Rome (NEV), November 18, 2018 – Ecumenism, migrants and refugees reception, secularism, religious freedom, dialogue, culture, environment, spirituality, contrast to violence against women: these, in brief, the themes contained in the document “Protestants in the public space” unanimously approved during the First Convention (according to the last Statute) of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy (FCEI), held in Pomezia (RM), on 16-18 November.
In the document FCEI, in denouncing the effects of the increasing social intolerance, in contrast with the interest of the Italian Republic, recalls the rules of minorities protection contained in the Constitution and strongly renews the commitment and support to its Refugees and Migrants Program-Mediterranean Hope (Humanitarian Corridors, Medical Hope, revision of the Dublin Convention).
“We denounce every expression of anti-Semitism, xenophobia, racism, Islamophobia”, the document continues and defines “violent ideologies a blasphemous sin against humanity and the dignity of every man and every woman”. To this end the document calls on Europe for greater cohesion to face the “global challenges such as the causes – war, economical injustice, climate changes – of migratory movements”.
The Assizes also denounced the manipulation and exploitation of migration issues, launching a social alarm that feeds “a war between the poor” and eludes the dramatic problem of (new) poverty, unemployment and precarious work.
Attention has also been paid to the consolidated themes of Italian Protestantism, concerning the urgency of a law on religious freedom, for a secular State that is “the project of an open and pluralist society”.
The Assizes then reiterated the commitment to counteract any discrimination based on sexual identity, violence in all its forms, feminicide and exploitation of the female body, also reaffirming “its commitment in favor of the acquired laws on women self-determination”. Finally, the FCEI document calls for continued cooperation in the ecumenical sphere, for inter-religious dialogue and for the protection of the environment.
A long and intense debate passed through the Convention, leading to the unanimous approval of programmatic motions concerning the collaboration of the FCEI services, including ‘Being a church together’ (ECI) and the Globalization and Environment Commission (GLAM), education, intercultural issues, and the opening of talks with Catholics and Orthodox on the new ecumenical version of the Lord’s prayer.
The works of the FCEI Convention were chaired by pastor Peter Ciaccio. 150 delegates and guests of the Baptist, Methodist, Waldensian, Lutheran, Salvation Army and some free churches, attended the meeting in which also the three-year report of the FCEI Council was analyzed.
The Assizes represent a novelty in the FCEI’s route, established in the Assembly of 2015, as a kind of “States General” of the historical Protestantism, with the aim of promoting meetings and debates, but also to indicate suggestions on general principles from which the FCEI Assembly will draw inspiration for its work.
