party rule, the Roman Catholic Church is no longer established as the official religion and freedom of worship is constitutionally guaranteed.2
The Constitution prohibits discrimination for religious reasons, and citizens are free to practice the religion of their choice. Numerous foreign-based religious orders and missionary groups are active.3
The Equatorian policy concerning religious liberty was developed before Ecuador obtained its independence in 1830. Independent Ecuador inherited the church's legal establishment and lack of toleration for non-Roman Catholic religious groups, a matter that was not resolved with the separation of church and state in 1906.4
In Ecuador's first constitution of 1830, the central government assumed the exercise of ecclesiastical patronage, following the Greater Colombia Law of 1824 on that matter. Freedom of speech and expression were guaranteed within the bounds of decency, public morality and legal responsibility. First and foremost was the exclusive establishment of the Roman Catholic Church, binding the government in the exercise of its patronage to protect it.
According to historians, with the "March 6 Revolution" in 1845, the Equatorian Constitution introduced provisions reflecting new political trends. It declared that sovereignty belonged to the people and extended suffrage to all male citizens. The Catholic church's exclusive establishment was retained, but the state's right to exercise ecclesiastical patronage is not mentioned. Further, the president's power to appoint bishops and other authorities was eliminated. These latter provisions became the basis for a religious-political power struggle destined to end only in 1906, when church and state finally were separated and religious toleration granted.5
In the Constitution of 1861, which was issued during García Moreno's Administration, the exclusive legal establishment of Roman Catholicism was retained; no other public worship was tolerated. However, free expression of thought was guaranteed with respect to religion, decency and public morality, and subject to the responsibility which the laws imposed. The constitution proclaimed the government's duty to defend and respect the authority of the Catholic Church. The Constitution of 1869, known as the "Black Charter" was a starting point in questions related to race, religion and regionalism. The new charter, in many of its provisions, emphasized the role of religion in the Garcian state. The Roman Catholic Church was established exclusively as the religion of the republic, and protection was guaranteed of its rights and privileges. Furthermore, the civil authority was obliged to protect the Catholic church and no other religion was tolerated. Another article required individuals to be Roman Catholic in order to be citizens and granted the church control over education.6
Ecuador's first true social revolution occurred during the term of President Eloy Alfaro, namely, from 1895 to 1912. In 1896 Alfaro decreed the election of delegates to a National Convention to draw up the Constitution of 1887, Ecuador's eleventh, in which the inviolability of life became a constitutional dogma. Roman Catholicism was proclaimed to be the religion of the republic with the exclusion of any religious group contrary to morality.7 It also provided the first guarantee of complete religious freedom.8
In Alfaro's Constitution of 1906, for the first time, the name of God was deleted from the preamble, and no article provides for a religious establishment. Freedom of conscience in all its aspects and manifestations not contrary to morality and public order were guaranteed to all Equatorians.9 Free secular and lay education was decreed for all schools which were maintained at public expense.10 The inviolability of life and the abolition of the death penalty was stated as the first of individual guarantees.11 The old liberal goals of freedom of thought and association, in addition to religious toleration were guaranteed.12
This document, which guaranteed religious toleration and separated church from state, according to some sources, placed Ecuador in the mainstream of nineteenth century political development of Latin America.
Since then and according to the Constitution of 1979 currently in force, and with reforms introduced on January 11, 1995, the Equadorian state guarantees freedom of religion.
Constitutional Provisions and Legislation Relating to Religion
In TITLE II, Article 19, Ecuador's constitution establishes the following provisions relating to freedom of religion:
Section 5: All forms of discrimination for reasons of ... religion ... are forbidden.Section 6: Freedom of conscience and religion, individually and collectively, in public and in private. Persons can freely practice the faith that they prefer, except for the limitations prescribed by law to protect the security, public morality and fundamental rights of the persons.
Section 15: The right to privacy concerning political and religious convictions. No one may be required to manifest his convictions except in cases prescribed by law.13
Recent Reported Cases of Religious Intolerance
In December 1995, a United States Nazarene missionary was kidnapped in Quito by unknown assailants pretending to be interested in purchasing a car he had for sale.14 The car was later found abandoned.
In August 1995, Ecuador's Roman Catholic leaders criticized government officials for continuing to delay implementation of the nation's controversial religion law and for failing to fund development of religious curriculum for the schools.15 Signed into law in late 1994, the measure mandates two hours per week of religious teaching in all private and public schools at government expense. Protestant churches and many social, and educational groups remain opposed to the measure. A major teacher's union has reaffirmed its intention to disobey the law when it is implemented.16 The Minister of Education resigned because of her opposition to this new law.17 The Roman Catholic Episcopal Conference demanded that the Equadorian government establish a special budget to fund the religious education program, which some experts say will cost more than seven million dollars a year to implement.18 The Catholic group has also demanded that President Sixto Durán Ballén act immediately to implement regulations which still have not been put into effect.19
On October 1994, a government spokesman said that the ratified legislation regarding mandatory religious instruction remained in place despite an October 13 ruling by the Constitutional Guarantees Tribunal, which declared it unconstitutional20 since Ecuador's constitution prohibits the state from intervening either in favor or against any particular religious group.21
Some opponents see the new law as a step back 100 years to a time when the church exerted major influence in the country's political and social arenas,22 while not all Catholic priests considered the new law an advancement. Father Juan Palomino, a Salesian priest, publicly raised questions about the role of the Catholic church. "Ecuador's society has become pluralistic," Palomino wrote.23 "The Catholic church no longer enjoys the same rights it once did when it represented a larger majority of the population. Thus, the church cannot easily expect the government to finance its programs and proposals."24
The process of adopting the new law started on March 30, 1994, when the Social Christian Party sponsored the church-initiated bill to provide for two hours of weekly government sponsored religious education in all schools, including private, church-supported institutions.25
ENDNOTES 1. U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1994 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1995): 384.2. Edward H. Lawson ed., The Encyclopedia of Human Rights (New York: Taylor & Francis, Inc., 1991): 430.
3. U.S.Department of State (1994): 387.
4. Letter from the Embassy of Ecuador in the United States to The Rutherford Institute, Washington, D.C., 29 June 1995.
5. ibid.
6. ibid.
7. ibid.
8. ibid.
9. ibid.
10. ibid.
11. ibid.
12. ibid.
13. Gisbert H. Flanz and Carol Serpa, "Ecuador," in Albert P. Blaustein & Gisbert H. Flanz, eds., Constitutions of the Countries of the World (Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana Publications, Inc., 1988) 13-14.
14. Kim A. Lawton, "Nazarene Missionary Still Missing After Seminary Abduction." News Network International (December 22, 1995): 6.
15. "Ecuador." News Network International (August 25, 1995): 23.
16. ibid.
17. "Ecuador." News Network International ( October 18, 1994): 33.
18. "Ecuador." News Network International (August 25, 1993): 23.
19. ibid.
20. ibid.
21. ibid.
22. ibid.
23. "Ecuador." News Network International (October 18, 1994): 33.
24. ibid.
25. ibid.
Source: Handbook on Religious Liberty Around the World, Pedro C. Moreno, Editor. Charlottesville, VA: The Rutherford Institute. This report is reprinted here by special arrangement with the Rutherford Institute and may not be reproduced or mirrored on another webside without written permission of the Rutherford Institute.
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