Costa Rica: Election of Christian criticized

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Latin America | 19 May 2017

As reported by El Mundo on 1 May 2017, a Protestant pastor has been elected president of the country's Legislative Assembly. La Republica Net criticized this election on 2 May 2017, stating that the pastor"s religious beliefs could seriously affect the secular state and democracy and threaten the human rights of minorities such as LGBTI citizens and women who claim sexual and reproductive rights. Rossana Ramirez, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, comments: "As so often, the criticism published in La Republica Net revolves around the mistaken view that secular values require the complete uprooting of religion from society. Christian leaders are stigmatized as being unworthy of holding public office in the assumption they could never be "˜tolerant" of non-Christian groups and respect their human rights. Such claims are a clear sign of discrimination on religious grounds seeking to prevent Christians from holding public office." Rossana Ramirez continues: "In Costa Rica, this discrimination on religious grounds not only occurs in politics but in society in general. Another example can be seen in the case (reported on 4 May 2017 by Jai News) of a Jewish student suing the Ministry of Education for prohibiting him from wearing a kippah at school. These incidents are an indication of the sort of restrictions likely to be imposed on religious communities if secularist ideology continues to be promoted and accepted in the country."