“La Iglesia no se decanta por ningún sistema de gobierno, siempre que se respeten los derechos de la persona, su dignidad y su libertad”
"The Church does not opt for any system of government, as long as the rights of the person, his dignity and freedom are respected."
Three experts analyze the relationship between religion and human rights, the media and science at the Theology Symposium at the University of Navarre
PHOTO: Manuel Castells
"From a doctrinal point of view, the Church does not opt for any system of government, even that of Western democracy, as long as the rights of the person, the dignity of man and his freedom are respected". This was stated by Ernesto Galli della Loggia, president of the Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane, during his participation in the XXXII International Symposium of Theology of the University of Navarra.
The expert intervened in a roundtable which analyzed the relationship between religion and human rights, the media and science. It was moderated by Juan Manuel Mora, Vice President of Institutional Communication of campus, and counted with the participation of Francisco Pérez-Latre, professor of School of Communication, and Santiago Collado, Deputy Director of group of research 'Science, Reason and Faith'.
For Professor Galli della Loggia, Christianity "has strongly promoted the claim to exist and act in the collective space of the political community. In this way, it has recognized the specific autonomy of civil power, separating the political sphere from the religious sphere, but at the same time it has claimed for itself and for the religious dimension a public dignity similar to that of the civil sphere".
Coverage of religion: increased audience
During his discussion paper, Francisco Pérez-Latre stated that "Religion is a matter of maximum informative interest, source of literary best sellers, programs with millionaire audiences, videos of extensive circulation on network and Twitter accounts with thousands of followers".
In this regard, he stressed that "some media references, such as John Paul II and Benedict XVI, or events such as the World Youth conference and the Pope's trips have a massive following, demand and assured media coverage in times of precarious attention and fragmented audiences. Those who think that religion is of no interest are mistaken: the questions raised by religion are unavoidable, we cannot escape its influence and it will remain at the center of public conversation. In fact, when religion is talked about, the audience for the messages increases".
Harmony between science and faith
For his part, Santiago Collado pointed out that "those who defend the incompatibility between science and faith, the complete independence of both or some modes of integration are polarized in two extremes: either they turn science into a religion, or they turn religion into a science".
Thus, he explained that in these two approaches we are faced with a "deficient faith": in one case, science "loses credibility and the ability to offer the good", and in the other, there is a risk of falling into fundamentalism.