lkfht Posted November 30, 2013 Report Share Posted November 30, 2013 (edited) Official Address from the Episcopal Conference of Bolivian Bishops To all Leaders and Peoples of this Earth, The Catholic Church of Christ, CCC, has been able to conduct its religious duties without interference from any government since its founding. The current Bolivian government has unrelentingly pressed us and the Holy Father, Pope John Paul III, to concede to allowing government agents to install electronic monitoring devices in all of our Bolivian churches. This contradicts our most sacred doctrines, especially those concerning the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We cannot in good conscience allow this to occur and so with the pope's blessing we have refused to concede to these demands. As a result, the Bolivian government has threatened that those who violated the law by opposing transparency measures would simply be arrested. We are being threatened with persecution for preaching the gospel to the poor and vulnerable. The government continually states that it believes in religious freedom, but look at what is happening. The Declaration of Human Rights states: ARTICLE 2: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty. ARTICLE 9: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. ARTICLE 12: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. ARTICLE 18: Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. ARTICLE 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. ARTICLE 20: (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. ARTICLE 28: Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized. ARTICLE 29: (1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible. (2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society. (3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. ARTICLE 30: Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein. Since we are not members of the United Nations, we cannot formally go to the institution for assistance. Therefore we are asking the international community to not sit idly by as Christians in Bolivia are being deprived of their religious liberty and freedom. If we allow this to continue, then who's to say that the government would start monitoring synagogues and mosques, etc...? This is a violation of fundamental human rights. Signed with the blessings of the Holy Father, Cardinal Bishop Gregorio Pedro, Secretary of State Arch. Fresco Camino, Secretary of External Relations Cardinal Deacon Sebelio Peralta, Secretary of General Affairs Archbishop Agustín Rodríguez, Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santa Cruz Bishop Ricardo Rubio, Diocese of San Andres Bishop Franco Manzano, Diocese of Beni Bishop Bonifacio Celis, Diocese of Pando Edited November 30, 2013 by lkfht Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evangeline Anovilis Posted November 30, 2013 Report Share Posted November 30, 2013 OOC: This was not a statement, but narration. You could know that if you just read the first line, which stated that no further statements would follow. Get a better argumentation or I'll present this to the rest of the GM court for moderation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lkfht Posted November 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2013 [OOC- sorry] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evangeline Anovilis Posted November 30, 2013 Report Share Posted November 30, 2013 "The Catholic Church of Christ has not been subjected to arbitrary measures, but it is also not arbitrarily above our laws. The Catholic Church of Christ has been allowed to continue its practices and to preach its religion within Bolivia, just like all other religions and ideologies, as long as they do not threaten the public peace and constitutional order. Given this, to act as if your Church has been subject to some kind of religious persecution is flat-out irritating and straining your relations with our country. Any arrests have been made not because the members were part of your institution, but because they violated the law and your continued insistence that we are treating you in any hostile manner is giving us more reason to doubt your honesty as a reasonable religious institution concerned with the spiritual well-being of the people, not some underground network of subversives instigating trouble within our population. Arrested personal is given their due right to fair trial and they are not facing any ludicrous penal code that violates the human rights. We hereby ask the Catholic Church of Christ to refrain from circulating unfounded anti-Imperial propaganda or we have little choice in order to not strain our relations any further." -Satō Tomoya, Magistrate for Religious and Ideological matters of Minami-Kechua Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lkfht Posted November 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2013 "We follow your imperial laws as they have been deemed just. However your newest law, the one that calls for electronic monitoring of our confessions is unjust. It will not be followed." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evangeline Anovilis Posted November 30, 2013 Report Share Posted November 30, 2013 "The interpretation whether or not you were required to follow the law or not lies with the Minami-Kechua judiciary, not with you. Please note that in accordance with our constitution, there is a seperation of powers, before you think of accusing us to be arbitrary and to put your people before a cangaroo court." -Satō Tomoya, Magistrate for Religious and Ideological matters of Minami-Kechua Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lkfht Posted December 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2013 (edited) "The interpretation whether or not you were required to follow the law or not lies with the Minami-Kechua judiciary, not with you. Please note that in accordance with our constitution, there is a seperation of powers, before you think of accusing us to be arbitrary and to put your people before a cangaroo court." -Satō Tomoya, Magistrate for Religious and Ideological matters of Minami-Kechua We are not declaring your judiciary system a "kangaroo court". We are simply stating the following: The bishops, priests, and religious cannot in good conscience follow a law that violates our sacred doctrine and religious freedom. We will NOT concede to your demands to install electronic monitoring devices on private property, a religious institution. We would like to ask what the exact charge the clergy that have been arrested is. - Archbishop Agustín Rodríguez, Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santa Cruz, Bolivia Edited December 1, 2013 by lkfht Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evangeline Anovilis Posted December 1, 2013 Report Share Posted December 1, 2013 "The accused were charged with the crime of perverting the course of justice and violation of the special peace preservation law of the second year of the Genka era, which includes security measures in clerical institutions that were listed as possibly holding connections to potentially hostile states. The accused have been given a fair trial, altough judges found that sacred doctrine and vows in this sense do not grant immunity to the special peace preservation law. Convicted citizens of Paraguay have been handed over to the Paraguayan authorities, as our states, in a show of peaceful cooperation concluded a treaty on the extradition of prisoners. Convicts with citizenship within our country are facing either a fine of up to 10,570 Yen or up to one week in prison, during which the Public Safety Intelligence Agency will apply all measures to see the application of the law also in Catholic Churches of Christ." -Satō Tomoya, Magistrate for Religious and Ideological matters of Minami-Kechua Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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