AMERICA/BOLIVIA - The religious identity of Bolivian citizens should be included in the national census

Oruro (Agenzia Fides) - The religious identity of Bolivian citizens should be included in the national census of population and the housing that the central government has planned for the month of November, said the Bishop of the Diocese of Oruro, Mgr. Cristóbal Bialasik. The note sent to Fides Agency by the Information Centre of the Bolivian Episcopal Conference also reports that, according to the Bishop of Oruro, " the question on the religion that every citizen of Bolivia professes is important, because this is only way to define the faith that the people have, it has to do with the faith of the people, and I see no problem to include a question on this issue. "
Mgr. Bialasik stressed that there should be at least one question that relates to religion because in this way Bolivian citizens are also asked to reflect. For example, questions could be: "What faith do I have? Can I express this faith publicly or not? What identity do I have?". "These are the key questions that challenge every person and every individual who has to make a decision and put it in writing," said the Bishop. According to the information gathered by Fides Agency it seems, however, that the government, already at the end of August, expressed itself negatively about the possibility of amending the questionnaire. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 17/09/2012)