FESUR issues this public statement from Colombia and South America at a time when religion is being instrumentalized to legitimize political agendas that restrict rights and weaken the plural and secular character of the State. The statement draws on the Act Alliance and FESUR regional report Not in the Name of Faith, which documents cases in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Peru and proposes ten specific recommendations for governments, churches and civil society.
They affirm that faith does not need State privileges or laws that impose them. When faith is used to justify domination, legitimize privilege or demand unconditional obedience to the powerful, it contradicts it contradicts the teachings of Jesus. Democracy and the secular State protect all people, and human dignity admits no exclusion: women, LGBTIQ+ people, Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples, peasant communities, girls and boys have equal dignity before God and before the law.
Yet there are reasons for hope. Since 25 October, Brazil has offered a regional counterpoint: Brazilian citizens voted for an opportunity for democracy, the strengthening of the secular State and pluralism, a sign of hope that faith used as an instrument of power does not have the last word. Faith lived as care, justice and encounter remains a force that transforms.
Read the full statement in English, Spanish and Portuguese
