2023-08-22 20:31:42
The Venezuelan State guarantees full freedom of religion and worship in the country, and this right is enshrined in the Bolivarian Constitution, in its article 59, which clearly establishes the exercise of faith by its citizens, with no limitations other than their own. law and respect for others, a guarantee that the people themselves defend, because it guarantees that everyone can practice their beliefs in today’s society.
Article 59. The State will guarantee freedom of religion and worship. Every person has the right to profess their religious faith and cults and to manifest their beliefs in private or in public, through teaching or other practices, as long as they do not oppose morality, good customs and public order. Likewise, the independence and autonomy of churches and religious denominations is guaranteed, with no limitations other than those derived from this Constitution and the law. The father and the mother have the right for their sons or daughters to receive the religious education that is in accordance with their convictions.
No one may invoke religious beliefs or disciplines to evade compliance with the law or to prevent another from exercising their rights.
This was highlighted, during a debate carried out on the program Up to datewhich transmits Venezuelan Television (VTV), under the title “Without myths and with realities, Amen (Religion)”, in which they participated, the graduate in Public Relations, university professor, and general director of Religious Institutions and Cults, Fatima Johana Oviedo, and the avant-garde leader in the spiritual area, and promoter of intercultural roots, under principles of equality of cultures, Richard Jose Perez Sanchez.
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“In Venezuela, there is the breadth of freedom to believe, it is very wise, you can practice and believe what you want, as long as it does not go against morality and good customs,” said Pérez Sánchez, who is part of the Venezuelan Federation of Spiritism.
Regarding his federation, he said that it stems from indigenous origins, and even from hegemonic religions. “It is a very bucolic religion, where we have the Sorte mountain as our spiritual center, it is a natural temple,” he said about the cult of María Lionza. He specified that it is purely spiritual, and they are detached from what is the matter of “Satanism and witchcraft”, which falsely try to assign and demonize them.
The guest considers that in all religions it is necessary to reach harmony, and say no to fanaticism, because no religion in itself is bad, “fanaticism is what leads you to do something bad, to point to others, God cannot be something contrary to me”. He added that religion is an issue that society has matured over the centuries, and that sad story, where blood was shed for religious issues, has already been left behind.
“Today, I believe that society is more advanced, more mature, and even much higher spiritually, to understand respect between brothers, between one another,” he considered.
For her part, Fátima Johana Oviedo asserted that Venezuelans, in the time of European colonization, imposed on us a religion that is Catholic, and that is why it is the one most professed in Venezuela, but as migration to the country has advanced, it merges with other cultures, other religions, and other ancestral cults with which it interacts.
When independence occurred, in the 19th century, this historical moment progressively triggered attempts to get out of the existing religious dependence, and what is the right to free religion was created, until reaching the 21st century, with full freedom in this subject, and the Bolivarian Government offers support, help and collaboration to all the churches, to benefit their faithful, who are, ultimately, citizens of the Republic.
“The State does not marry any religion, it is free, that is why we are a secular state,” Oviedo said, and in this sense all these laws were created “for the right to freely exercise and practice what each one believes, because Venezuela is in diversity, in respect, in tolerance”.
Finally, the specialist considered that in today’s world everyone must reach a point of convergence “because more religions are added every day, more beliefs are added. The new generations also come with their ideas, with their beliefs, with their gods, and we must seek a balance point, a meeting point, where we can all be, where we all make ourselves visible and respect each other”.
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