The National Day for Religious Freedom and Interreligious Dialogue was established in 2019, in a joint petition signed by the Commission for Religious Freedom and the High Commissioner for Migration. It is celebrated on 22 June every year, the date of publication of Law 16/2001, the Religious Freedom Law in Portugal.
This year, the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santos Silva, took it upon himself to organise the initiatives planned for the celebrations.
To mark the day, Augusto Santos Silva visited the Centre for International Dialogue (KAICIID) in Lisbon. He was accompanied by a parliamentary delegation composed of the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees; the Social Democrat Fernando Negrão; and MPs Joana Sá Pereira (PS), Cristiana Ferreira (PSD), Pedro Frazão (Chega), and Rodrigo Saraiva (IL). At KAICIID, Augusto Santos Silva received the 13 representatives of the religious denominations that make up the Working Group for Interfaith Dialogue. Representing the Portuguese Union of Seventh-day Adventists (UPASD) was Ezequiel Duarte, director of the Department of Communication, Public Affairs and Religious Freedom.
Augusto Santos Silva took the opportunity to ask the attending representatives of the religious denominations for recommendations on how the Assembly of the Republic can collaborate more with religions. Ezequiel Duarte, representing UPASD, explained to the President of the Assembly of the Republic that "although the Religious Freedom Law has been in force in our country for 22 years, there are still situations in which Seventh-day Adventists find it difficult to adapt Sabbath keeping to their work or school. It is important to sensitise the different agents, whether in the school environment or in the labour market, to ensure that the law is complied with, without having to resort to the courts. Only in this way can Seventh-day Adventists be on an equal footing with other people in their training, and in accessing and maintaining employment."
Earlier this afternoon, the Portuguese Parliament unanimously approved a vote of greeting for the National Day of Religious Freedom and Interreligious Dialogue.
The vote was signed by all parliamentary groups as well as by the single deputies of PAN and Livre, and, after its approval, was greeted with applause by all political forces.
The reading of the vote by Santos Silva was attended in the galleries by the members of the Commission for Religious Freedom, including its president Vera Jardim, and the leaders of the religious communities that make up the Working Group for Interreligious Dialogue.
"The Assembly of the Republic, meeting in plenary session, welcomes the National Day for Religious Freedom and Interreligious Dialogue, reiterating its commitment to promoting the values of tolerance and religious freedom, in the context of respect, cooperation and interreligious dialogue that has characterised and distinguished Portuguese democracy", reads the resolutive part. In the text, it is recalled that this ephemeris was established by a resolution of the Assembly of the Republic of 2019.
"This resolution was unanimously approved, reflecting the common ground we share as a community on this issue, where religion increasingly rhymes with freedom and dialogue. A ground that makes Portugal one of the countries with the greatest religious freedom in the world", highlights the vote authored by Augusto Santos Silva. The 22nd of June evokes the date of publication, in 2001, of the Religious Freedom Law, "which represented a fundamental reform in the national legal plan". "Until that date, in addition to the Constitution, the two fundamental diplomas on the subject - the 1940 Concordat and the so-called Religious Freedom Act of 1971 - denounced, as noted in the bill that gave rise to the 2001 law, the mark of the anti-democratic regime in which they had been conceived", emphasises the vote. In the text adopted today, it is stressed that the Religious Freedom Act "expresses well the compatibility between the secular nature of the State and the spiritual, cultural and social importance of the religious phenomenon, recognising and fully valuing freedom of faith. A guarantee due to all religions on equal terms, regardless of their representativeness, with the only limit of respect for the constitutive values of democratic society", it emphasises.
The text of the President of the Assembly of the Republic stresses that the Portuguese State "recognises the pluralism of religious expressions, as well as the dialogue between them", considering that this means "the emanation of the essence of democracy itself: recognising and respecting the differences and plurality that distinguishes and enriches us as a community, encouraging and promoting consensus".
In the coming months, the parliament will also organise other initiatives in the same field, including three colloquia and an exhibition.
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