In Nomine Patris....
Spain and Spanish politics have always had a working relationship with the Catholic Church. From the times when it was the only and obligatory faith, to more modern times, when the Church helped the State keep the people under control, they have almost always gone hand in hand. Despite the fact that Spain was declared a lay state with no state religion in the Constitution of 1978, some public personages have a hard time remembering that.
Take the Minister of the Interior, Jorge Fernández Díaz. The man is in charge of the different branches of police and national security. He is also a devout Catholic. I have no problem with that. I don't care if the ministers and other government bigwigs believe in God or not. I do care that they not mix their religion with their job. And when the Minister of the Interior declares that he solemnly believes that he has a Guardian Angel named Marcelo, that looks over him and even helps him find a parking space, it doesn't look too good for that dissociation of the religious from the public. It looks even worse, when that same Minister affirms that Saint Teresa of Ávila is interceding for Spain. Or when he, as the head of the branches of police, and in charge of distributing honors, presents the Nuestra Señora Santíssima del Amor (Our Holy Lady of Love) with the gold medal of the Order of Police Merit, for "fomenting and stimulating patriotic and loyal behavior in the ranks of the Police", then one thinks that the twenty-first century has jumped around to dump us back in the nineteenth. This decision has now been appealed to the Constitutional Court by a couple of lay associations, Europa Laica and Movimiento hacia un Estado Laico, stating its "illogicality and extravagance." Good luck to them.
Then there's the Minister of Employment, Fátima Ibáñez. In 2012, she publicly thanked the Virgen del Rocío (Virgin of the Dew; I think the Virgin Mary has a title for every aspect of nature and life) for having taken Spain out of its profound crisis. She mentioned she was very moved by how the Virgin had shown Spain "the way out of the crisis and the search for the citizens' welfare." Uh huh. And, meanwhile, thousands of young and not so young people were also glad for being shown how their way out of the crisis was on an airplane, with or without the Virgin's help.
I read somewhere once that all of Spain walked behind the priests, either with a cross, or with a cudgel. It's true. The common people have been under the authority of the Church for so many centuries, being told what to do and what not to do, on pain of death, that many have reacted by shoving religion in a corner and living however they want to live. Have a priest tell them how to live, and they'll show the priest a cudgel and explain how they plan to use it. Then there are those who are of a religious bent, and there's no way you can drag them out of church on Sunday. Or make them eat meat during Lent. Or make them understand that you are not going to die in mortal sin and go directly to hell because you don't think like them. Fine, but those are all personal beliefs. Those who work for the entire country, should work according to the secular law. Religion, or lack thereof, should have nothing to do in the public life of a public servant.
Try explaining that to some people.
Take the Minister of the Interior, Jorge Fernández Díaz. The man is in charge of the different branches of police and national security. He is also a devout Catholic. I have no problem with that. I don't care if the ministers and other government bigwigs believe in God or not. I do care that they not mix their religion with their job. And when the Minister of the Interior declares that he solemnly believes that he has a Guardian Angel named Marcelo, that looks over him and even helps him find a parking space, it doesn't look too good for that dissociation of the religious from the public. It looks even worse, when that same Minister affirms that Saint Teresa of Ávila is interceding for Spain. Or when he, as the head of the branches of police, and in charge of distributing honors, presents the Nuestra Señora Santíssima del Amor (Our Holy Lady of Love) with the gold medal of the Order of Police Merit, for "fomenting and stimulating patriotic and loyal behavior in the ranks of the Police", then one thinks that the twenty-first century has jumped around to dump us back in the nineteenth. This decision has now been appealed to the Constitutional Court by a couple of lay associations, Europa Laica and Movimiento hacia un Estado Laico, stating its "illogicality and extravagance." Good luck to them.
Then there's the Minister of Employment, Fátima Ibáñez. In 2012, she publicly thanked the Virgen del Rocío (Virgin of the Dew; I think the Virgin Mary has a title for every aspect of nature and life) for having taken Spain out of its profound crisis. She mentioned she was very moved by how the Virgin had shown Spain "the way out of the crisis and the search for the citizens' welfare." Uh huh. And, meanwhile, thousands of young and not so young people were also glad for being shown how their way out of the crisis was on an airplane, with or without the Virgin's help.
I read somewhere once that all of Spain walked behind the priests, either with a cross, or with a cudgel. It's true. The common people have been under the authority of the Church for so many centuries, being told what to do and what not to do, on pain of death, that many have reacted by shoving religion in a corner and living however they want to live. Have a priest tell them how to live, and they'll show the priest a cudgel and explain how they plan to use it. Then there are those who are of a religious bent, and there's no way you can drag them out of church on Sunday. Or make them eat meat during Lent. Or make them understand that you are not going to die in mortal sin and go directly to hell because you don't think like them. Fine, but those are all personal beliefs. Those who work for the entire country, should work according to the secular law. Religion, or lack thereof, should have nothing to do in the public life of a public servant.
Try explaining that to some people.
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