Spanish bishops reject legal lack of protection of religious feelings

The Archbishop of Valladolid, Mons. Luis Argüello, president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), has rejected the Spanish Government’s plan to eliminate crimes against religious feelings, while protecting others.

In a published message on social networkBishop Argüello has reflected on the decision of the Executive to eliminate the legal protection that religious feelings enjoy in the Penal Code.

“Feelings have been elevated to legal status, for example, to be able to change sex; More and more expressions are considered hate crimes. In this environment of legal praise of emotions, religious feelings cease to be a protected legal asset,” explains the archbishop.

The legal lack of protection of religious feelings is included in the so-called Action Plan for Democracy which has just been approved by the Council of Ministers for parliamentary processing and which was announced by President Pedro Sánchez last July.

Among the 31 measures contemplated is the elimination of the crime against religious feelings typified in article 525 of the Penal Code and which establishes the following:

“1. Those who, in order to offend the feelings of the members of a religious denomination, publicly, orally, in writing or through any type of document, mock their dogmas, beliefs, rites or ceremonies, or humiliate, also publicly, those who profess or practice them.

2. Those who publicly mock, orally or in writing, those who do not profess any religion or belief will incur the same penalties.”

The elimination of this legal precept would affect numerous judicial processes promoted mainly by some civil entities, such as the Spanish Foundation of Christian Lawyers, in the face of blasphemous and irreverent actions.

These situations are almost always allusive to the Catholic Church, its devotions and dogmas and are usually hidden behind artistic creativity.

When the Executive’s intentions to end the legal protection of religious feelings became known, Christian Lawyers issued a statement in which it stressed that the measure constitutes “a direct attack on the freedoms of believers.”

“Anything that offends, harasses or insinuates something about certain groups is prosecuted as a hate crime, however, against Catholics it seems that everything is allowed,” they added.

The Observatory for Religious Freedom and Conscience (OLRC) has also repeatedly denounced the attacks on different confessions and, in relation to this measure, considered in a statement that “with this Government, believers are second-class citizens with fewer rights.”