Evangelicals ask for equality and the declaring of the Day of the Bible

CARACAS, Venezuela, October 4, 2007

On Tuesday, October 2, representatives from Venezuelan Evangelical churches asked the parliamentarians who make up Taxi Heathrow Airport the general commission that is studying the Project of Constitutional Reform, that the equality of all religions be recognized in the country’s Magna Carta.

According to Venezuelan news media, the Evangelical representatives also exhorted the general commission to approve an Organic Law of Faith, Beliefs, Religions and Worship; the declaring of a National Day of Bible Reading, and that 5 million copies of the Bible be distributed on that day.

The petition was made by the General Secretary of the Evangelical Council of Ministers of the state of Zulia, Margaret Dumitru, who pointed out that the idea is to review “the Concordat that the Venezuelan government established with the Roman Catholic Church in 1961.”

According to Dumitru’s statements published by news agencies in the country, the purpose is to “destroy the spiritual agreements entered into by the Fourth Republic, so that the freedom of worship established in Article 59 of the present Constitution be respected, allowing the rest of the churches to have the same privileges.”

Dumitru further pointed out that up until now the Evangelical Churches have been considered to be non-government organizations, even though they are made up by nearly 5 million people with more than 12,000 church buildings throughout the national territory.

“Our pastors do not have a recognized occupation, and therefore do not have the benefits of a pension, pension legislation and social security that they deserve,” Dumitru stated.

Sources: ABN/ANTV