Added: Oct 5th, 2005 5:20 AM
Roman Catholic town council decides to “end the evangelical religion”
in San Nicolas.
by Elisabeth Isais
MEXICO CITY, October 4 (Compass) – About 150 evangelicals – 40 families
– will be expelled from their homes in San Nicolas, Hidalgo state, at
the end of October, according to a town council vote on Saturday,
October 1.
Catholic officials in San Nicolas, near Ixmiquilpan, accused the
evangelicals of refusing to cooperate in work projects, a charge
Protestant leaders denied. The day after the expulsion decision,
townspeople blocked access to property belonging to the Independent
Christian Pentecostal Church. They forcibly took away tools and
materials to be used for constructing a church building.
“The evangelicals have not done work projects and have not contributed
anything to the community,” San Nicolas official Pablo Beltrán
Ibarra
told La Jornada newspaper on Sunday, October 2. The Rev. Pedro Olvera
Rivera, national superintendent of the Independent Christian
Pentecostal denomination, denied the frequent accusation that
evangelicals have failed to participate in town projects.
He said evangelicals are leaders of the committee for community
services and have been working hard in that capacity. Other
Pentecostals in the town also emphatically denied Beltrán
Ibarra’s
accusation.
Reporter Carlos Camacho stated in the La Jornada article, “Of the
population of 8,000 inhabitants, 70 percent consider themselves
Catholics and have decided to end the evangelical religion.” A local
Catholic priest has tried to persuade the town to practice religious
freedom, once announcing through a loudspeaker, “We are all children of
God,” but townspeople cut off the amplification as he spoke, according
to the report.
Catholic town leader Noe Gerardo threatened reporters who were present
that they would be burned and no longer allowed into San Nicolas if
they repeated the priest’s message.
According to Rev. Olvera, Catholic authorities are considering removing
the priest from San Nicolas. Meanwhile, government representatives are
trying to deal with the problem of the probable expulsion of 150 people
from their homes and property by the end of the month.
The Independent Christian Pentecostal Church was established in the
town 21 years ago, according to Rev. Olvera. Religious persecution
began there about 14 years ago when evangelicals’ water and electricity
services were suspended. Five years ago, one believer was killed and
the Bethel Temple was destroyed. Since then, the Pentecostals have been
meeting in a home, more families have converted, and they had recently
acquired the land to erect the church building.
Longtime hostilities erupted anew when Ponciano Rodriguez, an
evangelical Christian, died last August 18, and Catholics refused to
grant permission to bury him in the San Nicolas cemetery. In 1948
Rodriguez had been the chief instigator of a movement to expel two
non-Catholic families from San Nicolas, but later he became a
Pentecostal.
Hostilities in Chiapas
In the state of Chiapas, town leaders also have tried to ban
evangelicals. Officials in San Antonio Las Rosas have decreed that only
Catholics may live in the town.
Last July, three evangelicals were jailed for 24 hours in the town to
try to force them to move out, according to Pastor Esdras Alonso
Gonzalez, coordinator of religious affairs for San Cristóbal de
las
Casas. The three non-Catholics had to pay a fine of 1,000 pesos each
($93) to be freed, reported Christian lawyer Abdias Tovilla Jaime.
On September 25, local authorities cut the electricity to evangelical
families, causing them to protest to the state and further angering the
Catholics, said Pastor Alonso in the October 1 La Jornada.
An inter-religious council led by Tovilla is trying to mediate to avoid
the expulsion of evangelicals.
Copyright 2005 Compass Direct