Sergio Rubin
08/13/2020 - 17:27
- Clarín.com
- Society
The recent resolution of the General Inspectorate of Justice (IGJ) that establishes that societies, civil associations and foundations must have the same number of female members as male members is reaping the opposition of many religious confessions for considering that it violates the right of association to religious freedom.
It is that, except for the Catholic Church, recognized in the national Constitution, the other cults - and even some Catholic entities - are registered as civil associations because this is established by a law of the last dictatorship. And although the latest reform to the Civil and Commercial Code established a special legal figure of a religious nature, it has not yet been regulated.
Among the first to react is the Christian Alliance of Evangelical Churches of the Argentine Republic (ACIERA) -which groups 85% of the country's evangelical cults-, which requested an urgent meeting with the Secretary of Worship of the Nation, Guillermo Oliveri , to raise your dissent. The meeting - which will be by zoom - will take place this Friday.
The president of ACIERA, Pastor Rubén Proietti, told Clarín that his institution will request Oliveri - and also later the director of the IGJ, Ricardo Nissen - that the confessions registered in the National Registry of Cults be exempted from compliance with the resolution because this would imply "undue interference in the organization of the churches."
Prioetti emphasized that the opposition of his institution should not be interpreted as undermining women because this would go "against the preaching and attitudes of Jesus regarding the other sex" and because ACIERA has six women on its board of directors and one occupies one of the the vice presidencies, in addition to the fact that many churches have pastors ”.
For its part, the Argentine Council for Religious Freedom (CALIR) –which brings together personalities of various cults- expressed “its deep concern about the terms of the resolution” since “it is of very doubtful constitutionality, given that it improperly advances on the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of association ”.
"The fundamental rule on the matter, for due respect for the collective dimension of religious freedom, must be respect for the autonomy of religious confessions," says CALIR in a statement.
It emphasizes that "they have the right to organize themselves according to their own principles and norms, to freely choose their authorities following their religious principles without interference from the State, and to define the conditions necessary to exercise those functions."
In that sense, it points out that “the pretense of imposing quotas by gender in the conformation of the governing bodies of religious associations and institutions is an unacceptable subjugation of that autonomy. That freedom is closely related to religious freedom ”.
"" We are not unaware - he affirms - that the General Resolution itself admits the possibility of exceptions based on "singular, extraordinary, understandable and objective circumstances, derived from its constitutive antecedents and / or type of formation and / or social activity tending to the achievement of its object ”.
However, it considers that "it is inadmissible for a religious institution to be obliged to request a permit that will also or will not be granted in a discretionary manner, to comply with its statutes and with the religious norms and principles that support them."
In addition, it points out that “it is intended that the institutions provide explanations to the IGJ about their 'gender policies', an issue that notoriously exceeds the powers of formal control of that body and presupposes a kind of 'ideological police power' that is incompatible with respect for freedom of thought, conscience and religion ”.
GS