It's not about having to go back to the time of the state exaltation of Franco's national Catholicism, I'm talking about the present and the current legislation in that European country.
Article 522 of the Spanish penal code says that "Those who, by means of violence, intimidation, force or any other illegitimate coercion, prevent a member or members of a religious denomination from practicing the acts of the beliefs they profess, or from attending them, will incur a fine of four to ten months." With this, one could "punish" whoever interrupts a mass. But there is more, in section 1 of article 525, it reads: "Those who, in order to offend the feelings of the members of a religious denomination, publicly, in word, in writing or by any type of document, mock their dogmas, beliefs, rites or ceremonies, or harass, also publicly, those who profess or practice them" will incur a fine of eight to twelve months. With which one could condemn those who draw cartoons alluding to religious leaders or clear symbols of these trends. Like the people murdered in France by terrorists, who hide behind radical religious practices.
The truth is that these articles, for which the courts have often been used, have been avoided by the judiciary in recent times, at least enough to prevent scandal. But they remain in the Spanish penal code.
We are talking about the penal code of 1995. The same one that legislates, when it tries to stop some aspects of social discrimination, as it does in its article 510, section 1, when it refers to "Those who provoke discrimination, hatred or violence against groups or associations, for racist, anti-Semitic reasons or others referring to ideology, religion or beliefs, family situation, the membership of its members to an ethnic group or race, their national origin, their sex, sexual orientation, illness or disability, will be punished with a prison sentence of one to three years and a fine of six to twelve months.
However, we will not find any sentence against the curia or the extreme right-wing figures who openly and publicly express their rejection of "other sexual orientations" for example, or the alleged "social and family function of women" alluding to article 510. So I think it is clear that legislation is being enacted in favor of syndromes of outdated thinkers, faced with values and rights as fundamental as equality.
If I have offended any jurist or person with saintly devotion, I encourage them to explain from a secular perspective, the vision of a state that legislates for all its inhabitants without discriminating based on their religious conscience, what is the difference between how a sect attacks individual freedom and the action of baptizing minors who do not articulate a word, which other religions carry out?
In the end, the second part of article 522 is also going to be dead letter. Where it reads: "Those who by equal means (violence, intimidation, force or any other coercion) force another or others to practice or attend acts of worship or rites, or to perform acts revealing of professing or not professing a religion, or to change the one they profess."
Isn't it forcing people when it comes to registering babies into a religion? Many religions would not reach a quarter of their alleged affiliates if they waited until adulthood to sign up. And, this last thing does not carry a question mark. It is a personal statement that I make with absolute certainty.
Pedro M. González Cánovas, member of the Canarian Nationalist Alternative (ANC)
