el peregringo

So this post is in the “things I hate” category, but I want to make it clear that I don’t hate the catholic church. I just really really really dislike it. I do, however hate the control that it has in Spain. For someone who was raised with a constitution which establishes the separation of church and state, the system here seems to have been forged in medieval times and not updated since.

In the news recently I’ve been following a story that’s very disturbing to me. Here’s a link to a follow up version of it. The basic story is this: Even in public schools here, students are essentially required to take a “religion” class. Now the class is always called “religion.” It is not called “Catholicism.” It is called “religion.”

Now think about that. If you signed up for a class called “religion” how would you respond if the content of that class was 100% Hindu propaganda? 100%. No discussion of other religions, or of the nature of religion. 100% propoganda in which not only are you not introduced to other religions, but in which you are told that all other religions are wrong. Well, that’s the situation in Spain with the catholic church and its formalized relationship with the public school systems.

So a teacher at a public school in the Canary Islands, María del Carmen Galayo Macías, was fired because as a divorced woman, she lives with another man who isn’t her ex-husband. The catholic church fired her. She filed suit with the State. You know what? The State upheld the right of the catholic church to fire “religion” teachers, even though it is the State which pays their salaries! I find this absolutely unbelievable. María del Carmen Galayo Macías is not a nun. She’s not a member of any religious order. She has taken no vows. She’s a teacher who teaches the “religion” class, and from everything I’ve read, she even teaches the very narrow and bigoted curriculum as prescribed by the catholic church. But the church feels that she shouldn’t be teaching since she’s not “living the pure faith.” And the State upheld the church’s right.

Unbelievable. Is this horse shit or what? I expect, and sadly must endure, this forced indoctrination of my daughters since they attend a catholic school (I had no choice in this matter). They are apparently getting a good education in other areas, though I dislike the fact that the catholic church is forcing lies and bigotry down their throats that will take me years to undo if the damage can ever be undone at all. At least we have seven years back in real schools before we have to endure this again.