HOWMAR you are correct in every word!!!!!!!!
Upon further thought I decided to study the US constitution a bit more. Being American I am well aware of the wording of the first amendment to my constitution and know that it doesn?t state that there will be a separation between church and state. The wording ?Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof? does not say ?There will be a seperation between church and state?. The phrase "separation of church and state" does not actually appear anywhere in the US Constitution.
With this in mind then why is it that everyone knows that there is in fact a seperation between the two. The reason for this is because it is a political doctrine but it isn?t a law.
In the DR constitution in Article 8 it starts out with, ?Se reconoce como finalidad principal del Estado la protecci?n efectiva de los derechos de la persona humana y el mantenimiento de los medios que le permitan perfeccionarse progresivamente dentro de un orden de libertad individual y de justicia social, compatible con el orden p?blico, el bienestar general y los derechos de todos. Para garantizar la realizaci?n de esos fines se fijan las siguientes normas:?
In that same article under paragraph 15 it says, ?Con el fin de robustecer su estabilidad y bienestar, su vida moral, religiosa y cultural, la familia recibir? del Estado la m?s amplia protecci?n posible.? Now with this one I have a little problem with in that my Spanish isn?t that good to interpret it correctly. I interpret it to mean that the state will do all it can to insure protection of the moral, religion and culture of the people.
With the concordat establishing the catholic church as the recognized religion of the land and the wording of Article 8 para.15 I can see where it could be construed that there is no separation between church and state.
It is my belief, and I could be wrong, that the Dominican constitution was set up as a document that would separate the church from taking a controlling hand in the operations of the government and was the reason the words God and church were omitted and why no specific religion was established in its writing. It also appears to me that the concordat, Vicariato Castrense and the Patronato Nacional San Rafael do in fact go against that which is written in the Dominican constitution. If this is true then those papers are in fact illegal according to the constitution. As I can't obtain a copy of any of the aforementioned documents I can only rely on the words of others.
This seems to be a problem within the system that I would consider very important to sort out but it is something that Dominicans must undertake.
It was with the signing of the concordat that started the government on its road, that continues today, of giving vast amounts of money to the church every year to include tax breaks.
The signing of the Vicariato Castrense in 1958 established the catholic church within the military along with the military ranks with monthly payment to some catholic priests.
The signing of the Patronato Nacional San Rafael, also in 1958, gave the catholic church the authority to teach its religion within the public and private school systems here among other things.
I found these for your reading pleasure and I?m sorry but they are all in Spanish.
El Concordato un c?ncer interno que mata
PROGRAMAS RADIALES - 12 de Marzo 2005
PROGRAMAS RADIALES - 19 de Marzol 2005
MIENTRAS ESTE EL VICARIATO CASTRENSE
Now in this article you will see the Dominican constitution mentioned;
El Concordato y el Vicariato Castrense nulos de pleno derecho
This has to do with Article 8 para. 8 whereas it says, ?La libertad de conciencia y de cultos, con sujeci?n al orden p?blico y respecto a las buenas costumbres.?
Rick
The links above are from a religious site and a communist party site;
Bienvenidos a Luz M?s Luz
Bienvenidos a Despertar
Interesting reading. Imo the concordat should be abrogated. The damn thing was created by the dictator Trujillo who was looking out for himself and his corrupt friends. The concordat undermines the progression of the democratic process in the DR. It makes a mockery of the constitution.