Increasing Secularised Spain Worries the Church

In Spain, Catholics make up a vast majority of the population. Among some 39 million believers, currently there are approximately 25% attending Roman Catholic Mass regularly. The political and social face of Spain over the past half year has been changing after the new Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero won in the March 14 Spanish General Election. Following all these changes, the face of Spain has been reshaped and has become more secular.

The Socialist Prime Minster suggested that Spaniards wanted more freedom, less dogma and a greater separation of Church and state: "They want more sports, less religion," he said.

Therefore, Zapatero's Government has been leading a series of social reforms, which aim to bring more "democracy" to the people. The old laws have been replaced by more liberal agendas. A very typical example is the green light for legalising same sex marriage and allowing homosexual couples to adopt children, which was confirmed last Friday. The prime minister claimed that the new marriage law was an overdue "extension of civil rights".

Juan Antonio Martínez Campo, a spokesman for the Spanish Bishops' Conference warned permitting same-sex marriage would be like "imposing a virus on society". Speaking on national television, he said the decision would be tantamount to introducing "a counterfeit currency," with grave consequences for society.

Even though the Roman Catholic Church is the most influential group among all the faiths in Spain, their opposing voice has fallen on deaf ears. Even worse, further liberation of old laws soon to be announced - changing abortion laws, allowing embryo research for therapeutic purposes, making divorce easier and changes to domestic violence laws.

The Spanish Prime Minister has however said that he has tried to harmonise with Christians. Zapatero said at a recent news conference, "I repeat my deep respect for the position of the church, even if it is very critical of the government." He said he would "not reciprocate," but he would "respect democracy, where the laws are made by Parliament."

The Pope John Paul II has showed deep concern over the change in Spain. In June, he reminded Prime Minister Zapatero of Spain's Christian values.

Christian conservatives have started to unite together to fight the spiritual battle. They have been called to protest against the Bills that threaten Christian values and ideals.