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A Brief Historical and Legal Description of Religious Liberty
The Kingdom of Spain, greatly influenced by Roman Catholicism, was, for the majority of its history, religiously intolerant. The Muslims, or Moors, invaded in 711 and ruled at least partially until 1492 when the Kingdom of Granada fell to the French. The country achieved independence in the same year under King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. At independence, Spain established Roman Catholicism as the state religion and expelled all Jews from the country. During the Inquisition, the state forced Jews either to convert or to leave the country, and condemned about 200 Protestants to death.1 The Protestant leaders had to leave the country and seek asylum in England or Gibraltar.2 The Constitution of 1869 allowed a modicum of religious liberty while still providing state support to the Catholic Church. The document stated, “If some Spaniards profess another religion than Catholic, all that is provided in the former paragraph [guaranteeing freedom of religion] is applicable to them.”3 The Constitution of 1876 likewise allowed religious toleration for non- Catholics if they upheld public morality and did not display their faith publicly. In 1932, Spanish revolutionaries disdained policies that expanded religious freedom only gradually. Spain’s 1932 Constitution created a worker’s republic, disestablishing the Catholic Church and providing secular education in the schools. Sentiments of “anti-clericalism, religious indifference, and even opposition to all religions” fostered separation of church and state.4
Anti-clericalism did not carry the day. General Francisco Franco, successful in his “crusade for God and country,” capitalized on public reaction against rapid social and legal change and, in 1939, seized power as a fascist dictator. He re-established Roman Catholicism as the state religion. Franco closed Protestant churches and schools, required children to study Catholicism in school, forced members of the military to participate in ceremonies honoring Catholicism, and reestablished canonical marriage for Catholics.5 At that time, national catholicism emerged as a new political doctrine strongly linking church and state. This doctrine declared that Spain was exclusively Catholic and therefore other religions were non-existent.6
Franco later moderated his policies of religious oppression. In 1945, the state allowed limited freedom of religion as it promulgated the Charter of the Spanish People. Article Six of the Charter states, “[T]he profession and practice of the Catholic religion, which is that of the Spanish state, will enjoy official protection. No one will be molested for his religious beliefs, nor for the private practice of his religion. No external ceremonies or manifestations other than those of the Catholic religion will be permitted.”7 The government allowed Protestants to open places of worship once they received the approval of their provincial officials, but it still forbade them to evangelize outside their places of worship, denied them access to the media, and prohibited them from operating schools.
In the mid-60’s there were 240 Protestant places of worship in Spain; however, only 47 had government approval; 141 did not have governmental permits and were merely tolerated by public officials. Out of the other 52 places, 30 operated in private homes (they were groups with less than 20 people), and 22 had been closed.8
In 1967, the government expanded religious liberty with the Law of Religious Liberty:
1. The Spanish State recognizes the right to religious liberty founded on the dignity of the human person and assures the necessary protection for immunity from every coercion in the legitimate exercise of that right.2. The profession and practice of every religion in public and in private shall be guaranteed by the state with no limitations other than those established in Article 2 of this law.
3. The exercise of the right to religious liberty understood according to Catholic doctrine must be compatible in every case with the Roman Catholic confession of the Spanish state, as proclaimed in its fundamental law.9
Franco’s regime lasted until his death in 1975. Prince Juan Carlos Alfonso Victor María de Borbón succeeded him and arranged for free elections in 1977. King Juan Carlos I now presides over a constitutional monarchy governed by a parliamentary democracy. In 1976, the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs signed an agreement with the papal secretary of state establishing the “rights” of the Church in democratic Spain.10 The state agreed to uphold “the fundamental right[s] of parents with respect to the moral and religious education of their children” and promised that “the education provided in public teaching institutions will be respectful of the values of Christian ethics.”11 Spain continued religious education classes, but no longer mandated attendance.12 The state also acknowledged that ecclesiastical schools could “receive subsidies, scholarships, fiscal benefits and other forms of assistance that the state may grant to non-public [teaching] centers.”13 The government formally rescinded the 1967 Law on Religion in 1980 with a law providing for full religious toleration (see later).
On December 28, 1978, the new Constitution of Spain, which established the separation of church and state, was promulgated. Since the Constitution also recognized the historical role of the Catholic Church, it opened the doors for a relationship of independence and cooperation between the state and the church. As a result, on January 3, 1979, four Agreements with the Holy See were signed. Those agreements, together with the one signed in 1976, wholly replaced the Concordat of 1953.14 The agreement signed in 1976, entitled “Basic Agreement,” involved issues such as the constitutional system and the foundations for further agreements, church autonomy to designate bishops, and resignation to special privileges.15 The 1979 Agreements were: 1)Agreement on Legal Affairs; 2)Agreements on Teaching and Cultural Affairs; 3)Agreement on Economic Affairs; and 4)Agreement on Religious Assistance in the Armed Forces and Military Service for Clergy and Religious Persons.16
On November 12, 1986, the Federation of Evangelical Religious Entities of Spain (FEREDE), was founded, joining together 257 Evangelical churches (almost all the existing ones in Spain), primarily to unite the Evangelicals in order to seek and protect religious freedom.17 José Cardona, a long time defender of religious liberty and Executive Secretary of the FEREDE then said: “The FEREDE . . . it is a legal entity and has a legal representation... its primary objective is to develop the possibility of agreements... that help the churches and consolidate religious liberty.”18
In 1990, the government repealed Ferdinand and Isabella’s 1492 decree which mandated the “expulsion or conversion of Spain’s Jewish population” and agreed to give Jews and Protestants religious privileges comparable to those of Catholics.19 Jews, Muslims, and Protestants, according to individual agreements signed by the Spanish government with representatives from the Jewish, Muslim, and Protestant communities, are now able to “negotiate with their employers on the observance of religious holidays, receive religious instruction in their own faith in public schools and in the armed forces, observe dietary laws, receive tax and social security benefits, and have their civil marriages recognized as such.”20 The government recognized the FEREDE as the Protestant counterpart for the agreement. According to Mariano Blásquez, member of the Board of FEREDE, the agreement “implies a practical recognition of the Evangelical religion, so far bounded to the private sphere.”21 Before the agreement it was already possible for the Protestant churches to hold meetings and services, but, according to Blásquez, “there was not access to the public dimension, to a state recognition of the dignity of Evangelicals.”22
Although the government has provided equal legal status to Judaism, Islam and Protestantism, it still provides financial support to the Catholic Church and does not monetarily support institutions of other faiths.23 The current situation in Spain is described by author Chowdhury:
Spain, despite its strong historical ties with the Catholic church, is a secular state without any established or official religion. All religions have equal rights under the law and the Catholic church does not enjoy any privileged position. The administrative nexus between the church and the state requires registration of religious sects which are endowed thereafter with a legal personality.24Christianity is the predominant religion, and 82% of Spaniards are Roman Catholic.25
For the government, it is necessary to draw a conceptual line between a Catholic confessional state and a non-confessional state with the strong presence of the Catholic Church.26
Constitutional Provisions and Legislation Relating to Religion
The current Spanish constitution was approved by the Senate on October 5, 1978.27 Although Spain has historically been a Catholic state, it now embraces full freedom of religion. Constitutional provisions relating to freedom of religion are as follows:
Article 10 (1): The dignity of the person, the inviolable rights which are inherent, the free development of the personality, respect for the law and the rights of others, are the foundation of the political order and social peace.(2): The norms relative to basic rights and liberties which are recognized by the Constitution, shall be interpreted in conformity with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the international treaties and agreements on those matters ratified by Spain.28
Article 14: Spaniards are equal before the law, without any discrimination for reasons of birth, race, sex, religion, opinion or any other personal or social condition or circumstance.
Article 16 (1): Freedom of ideology, religion and worship of individuals and communities is guaranteed without any limitation in their demonstrations other than that which is necessary for the maintenance of public order protected by law.
(2): No one may be obliged to make a declaration on his ideology, religion or beliefs.
(3): No religion shall have a state character. The public powers shall take into account the religious beliefs of Spanish society and maintain the appropriate relations of cooperation with the Catholic Church and other denominations.29
In July 1980, the Congress of Deputies approved a new Law of Religious Liberty which explains the Constitution’s protection of freedom of religion.30 It states that religious liberty signifies the following:
“To profess the religious beliefs that he freely elects or not to profess any, to change his confession or abandon the one he had; to manifest freely his religious beliefs or the absence of them; or to abstain from declaring concerning them. To practice the acts or worship and receive the religious ministry of his own confession; to commemorate his festivities; to celebrate his matrimonial rights; to receive proper burial without discrimination for religious reasons; and not to be obligated to practice acts or worship or receive religious ministry contrary to his personal convictions. To receive and impart religious teaching and information of every form, whether orally, in writing, or in any other way; to choose for oneself and for minors and incompetents dependent on him, inside and outside the educational sphere, the religious and moral education that is in accord with his convictions. To meet with others or manifest oneself publicly for religious purposes and associate oneself with others to carry out religious activities which are in conformity with the general legal order and what is established in the present Organic Law.” The law extends this definition to the liberty of religious groups, stating “likewise included is the right of the churches, confessions, and religious communities to establish places of worship or to meet for religious purposes, to designate and prepare their ministers, to divulge and propagate their creed, and to maintain relations with their own organizations or with other religious confessions either in national territory or abroad.” 31The law recognizes all registered churches and religious communities as legal entities.32
In September 1992, the government of Spain passed legislation which affirms the legal equality of all religions, granting equal protection to Protestantism and Roman Catholicism.33 The law recognizes “manifest rooting” of Protestantism in society and allows schools to provide religious instruction to Protestant students.34 This legislation supports the government’s 1990 decision to end official legal discrimination against the Muslim, Jewish and Protestant faiths.35
Recent Reported Cases of Religious Intolerance
Printed accounts indicate that Spain does not blatantly violate religious liberty. As the U.S. Department of State reports, “Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion, and the Catholic church receives official funding. However, other religions are represented and function with full freedom.”36
Members of a new religious movement, The Family, assert that they were persecuted by the Spanish government for their religious beliefs when, in July 1990, police and social workers searched a home of The Family in Barcelona.37 The police removed twenty-two children of The Family and placed them in social welfare centers. In May 1992, a Spanish court returned the children to their parents’ custody. The Spanish government asserts that “it is not possible to refer to the activities of the new religious movement The Family as such because, from a legal standpoint, it does not officially exist as a group, association, faith or church or religious community.”38 This is because The Family “has not applied for registration in the Kingdom of Spain as a church, faith or religious community and therefore has no legal status as a religious entity.”39 The government further asserts that it did not discriminate against The Family on the basis of religious beliefs, but that it exercised its legitimate interest as a state to ensure that the children were educated properly.40
ENDNOTES
1 J.D. Hughey, “Church, State, and Religious Liberty in Spain. Journal of Church and State Vol. 23, No. 3 (Autumn 1991): 486.2 “Libertad Religiosa en España,” interview with Eliseo Vila in Miami by Pedro C. Moreno, International Coordinator of The Rutherford Institute, Rutherford (Spanish edition)(July 1994): 4.
3 Spain, Cortes, Diario de las sesiones de las Cortes Consti-tuyentes, app. to 20 March 1896, 2 quoted in Hughey, 486.
4 Hughey, 486.
5 ibid, 487.
6 “Libertad Religiosa en España.”
7 “El Fuero de los Españoles,” Law of 17 July 1945, in Reperto-rio cronológico de legislación, ed. Estanislao de Aranzadi (Pam-plona: Editorial Aranzadi, 1945): 1133 quoted in Hughey, 487.
8 “José Cardona: La Defensa de una Fe.” Editorial CLIE, Terrasa, Spain (1988): 149.
9 Quoted in A.F. Carillo De Albornoz, Observations to the Spanish Law on Religious Liberty (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1967): 1-2, quoted in Hughey, 489-490.
10 “Textos oficiales,” 790-96, cited in William J. Callahan, “Church and State in Spain, 1976-1991,” Journal of Church and State Vol. 34, No. 3 (Summer 1992): 506.
11 ibid.
12 ibid.
13 ibid.
14 Carlos Corral y Lamberto de Echeverría, “Los Acuerdos Entre La Iglesia y España.” La Editorial Católica, (Madrid, 1980): unnumbered page.
15 ibid, 99.
16 ibid, 155, 387, 589, 645.
17 “José Cardona: La Defensa de una Fe,” 243.
18 ibid.
19 Edward H. Lawson, ed., The Encyclopedia of Human Rights (New York: Taylor & Francis, Inc., 1991): 1366.
20 ibid.
21 “Mariano Blásquez,” interview with Mariano Blásquez, executive secretary of the Federation of Evangelical Religious Entities of Spain (FEREDE) in Madrid, Spain, by Pedro C. Moreno, International Coordinator of The Rutherford Institute, Rutherford (Spanish edition) (April 1995): 4.
22 ibid.
23 U.S. Department of State. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1993 (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1994): 1064.
24 Subrata Roy Chowdhury, Rule of Law in a State of Emergency. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989): 225.
25 Lawson, 1365.
26 Víctor Urrutia, sociologist, Director of the Bureau of Religious Affairs at the Ministry of Justice, interviewed in Madrid by Pedro C. Moreno, International Coordinator of The Rutherford Institute, Rutherford (Spanish edition) (April 1995): 5.
27 Gisbert H. Flanz and Eugenio A. Hernandez, “Spain,” in Albert P. Blaustein & Gisbert H. Flanz, eds., Constitutions of the Countries of the World (Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana Publications, Inc., 1991): 34.
28 ibid, 45.
29 ibid, 46.
30 Hughey, 486.
31 ibid, 491-492.
32 Cortes Spain, Boletin oficial de las Cortes Generales: Congreso de los Diputados (2 July 1980) 486/19-20 quoted in Hughey, 491-492.
33 “Spain.” News Network International: Special Edition (October 23, 1992): 2.
34 ibid.
35 U.S. Department of State (1993): 1064.
36 ibid.
37 La Familia, Hermandad cristiana de comunidades misioneras independientes (official press release of the group in Bolivia), June, 1993.
38 ibid.
39 ibid.
40 5 November 1993 “Letter from the Government of Spain to the Special Rapporteur,” in United Nations: Economic and Social Council, Implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimi-nation Based on Religion or Belief, E/C.4/1994/79, (20 January 1994): 52-61.
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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