Mexico President Rejects Bill Ending Church-State Separation
(Photo : flickr.com)

The bill to end church-state separation might have been filed with good intentions, but as early as now, the proposal has no chance of winning approval.

According to an article by Latino Rebels, On Wednesday, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador expressed his objection to the draft bill, saying the initiative, presented last week by Sen. Soledad Luévano Cantú, a senator from his leftist Morena party, "should not be touched" and "was resolved over a century and a half ago" by the anti-clerical reform laws championed by former president Benito Juárez.

The draft bill aims to modify the Law of Religious Associations and Public Worship to eliminate historic language that enshrines the "separation of the state and churches."

If passed, the legislation would reportedly allow ecclesiastical authorities perform spiritual work in government facilities such as hospitals, rehab centers and even military installations. Moreover, it will grant religious groups greater access to all forms of media, including TV, radio and newspapers, loosen regulations on church ownership of property, mandate cooperation between church and state in terms of cultural and social development and allow "conscientious objections" to law on religious grounds.

López Obrador said he does not think that modifying the principle helps but actually does the opposite. "I think everyone, the majority of Mexicans, agrees that the lay state should prevail, which the constitution establishes," he added.

According to the president, the lay state is not anti-religious; it actually guarantees the rights of both the believers and non-believers.

"Render unto God what is God's and unto Caesar what is Caesar's" López Obrador said.

Since both houses of Mexico's Congress are dominated by López Obrador's party and allies, it is nearly impossible for the bill to be approved, especially without the president's support.

Aside from the president's remarks, criticisms also came from across the country's political and religious spectrum, including both Catholics and the non-religious.

Meanwhile, Senator Luévano, responded to the issue through her social media account. On Tuesday she posted on Twitter that she alone came up with the initiative and it was not authored by the president or their party. She added that she believes in the rule of law and the lay state.

"With respect, tolerance and without taboos, we can work together so that thousands of religious associations in our country can help Mexico become a country where we all live better-off," Luévano wrote.

The senator also tweeted the link of the proposal so that the public could look into its details.

Luévano is a devotee of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Roman Catholic patroness of Mexico, but also resonates with millions of non-Catholics in the country.

For Andrew Chesnut, professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, despite the legal separations between church and state, Roman Catholic church already enjoys more influence than probably anywhere else in the hemisphere with 81% of Mexican being devoted to its doctrines. Thus, he added that Luévano's initiative would appear to benefit mostly evangelicals and other minority religious groups.

It can be recalled that López Obrador, who has described himself as a Christian "in the broad sense," allied with a small political party heavily influenced by evangelical churches during his 2018 presidential campaign, and for observers like Chesnut, evangelicals likely see an opportunity to win more space in Mexican society under the administration of a "fellow traveler."