The Protestant church Nueva Vida de Santander, with the bags of dead rats in its windows.
Protestant pastor Julio García Celorio encountered a terrible sight when he was going to open his Nueva Vida church in Santander on Christmas Day: someone had placed 30 dead rats outside the premises between posters with insults.
“Christ, Mary and Spain.
Out with Protestant and Lutheran rats ”,“ God did not die on the cross to feed traitors like you ”and“ Catholic, apostolic and Roman Spain: out with Protestant and Lutheran rats ”, read the pages, with the offenses written between images of the pious Virgin Mary in full color.
The religious, who has suffered numerous disqualifications during his 40 years at the head of his faithful, considered that it was "the straw that broke the camel's back" and, encouraged by his parish, reported what happened to the Police.
In addition, he has presented the case to the Prosecutor's Office to investigate a possible hate crime committed at night in which Catholics celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
Garcia, 59, says that when he saw the scene he felt like he was going back to the Middle Ages.
"It seems that you always have to apologize for being different," he says, and notes that "diversity enriches and uniformity impoverishes."
The Protestant faith, he adds, has suffered countless obstacles in Spain to go back to those times - not so distant - in which these congregations were persecuted and closed.
The Cantabrian spiritual guide defends that both he and his parishioners, in the Santander neighborhood of Peñacastillo, have been helping society for 26 years in the form of support for women victims of trafficking or social work with prisoners.
The NGO Nueva Vida, which manages the temple, has 70 employees and works with the Santander City Council in integration work or in a shelter.
That is why he does not understand the reason for this cruelty and focuses on thanking "the love and support" that his family and the residents of the area have expressed.
García admits that he did not want to denounce because he feels that, "like terrorism," spreading the word about this kind of attacks gives "the advantage of propaganda" to those responsible.
The symbolism multiplies the burden of intolerance of the attack on the evangelist temple: in addition to being executed before Christmas, the number 30 symbolizes the silver coins of two betrayals: those of Judas to Jesus and that of Joseph's brother, Judah, to the father of the Messiah.
"We do not celebrate Christmas as much as the Catholic Church, but we do with solemnity and respect", highlights the Protestant chaplain of the Cantabrian prison of El Dueso (Santoña).
The pastor blames this kind of hateful displays, such as the anti-Semitic graffiti also made at Christmas in the largest Jewish cemetery in Spain, in Madrid, to the "rise of radical, xenophobic and homophobic movements."
The extreme right and that "intolerant troupe who are hindered by those who are not like them" suppose "going back to what was behind" through the lack of dialogue and exclusive discourses, he maintains.
At least times have changed and you can try to get the authorities to do justice: "Thank God now they defend us," they say.
Spokesmen for the National Police in Cantabria claim to be "very aware of these issues" and that they will investigate "the hate crime."
Charo Alises, a lawyer specializing in hate crimes, believes that these messages and the dead rats in a cult space "denote hostility towards a religious faction."
The place of the events marks a "polarization indicator" and helps to elucidate "if the spirit of the attack has a discriminatory motive," he maintains.
Esteban Ibarra, president of the Movement Against Intolerance, defines it “clearly” as a hate crime and labels offenders as “fanatics”.
Ibarra alludes to an "upward trend" of attacks against synagogues, mosques or evangelical churches in a clear example of "religious intolerance."
Currents of intolerance
The professor of theology Juan José Tamayo, author of
La internacional del hate.
How is built?
How is it deconstructed?
(Icaria), points out that these intolerant currents are generated by "the neo-fascism Christ", an alliance between the extreme political right and fundamentalist Christian movements sponsored by neoliberalism and Catholic bishops.
Tamayo criticizes this "perversion of religion", as these radicals condemn beliefs outside of Catholicism and act with violence against them.
The harassed religious concentration brings together 450 of the 12,000 Protestants in Cantabria, a group that according to Julio García was "frowned upon" until very recently.
The parish priest insists that the Christian faith does not demand homogeneity in thought: "The majority are Catholic by culture, but you can not commune in everything with the Church and nothing happens."
It must be compatible, he emphasizes, think differently and be united despite attempts to subdue their beliefs.
The response of the diocesan delegation of ecumenism and the support of the bishopric have comforted the leader of the attacked temple. The City Council, likewise, has enabled a special patrol for the agents to monitor in case these days incidents of this caliber are repeated. García has also met with the president of the Cantabrian Parliament, Joaquín Gómez, in an “incredible gesture”. The objective of the religious is that those responsible for this offense are identified and, above all, learn to respect. The pastor concludes with a message that he considers uniform for any creed: "Protestant thought is that of freedom of conscience, not everyone having to think the same thing, Concho!"