Statement by EATWOT in favour of the freedom of theological expression following threats to remove Father José Maria Vigil from his congregation

Declaration In Favor of Freedom of Expression in Theology
From the fragmentized and mono-religious world in which our ancestors lived for millennia, we
have moved to a multicultural and multi-religious world society, in which some traditional affirmations by religions are no longer acceptable, or even understandable, regarding their exclusivity, superiority, sole divine election, privilege, manifest destiny to absorb all others. It is something common to all religions, including Christianity.

The Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians, EATWOT, took on this theological challenge in its 2001 General Assembly in Quito, Ecuador, setting in motion a collective project, among others, regarding the “theology of religious pluralism,” in a collection entitled, “Down God’s Many Paths.” It renewed this option in its 2006 General Assembly in Johannesburg, South Africa, and chose José María Vigil to advance and coordinate the collective work of its International Theological Commission. Fr. Vigil had been working on the project from its outset and has now received from the Vatican the threat of expulsion from his congregation and from his church, due to his personal involvement in this theological area, and more specifically, because of his book, Teología del Pluralismo Religioso (Theology of Religious Pluralism).

Affected by the threat made against this theologian, member of EATWOT, and Coordinator
of its International Theological Commission, is all the theological work produced on this topic by our Association and by so many other men and women theologians, which is being suppressed.
Therefore, we wish to express our desires that:

• the freedom to do theology be respected, as well as the ability to do it on the edges of the old
orthodoxy in need of updating, as the Church itself “semper reformanda;”

• the theological realm not be confused with that of the churches’ internal disciplines, nor
scholarly professional reflection with a theologian’s personal faith;

• the conscience and ecclesial affiliation of theologians, the demands of their conscience, their
sincerity and honesty be respected;

• the service provided by theology be valued as it helps to express in an intelligible and credible
way for today’s world, the religious experience that we have received as a living tradition;

• the provisional nature of the search and willingness to dialogue, continue to reflect and
eventually reformulate, be recognized, without obstructing discernment through unilateral
condemnations, much less ex-communications;

• it be recognized that, assuring our greatest respect and esteem for the popular sectors of the
churches, we feel duty-bound to help them grow in knowledge and critical awareness also in
their popular theology, their reading of the Bible, and their ecclesiastic experience; the “faith of
the lowly” is precisely the one which deserves more recognition and a more mature stance,
using a pastoral touch and rigorous pedagogy, without attempting to keep them infantilized or
outside the great debates on faith, which concern “every human being who enters this world.”

We will not engage at this time in endorsing or subscribing to the theses of our colleague nor
of those of any others among us; we simply uphold the right to do theology freely, and we bear
witness to the sincerity of our search and the genuine love that guides our theological service.

The last EATWOT Executive Council meeting, held in New York this past May, expressed and
confirmed its gratitude to José María Vigil for this service, and we ask the hierarchy of his church to respect his work and his conscience, refraining from imposing any canonical measures against him, which we would also feel to be directed against our theological service towards a renewed faith in today’s pluralist world.

We invite all theologians, all our brothers and sisters and their communities, and all theological
institutions, to join in this declaration of good intent.

2nd June 2008

Please, sign at:
http://latinoamericana.org/TheologicalCommission/Statements/ToSign.php

Visit: www.eatwot.org/TheologicalCommission

http://latinoamericana.org/TheologicalCommission/Statements