Bolivian Constitutional Rewrite Focuses On State Religion Issue

In March, Bolivian President Evo Morales signed a law calling for a special assembly to rewrite the country's constitution. (BBC News.) That has led to a lively debate on whether Catholicism should remain Bolivia's official religion, or whether the country should become a secular State. Spero News yesterday reviewed the competing positions. The ruling party, Movement to Socialism (MAS), wants to eliminate the special privileges enjoyed by the Catholic Church and move to a fully secular constitution. Another group, Democratic and Social Power, wants the current constitutional provision recognizing the Catholic Church to remain unchanged. The Catholic Church takes an intermediate position. It supports a provision granting "broad religious freedom," but with recognition of "the Catholic Church and perhaps other religions as part of the history of the formation of Bolivia." This general approach is also supported by the Bolivian Episcopal Conference and evangelical Christians organized as National Unity".