The Secular State
By the time Pope John Ratzinberg reached Latin America, regional bishops in Brazil released an statement defending tighter dialogue between the Church and the Brazilian State, constitutional and secular. The plead accounts for recent attempts to legalize aborption, nowadays much closer to an economical rather than religious issue (so I believe).
The Brazilian bishops, obviously, count on a 74% catholic population. Most of which, though, nicknamed "Pink Catholics" by the Brazilian media, given their not-so-orthodox religious habits. Nonetheless, in spite of the pentecostal rise, the Pope still plays quite a large role within the less qualified majority, in a country where 40% of its citizens live below the poverty line (the 1 US dollar a day).
On the other side of the globe, Japanese bishops find themselves somehow tricked by a similar concern: they are struggling against the state for freedom of creed. Some Japanese ultra-nationalists are proposing a constitutional ammendment to ban non-Japanese religions.
And, in a country where aborption is widely accepted and practiced, and with fewer than 10,000 followers, their statement are far less intrusive.
Bishops in Brazil for the religious state and bishops in Japan for the secular state.
One can blame the church for incoherence about politics, both now and during its existence. But no word can be said about their persistence on what they believe to be the core teachings of their Lord.
Perhaps, that might be one of the reasons why they still play such a role in times which they do not hold an military army. Perhaps, there are stronger armies than military's.
For the curious, the statements are linked below (no translations available for the Brazilian).
http://www.cbcj.catholic.jp/eng/edoc/070221.htm
http://www.cnbb.org.br/index.php?op=pagina&chaveid=018a003
The Brazilian bishops, obviously, count on a 74% catholic population. Most of which, though, nicknamed "Pink Catholics" by the Brazilian media, given their not-so-orthodox religious habits. Nonetheless, in spite of the pentecostal rise, the Pope still plays quite a large role within the less qualified majority, in a country where 40% of its citizens live below the poverty line (the 1 US dollar a day).
On the other side of the globe, Japanese bishops find themselves somehow tricked by a similar concern: they are struggling against the state for freedom of creed. Some Japanese ultra-nationalists are proposing a constitutional ammendment to ban non-Japanese religions.
And, in a country where aborption is widely accepted and practiced, and with fewer than 10,000 followers, their statement are far less intrusive.
Bishops in Brazil for the religious state and bishops in Japan for the secular state.
One can blame the church for incoherence about politics, both now and during its existence. But no word can be said about their persistence on what they believe to be the core teachings of their Lord.
Perhaps, that might be one of the reasons why they still play such a role in times which they do not hold an military army. Perhaps, there are stronger armies than military's.
For the curious, the statements are linked below (no translations available for the Brazilian).
http://www.cbcj.catholic.jp/eng/edoc/070221.htm
http://www.cnbb.org.br/index.php?op=pagina&chaveid=018a003
posted by fmgoto at 6:34 AM
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