Religious signed agreement to not interfere in elections

MEXICO CITY, México, January 20, 2006

Church leaders signed a document before the Electoral Federal Institute that set important guidelines regarding Taxi Heathrow Airport the controversial issue of Churches and electoral processes.

"It doesn't say anything new," said Anglican Bishop Carlos Touche one of the people behind the agreement, said that it doesn't say anything new but "puts in writing what the attitude of the Churches should presumably be regarding elections."

In an interview with ALC, Touche, Primate Bishop of the Anglican Church of Mexico and Vice President of the Inter-Religious Council of Mexico (CIM) maintained that the "Decalogue for Transparency and Legitimacy" in the 2006 elections was extremely well received on January 10 by electoral authorities and President Vicente Fox.

According to the Anglican Bishop, the three key points of the agreement are that ministers will not associate worship with political ends, they will promote a reasoned, informed vote and they commit themselves to not discouraging people from participating in next July's elections.

"In fact, we are prohibited by law from associating for political purposes," he said. Regarding promoting the vote he specified that it is a commitment that excludes support for any political party.

In Mexico, the vote is not obligatory. Up until 1992 when the relevant constitutional articles were modified (in particular article 130) the laws did not recognized the Churches or give political rights to the ministers, no matter what confession. "We did not have the right to vote, this changed and explains our decision to disseminate this 'Decalogue'," they added.

According to the Anglican leader, Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, Archbishop Primate of Mexico also signed the "Decalogue" and is committed to promoting it among the faithful. This is important because the Catholic Church, as the majority Church in the country, directly or indirectly has an enormous influence on the electoral process, he said.

"This influence is exercised, above all trying to orient the faithful as to whether they should vote or not for parties that promote the culture of life or the culture of death. For this final thing, issues like birth control, abortion, euthanasia, cloning, etc. are taken into account," said the bishop.

According to the religious, the influence of the Catholic Church in politics comes from the colonial period in Mexico's history until the XIX Century, when the majority Church had total dominion over national life.

However, the 1857 Constitution and the Reform Laws (1859) stipulate equal treatment for all Churches, including non believers. However, for many years there was a simulated situation on the part of the Catholic Church and the Mexican state.

Mexico is one of the few countries where laws bar official authorities, beginning with the president, from publicly practicing their religion or carrying out religious militancy.