12 November 2021
Bilbao Campus
On 12 November, the Bilbao City Council held a new special meeting of the Religious Diversity Participation Committee, the forum for dialogue between City Council representatives and the different religious denominations in the Bilbao. This meeting, chaired by the Mayor of Bilbao Juan Mari Aburto and the Councillor for Cooperation, Coexistence and Festivities Itziar Urtasun, has the collaboration of the University of Deusto's Pedro Arrupe Human Rights Institute and the Ignacio Ellacuria Social Foundation.
Deusto’s Vice Rector, Eduardo Ruiz Vieytez, and Gorka Urrutia, Director of the Human Rights Institute, took part in this event which brought together representatives of the Catholic Church, the Basque Evangelical Council, the Evangelical Church of Philadelphia, the Adventist Church, the Assalam Mosque, the Bader Mosque, the Al Furkan Mosque, the Rekalde Mosque, the Mourides Brotherhood, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Bahá'i Community, the Buddhist Community and the Taoist Community.
The Interreligious Committee, which meets regularly, is a space for reflection and development of actions aimed at promoting the exercise of freedom of conscience and religion, in a context of citizen coexistence in diversity and the defence of human rights in the city, characterised by non-confessionalism. In this way, with the creation of this Forum, the City Council promotes, on the one hand, knowledge of the current socio-religious reality in Bilbao, and on the other, encourages joint work between the public administration and the different religious entities and beliefs.
The meeting focused on the recognition of religious diversity as one of the characteristics of all open societies, protected by the fundamental right to freedom of thought, belief and religion. This reality can be seen in the Basque Map of Religions, and to address it, the Council is developing the Local Religious Diversity Management Programme, which is guided by four general principles:
- Equality and non-discrimination: promoting respect for human rights in the context of the recognition of religious and spiritual plurality.
- Public responsibility: responsibility of the Administration to promote the necessary conditions so that the freedom and equality of persons and groups of which they form part are real and effective, as well as to remove the obstacles that hinder them and ensure the participation of all persons in social, political and cultural life.
- Participation and social co-responsibility: adopting inclusive policies implies the need to count on and cooperate with citizens and social groups in the elaboration, management and implementation of public policies and those related to religious diversity.
- Prevention: to foster tolerance and protect pluralism, it is necessary to promote information and social reflection.
At the meeting, the Mayor and the Councillor stated Bilbao City Council's commitment to continue working in this area together with the various religious denominations, and highlighted their contribution to the development and transmission of shared values of coexistence and respect, as well as their social and welfare work during the pandemic caused by Covid-19.
Furthermore, a proposal was made to continue the shared work by designing, through a working group within the Religious Diversity Participation Committee, a public activity to make Bilbao's religious diversity visible, publicise it and bring it closer to citizens.
Likewise, in order to share experiences in this field, last May the City Council signed its adhesion to the Municipalities for Tolerance initiative promoted by the Pluralism and Coexistence Foundation in collaboration with the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces.
