Saturday, September 14, 2013

Bolivia Imposes Animist Worldview on Christian Churches

Traditional Aymara ceremony in Copacabana, on the border of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. (Photo: Kilobug/Wikkimedia)
Why pastors don't want to promote 'horizon of good living' per government orders.

Protestant leaders in Bolivia once welcomed how President Evo Morales reduced religious discrimination by severing the Andean goverment's longstanding ties with Roman Catholicism. However, now they fear that pre-Colombian animism is replacing Catholicism as the official state religion.

Church leaders are trying to revoke a new law they say aims to "impose contrary beliefs" and "denies us the right to be a church."

The National Association of Evangelicals of Bolivia (ANDEB) will file suit before the Plurinational Legislative Assembly demanding that Law 351 be revoked as unconstitutional; Christian leaders argue its re-registration requirements restrict the "rights and religious freedoms of churches."

The law stipulates a standardized administrative structure for all "religious organizations" that church groups must adopt.

"This would force churches to betray their true ecclesiastical traditions," Ruth MontaƱo, legal advisor and former board member of ANDEB told Morning Star News (MSN). "The measure deprives them of any autonomy to follow their original faith convictions." Keep reading

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