Religious education decree considered to be ethereal and gaseous

William Delgado and ALC/Gospel Noticias, BOGOTA, Colombia, February 28, 2007

The Director of the Islamic Cultural Center of Bogotá has given his reflections on the Taxi Heathrow Airport teaching in religious education set out in the December, 2006 resolution of the Ministry of Education of Colombia.

Imam Julián Zapata told the El Tiempo newspaper that: “Very much in spite of the fact that eminent religious leaders have on various occasions met with the Ministry of Education and with the Minister herself, it is not clear what Decree 4500 is basically presenting. It is quite gaseous and ethereal, as is all that has been done in this country with regard to religious legislation and freedom of worship, and leaves unresolved the basic problem of determining what needs to be studied and taught and which are the guides for students, schools and teachers.”

The newspaper mentioned that in the political Constitution, “it is very clear that an official religion does not exist and that this is not a confessional state; but unfortunately this continues to be not understood by an influential minority of our leadership class, still anchored in the popish Constitution of 1886 and the Pius IX Syllabus.”

"Colombia is a country mostly Catholic," Zapata expressed, "and it is good that it feel proud of that Roman – gospel legacy, but those who govern us and the academic sectors should not be frightened that our compatriots study with admiration and a critical eye the beautiful and at the same time “terrible” pages – according to negative propaganda – of the Torah, the Gospel, the Koran and the great prophets they speak of."

He pointed out that the institutions inspired by these sacred books have throughout their long history shown both good choices as well as errors, as in all that is a product of the human being. “The XXI century will be religious or it will not be, held a French thinker and fear cannot be an obstacle to understanding this reality. By the way, Goethe said that: ‘Fear is a state of inert weakness in which any enemy can easily defeat us.’”

According to Zapata, the ethereal and gaseous Decree 4500 is not clear because it is surrounded by the ghost of the end of the religious monochromatic era, which is making them confuse the study of the great religious civilizations with religious proselytism, which are two completely different matters. “In Colombia, neither the Lutherans, or the Anglicans, or the Jews, or the Moslems are going knocking from door to door telling people to convert to our religious tradition because the ‘end of the world’ is near. Conversion is a very private dialogue between the believer and the Creator.”

“Fear of ‘religious proselytism’ is the new battle horse for denying and violating universal rights. If we want to seriously do something about the religion classes, it is very simple and it should have different pillars: a brief but serious and impartial biography of the great prophets (for example, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Zoroaster, Confucius). The teachings of the great religious civilizations about friendship, solidarity, the love of parents and ancestors; sexuality, respect for those who govern, cooperation, the rejection of fanaticism, the defending of life and of dialogue and harmony between religions, are only just some examples.”

“How are we to carry this proposal forward?” asked the religious leader; by simply asking. “One half of wisdom is saying that I do not know,” said Zapata quoting Mohammed, while at the same time indicating that the need for producing a guide book or manual of the great religions in a joint effort by the religious authorities of the country had been proposed to the Minister of Education, to be "distributed to the schools, because the least that we can demand of a Ministry of Education in this XXI century is that it inform objectively about what is happening with religions in the world and in Colombia.”

Zapata expressed his recognition of UNAFIDES, “a prestigious institution for inter-religious dialogue, founded by Jesuit Antonio José Sarmiento and Anglican Bishop Bernardo Merino, along with other notable religious and academia authorities,” by saying that “it is the best effort done in our country toward preserving harmony, friendship, fraternity and cooperation among us children of the monotheism of Abraham.”