Religious minorities

This heading provides information on the social perception of religious groups in Spain. For further information concerning religious minorities in Spain, see the Social and religious data heading.

• Further information: see the Mineurel website of information on religious minorities, concerning Spain.

D 5 March 2012   

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s government created a State foundation attached to the Ministry of Justice. Its objective, according to a report from the Ministry of Justice of 5 October 2004, (see "El Gobierno exige la autofinanciación de todas las confesiones religiosas", ABC, 6 de octubre de 2004; "El Gobierno no financiará la práctica del culto musulmán", El País, 6 de octubre de 2004 y "Religiones Minoritarias recibirán más ayuda", El Periódico, 6 de octubre de 2004.) is to help "minority religions acquire greater visibility in Spanish society and religious centres become places of integration, in order to prove and make effective the compatibility of the freedom of beliefs with the underlying constitutional values of democracy". With this aim in view, three million euros, from the 2005 State budget, were allocated to this foundation. The Ministries of Education, Justice, Social Affairs, Defence, the Economy and Finances are represented, as are representatives of the FEREDE, the FCIE and the CIE. The goal targeted by the government is to have all religious groups achieve total self-financing in the near future

The activities that are likely to benefit from financial aid are activities of a social, cultural and educational nature. The projects that could receive support from the foundation include the establishment of cultural centres, training of religious personnel, teaching programmes in Spanish and in other official languages, activities intended to support families, women and young people. Any subsidies intended for the funding of religions are excluded.

Although the Agreements of Cooperation subscribed to in 1992 with religions with a notorious presence provided the possibility of funding these communities, until this foundation was created they had not been offered any economic guarantees. As for the agreements signed between the Catholic Church and the State, they expressly mention a financial contribution via income taxes, IRPF (Impuesto sobre la renta de las personas físicas).

D 14 September 2012    AIrene González González

Since 2010, the Observatorio del Antisemitismo (Antisemitsm Watch), linked to the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain (FCJE), together with the Movimiento contra la Intolerancia (Movement against Intolerance), prepares a report on the situation of anti-Semitism in Spain. The Observatorio was created in Spain in 2009 with the aim to report all the anti-Semitic acts committed in Spain and to promote reflection on issues related to anti-Semitism.
The 2011 report shows that anti-Semitic acts and expressions continue to remain in force in Spain. It gathers information about attacks against people, attacks against property, anti-Semitism on the media, anti-Semitism on the internet, cases of trivialization of the Holocaust, diffusion of anti-Semitic literature and anti-Semitism in public institutions and organizations. The report also contains information on the legal advances and the initiatives carried out during the year to fight anti-Semitism in Spain.
The information is collected via complaints made by citizens on the web site of the Observatorio, and also by Jewish entities and antiracist organizations. The Observatorio also relies on a group of volunteers who inform about possible cases of anti-Semitism.

D 5 June 2013    AJulia Martínez-Ariño