9 Global News Post 1

The year of the ‘orange handkerchief’ for State-Church separation in Argentina

Synopsis

The orange handkerchief is the symbol of the state-church separation campaign in Argentina. The slogan is “Church and State: Different Matters”, and the goal is a secular state. In the past, religion has impacted legislators’ decisions about human rights, such as abortion. Nicolás Panotto, theologian and managing director of Otros Cruces, explained how there was backlash in 2018 after 130 million pesos were granted to the church by the government, then the abortion debate proved how the state-church relationship affects much more than financial matters. This recent wave of the orange campaign surged in the advent of the green tide movement; in 2018 there was debate over the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Law, with the church taking a strong stance against it.

The orange campaign is about separation from all churches, not just the Catholic; the number of people who subscribe to the conservative evangelical religion is increasing, shown in a survey by CONICET. The struggle for secularity in Argentina has existed since the early 1800s, but the current campaign began in 2018 by feminist militant and activist Taty Barranco, who created a Facebook group for those who felt and disagreed with the presence of religion in public and private educational settings. She shared in a quote that her religious grandmother exercised psychological violence on her mother, especially after becoming pregnant at 19. The group gained followers quickly and organization soon followed, with committees and regional movements. Many in the movement are interested in apostasies; a formal renunciation of the connection with the Catholic Church formed in baptism. The group is self-organized and comprised of volunteer work and social networking. It recently joined with the Argentine Secular Organizations coalition. One of their goals is the repeal of Article 2 of the Constitution, stating the federal government’s support of the Roman Catholic Apostolic faith. The campaign is currently working on growing and spreading information, and wants to spread outside of the country, as the green tide did.

Evidence

This article effectively uses evidence from people directly involved in the issue being discussed. There are direct quotes by Nicolás Panotto, the director of an NGO concerned with harmony between religious freedom and democracy, as well as Taty Barranco, the woman who sparked the current orange campaign. There is also information from a survey on religious beliefs in Argentina by CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas), a governmental organization.

Perspective

Global Voices aims to provide stories that are underrepresented in mainstream media. The purpose is educational. All articles are written by volunteer contributors. The author of this article is a journalist for Global Voices and also translates from English to Spanish.