Purpose:
The Department of Civil Rights and Citizenship develops public policies for the protection of freedom of religion, belief, and conviction and to guarantee an enriching coexistence. These include actions that promote knowledge of religious diversity and freedom of conscience in the municipality, sharing the values of these beliefs and their social task in the city.
They foster a climate of dialogue and coexistence, to bring communities closer together and to encourage them to support initiatives of common interest undertaken by civil society or public administrations.
Stimulus/Rationale:
Sabadell is a city with a long historical tradition in relation to the diversity of beliefs and convictions, where heterogeneous people, entities, groups, religious or convictional communities coexist. That is why this diversity must be taken into account from an inclusive perspective, with equal treatment and where respect and freedom become the main values and the basis for the exercise of religious practice.
Sabadell is a municipality with a certain cultural and convictional plurality. This diversity is a structural fact that is visible, among other things, in the right to worship and the existence of places of worship of religious traditions that are often little known. Ignorance and fear of beliefs that are not one's own, favour stereotypes or prejudices against certain religious and ethical options.
The respect and management of the diversity of beliefs and convictions from the public administration is based on the principle of the secularism of the institution, which has to guarantee that the exercise of this right can be developed in the appropriate conditions of the premises, the environment, access, etc.
In our city, in recent times, a process of visualisation of the wealth of vital approaches of all kinds has been accentuated. The diversity of spiritual, religious or philosophical beliefs must be guaranteed by secularism, that is to say, full institutional neutrality, which makes possible maximum respect for all options as well as their exercise. Today, Catholics, Muslims, Protestants, atheists and agnostics, all citizens of Sabadell, live side by side.
Process:
The Department of Civil Rights and Gender counts on a specialised person who offers support to the activities implemented by the different confessions, provides advice on the establishments of new worship centres and deals with the administration (other departments) especially in topics related with activity licenses or building new worship centres.
The Council develops different initiatives around religion and interfaith:
- The Table of Religious Beliefs, a space for debate, which reflects and seeks consensus in the areas of management of religious diversity in the city.
- The Interreligious Dialogue Group was born in 2000, carrying out the 1st Interreligious Meeting. The Group arose from the Ecumenical Movement of Sabadell, a stable and strongly rooted movement in the city with its beginnings in 1950. It soon saw the need to open up to other religions in the city and in 1998 an organised and stable group of Interreligious Dialogue was created, made up of Catholic Christians, Anglicans, Baptists, members of the Bahà'*í Faith and of the Brahma Kumaris Spiritual Association. Their perception of the social changes that were taking place in Sabadell with the arrival of new immigrants was key to the drive to promote new spaces for dialogue, knowledge and mutual recognition. So, they contacted AUDIR (Unesco Association for Inter-religious Dialogue) and became the second city to become a member of the Catalan Network of Inter-religious Dialogue Organisations. Since 2000 they have organised an annual Interreligious meeting at city level with a participation of about 250 people with Muslim, Buddhist, Orthodox, Mormon, etc. participants. Members of the different denominations also meet monthly. Its basis is mutual knowledge and recognition, building bridges of trust and friendship, and promoting rapprochement with others in order to break down the prejudices and stereotypes that are so widespread in today's society.
- The Map of Diversity of Beliefs takes stock of all the communities, representatives of spiritual, religious or non-religious traditions, humanistic, present in the city, with information such as where their places of worship are, when they meet, how to contact, with whom you can talk, etc. The map is a tool to make them closer to each other and to encourage them to set up common projects. Everyone wins. Through this interactive map, a journey can be made through the cultural and religious diversity of the city. In order to draw up this map, we first identified the religious communities and then carried out fieldwork, establishing a close relationship with the communities through visits and personalised interviews. The reality of the places of worship and venues identified, however, does not necessarily reflect the complexity of the religious reality. The map is intended to be a snapshot of the diversity of beliefs and convictions, but it is not intended to be a static mirror but a dynamic image that will change and adapt to the evolution of Sabadell society. In 2009, the Unesco Association for Interreligious Dialogue (AUDIR) was commissioned to draw up the Map of the Diversity of Beliefs and Convictions of Sabadell. The map was last updated in January 2016.
- The Open Day for Worship Centres, offers different activities to promote knowledge of religious diversity and freedom of conscience, combating mistrust, favoring coexistence and posing in common the values on which these beliefs are based. The central activity consists of a guided tour and open doors to various worship centres in Sabadell. The annual Open Day of Worship Centres, which has been held since 2010, is part of the objective of advancing knowledge and dialogue between religious communities and other spiritual or ethical options by encouraging mutual understanding and combats mistrust. For this organization, the City Council collaborates with entities, and with the support of the DGAR and the Provincial Council to promote this initiative.
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