The Evangelical Council of Catalonia (CEC) has publicly expressed its disagreement and displeasure with the content of the programme 30 Minuts, broadcast on Catalonia’s public broadcaster TV3 last Sunday, 26 April, stating that it presented a distorted picture of Protestantism in Catalonia.

CEC: A portrayal “that does not reflect reality”

In a statement signed by its general secretary, Guillem Correa, the CEC stresses that the report presents practices and expressions as representative of all Catalan evangelical churches, when in reality they are specific to certain sectors of neo-Pentecostalism.

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According to the Council, Pentecostal, charismatic, and historic churches alike have expressed discontent with the portrayed image, as they do not identify “in any way" with the images shown.

They particularly criticise the generalisation of what they consider to be specific expressions of American-inspired neo-Pentecostal movements as being characteristic of Protestantism as a whole.

The statement insists that these groups “by no means represent Protestantism in Catalonia” and calls for a rectification from the public broadcaster.

A small glimpse of a diverse and broad reality

Although the report aims to provide an overview of the evangelical movement, it primarily focuses on two churches.

The programme begins with a visit to an evangelical church in Girona, which has a strong Latin American presence, but where Catalan people also attend and play an active role in that evangelical community.

While it initially focuses on personal testimonies and the development of a Pentecostal-style service, the report also highlights the social and evangelistic work carried out by the evangelical movement.

However, the programme goes on to focus on the controversial visit to Valencia by Guillermo Maldonado, leader of the Miami-based El Rey Jesús International Ministry. The vast majority of evangelical churches in Catalonia do not endorse his actions.

The report identifies one of his recent events in Valencia as the entry point for this phenomenon in Europe.

It also emphasises Maldonado’s closeness to Donald Trump, presenting the evangelical movement as a key force behind the global growth of the reactionary right wing.

Discontent among historic churches

In its statement, the Consell explains that “the most representative Pentecostal, Charismatic and historic churches in Catalonia have expressed their discontent” over the biased portrayal of the Charismatic and Pentecostal movements as a whole.

“They have told us that they identify with neither the neo-Pentecostalism featured in the programme nor the image conveyed of their ministry”, adds the CEC.

Online petition

A petition addressed to the management of TV3, the programme 30 Minuts, and regulatory bodies such as the Catalan Audiovisual Council, has recently been launched on the Change.org platform.

It claims that the program makes a “conceptual and terminological error” by presenting Protestantism as a whole through the lens of one of its movements, Neo-Pentecostalism, without reflecting its historical, theological, and organisational diversity.

According to the promoters of the petition, evangelical voices critical of these movements have been omitted, which results in a “biased, simplistic and sensationalist” view that is incompatible with the public service role of showing religious pluralism.

They are therefore calling for a correction and more precise criteria for reporting on Protestantism in Catalonia.

The petition has already gathered over 2,500 signatures.

Carod- Rovira: “The levels of religious ignorance in our country are appalling”

Former Vice-President of the government of Catalonia, philologist, author and professor of the history of Protestantism in the Master on Religious Diversity at the University of Girona, Josep Lluis Carod Rovira also critisised the program in an article.

“The levels of religious ignorance in our country are appalling, and it is worrying that a public broadcaster fails to adhere to the most basic requirements. It should be made perfectly clear that a movement that is more 'evangelical' than 'evangelistic' is not representative of all Protestantism” he says.

For Rovira, “years of efforts to normalise serious, solid, European-comparable Protestantism in our country, Catalan society and the public sphere could be negatively affected by broadcasts like this”.

The Catalan professor recalls that “after shameful images of Trump comparing himself to Jesus Christ surrounded by pastors, Ciacomo Ciccone, president of the Italian Evangelical Alliance, denounced the behaviour of the preachers Franklin Graham and Paula White, Trump's spiritual advisers, as 'blasphemous and sacrilegious'”.

“Catalan Protestants carry on with their daily work, without making a public fuss or turning their faith into a spectacle […] they founded the Evangelical Biblical Institute of Catalonia, began publishing a magazine in Catalan, and they sympathise with the diversity of Catalan political options of democratic tradition. But none of this was shown on TV3 on Sunday”, concludes Rovira.