FESUR Regional Meeting, November, 2025

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.”

(Micah 6:8, NIV)

As we gather in Bogotá for the Regional Meeting Faith and Freedom: Collective Responses to Rising Fundamentalisms in South America, we, representatives of the National Forums of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru who together form the FESUR Forum of the ACT Alliance, affirm our shared conviction that faith promotes dignity, justice, and life in all its fullness for all people.

At a time when aggressive and violent narratives use faith to divide, justify exclusion, and restrict rights both globally and regionally, we renew our commitment to a faith that builds bridges of hope rather than walls of hatred; a faith that cares for creation, defends equality, and recognizes the image of God in the diversity of peoples, bodies, and cultures.

During this Regional Meeting, we reflected on the ways in which religious, political, and economic fundamentalisms impact our societies. We identified how these manifest in regressive legislative proposals, disinformation campaigns, and attacks against historically marginalized communities and the institutions that accompany them. We recognize the urgency of responding to fundamentalisms through a liberating faith and an advocacy strategy that transforms these challenges into opportunities for justice and abundant life.

We have observed:

• The advance of economic ventures, deforestation, and environmental destruction that seize the lands of Indigenous peoples and traditional Afro-descendant communities in their territories, often in alliance with religious leaders who justify these human rights violations in the Amazon.
• Public threats against community and religious actors who work for the dignity of the most vulnerable, accusing them of being communists or destroyers of families.
• Movements that hinder the action and promote public hatred toward civil society organizations that defend women’s right to life through their accusations, especially regarding Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, including the access to health services that are free from gender-based violence.
• Hate speech targeting LGBTQ+ people, who in our countries are already among the most affected by daily violence simply for existing.

In our Regional Meeting, we addressed cases like these and recognized, in all situations, the alarming increase in violence against women and femicides. Women continue to be accused of destroying families simply for claiming equity and respect for their sexual and reproductive rights.

In the face of these realities, we affirm that faith is our source of active hope, public commitment, and solidarity in service. From the South, we renew our ecumenical witness for justice, dignity, and care for creation.

Call to Action

We invite churches, faith-based and civil society organizations, social movements, cooperating agencies, and public authorities in South America to join efforts to:

• Reject hate speech, disinformation, and all forms of political violence.
• Amplify inclusive narratives and voices that protect the dignity of all people, especially those who have been historically marginalized.
• Act collectively against human rights violations and processes of democratic erosion, strengthening joint advocacy, solidarity, and dialogue among movements and faith communities.
• Convene and connect with other collectives and allied groups to build bridges for dialogue, cooperation, and transformative action across territories.
• Strengthen and reaffirm the prophetic voice of churches and faith-based organizations in the face of powers that seek to instrumentalize religion to impose authoritarian and exclusionary worldviews.
• Promote interreligious dialogue and shared social action, recognizing diversity as a gift from God and a fundamental basis for peace, justice, and reconciliation.

FESUR Forum of the ACT Alliance

Find the Statetement in three languages here