Law for religious equality promoted in Peru
 
Bottom of photo (Maria Sumire) Dr. Maria Sumire is Methodist and a Congresswoman in the Peruvian Parliament

Lima/ALC by Víctor Liza Jaramillo

The Peruvian Aprista party’s parliamentary representation has introduced a bill for religious equality, with the purpose of having the state avoid discrimination of non-Roman Catholic confessions in the various areas of society.

This bill, which will be debated in the country’s congress, proposes the regulating of what is established in Article 50 of the Political Constitution of Peru, which refers to the state’s collaborating with other confessions, such as the evangelicals and those that are not Christian.

The legislative proposal establishes that no citizen is to be obligated to reveal his or her religious belief, and is to receive religious education in accordance with the religious creed they profess, given that in many of the public schools the Catholic religion is taught to all students, without consideration of their belief or ideology.

The bill also establishes sanctions of over U.S. $3,000 as a fine for whoever impedes free religious practice and, in the case of a civil servant, removal from the position being occupied.

Another novelty is that all the churches, confessions or religious communities of whatever belief are to be considered as religious organizations, as well as their federations and confederations, which will be exonerated from paying income, sales, property and vehicle taxes, while profit-making organizations are to be excluded from the proposed measures.

The proposed bill is being presented by President Alan García’s governing Aprista Party, and among its signatories is the present President of Congress, Mercedes Cabanillas, also of the governing party and an evangelical, and congress persons of other political groups, such as Popular Action and National Restoration, the latter of evangelical inspiration.

While it is true that in Peru full religious liberty has existed since 1915, some religious groups, both Christian and non-Christian, as well as some liberal sectors, believe that the state is still conceding certain privileges benefiting the Catholic Church, and are asking that the country be a lay state, without benefits for any particular religious belief.

The Catholic Church in Peru represents 85% of believers in the country, and those who identify themselves as being evangelicals or Protestants, in their different traditions, represent some 11%, while other non-Christian groups represent about 4% of the country’s population.