Protestantism in Spain

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Protestantism has had a very minor impact on Spanish life since the Reformation of the 16th century, owing to the intolerance of the Spanish government towards any non-Catholic religion and the Spanish Inquisition. However, it has become more prevalent in the 20th and 21st centuries thanks to immigration of Pentecostal Christians from sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America/Caribbean. Many Romani people also converted to Pentecostalism in the last decades. Ninety-two percent of Spain's 8,131 villages do not have an evangelical Protestant church.[1][2]

Recent history[]

Francoist persecution[]

Protestantism made a comeback following the Glorious Revolution of 1868, which resulted in the granting of greater religious liberties; this was rescinded again during caudillo Francisco Franco's Spanish State.

In Franco's authoritarian Spanish State, Protestantism was deliberately marginalised and persecuted. During the Civil War, the rebel forces persecuted the country's 30,000[3] Protestants, and forced many pastors to leave the country. Once authoritarian rule was established, non-Catholic translations of the Bible were confiscated by the police and Protestant schools were closed.[4] Although the 1945 Spanish Bill of Rights granted freedom of private worship, Protestants suffered legal discrimination and non-Catholic religious services were forbidden in public, to the extent that they could not be in buildings which had exterior signs indicating it was a house of worship and that public activities were prohibited.[3][5] While the Catholic Church was declared official and enjoyed a close relation to the state, ethnically Basque clergymen harboured nationalist ideas opposed to Spanish centralism and were persecuted and imprisoned in a "Concordat jail" reserved for criminal clergy.

Present status[]

Iglesia de Cristo (Church of Christ) in Madrid, a church of the Spanish Evangelical Church.
St George's Anglican Church, a Church of England church in Madrid.
Anglican Cathedral of the Redeemer in Madrid, the cathedral of the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church.

At present, the Spanish government observes the 1978 Constitution of Spain and the Law of Religious Freedom of 1980, thus guaranteeing many religious liberties to minorities. As of 2009, there are at least 1.5 million Protestants residing in Spain.[6]

In 2018, figures released by the national Observatory of Religious Pluralism show there were 4,238 evangelical and Pentecostal/Adventist places of worship in December 2018, a rise of 197 on the previous year. it was also reported that Spain's Pentecostals topped 4,000 congregations, Pentecostals also opened 16 churches every month.[7]

Significant denominations and groups include:

There are also a number of accredited seminaries in the country. These include:

  • The Bible Institute and Faculty of Theology of Spain (IBSTE) en Castelldefels, Barcelona.
  • The United Evangelical Theological Seminary in Madrid (SEUT)
  • The Protestant Faculty of Theology at Madrid (UEBE)
  • The Assemblies of God Faculty of Theology in Barcelona

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "92% dos 8 mil vilarejos na Espanha não têm igrejas evangélicas".
  2. ^ "Spain: 10 million live in towns without evangelical presence". Evangelical Focus.
  3. ^ a b Payne, Stanley Spanish Catholicism: An Historical Overview, p. 186 ,1984 University of Wisconsin Press
  4. ^ "Religion: Protestant Persecution". Time. 21 April 1941. Archived from the original on June 24, 2010. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  5. ^ Wood, James Edward Church and State in the Modern World, p. 3, 2005 Greenwood Publishing
  6. ^ "Protestants call for 'equal treatment'", by "El Pais," December 10, 2007
  7. ^ AM, Christian Today staff writer 08 January 2019 | 10:57. "Spanish evangelicals celebrate another year of growth". www.christiantoday.com.
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