Proposal put forward that new Constitution modify exclusive recognition of Catholic religión

LA PAZ, Bolivia, June 9, 2006

Several political parties and citizen groups proposed that the new Bolivian constitution modify the exclusive Taxi Heathrow Airport state recognition of the Catholic religion, an issue that is being addressed by the majority evangelical citizen group called National Unity (CN for its initials in Spanish).
 
 “One of the central objectives is to propose religious freedom in the country and eliminate the privileges of the Catholic Church as the official State religion,” CN candidate Manuel Morales told the daily La Razon.
 
The CN proposal is to move from a confessional State to a lay state, said the Pastor of Ekklesia, Alberto Salcedo, who said that the priority demand of the movement is based on the “struggle for life, for equality and for dignity.”
 
In CN, 90 percent of the representatives are from Evangelical Christian Churches, as well as left wing groups and religious communities.
 
The ruling party Movement to Socialism (MAS) supports the argument. On the other hand, the group Democratic and Social Power considers that the constitutional text should remain the same and National Unity supports the position of the Bolivian Episcopal Conference, which admits religious freedom but with an expressed recognition of the Catholic Church.
According to La Razon, the Bolivian Catholic Church has voiced its opinion prior to the debate as last May the bishops published a message where they said that reviewing article 3 of the Constitution would be opportune to “remove the doubts and often the prejudices that certain sectors of the population have manifested regarding the current text.”
 
Article 3 sustains that the “State recognizes that sustains the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman religion. It guarantees the public exercise of all other religions. Relations with this Church will be governed through concordats and agreements between the State and the Holy See.”
 
Francisco Flores, adjunct secretary general of the Bolivian Bishop’s Conference said that the position of the Catholic Church is to go to “broad religious freedom.” However, he said, the country “should recognize the Catholic Church and perhaps other religions as part of the history of the formation of Bolivia.”
 
The proposal of the MAS does not contemplate this recognition in its Constitutional project. Rather it seeks to ensure a lay state and freedom of worship.