Spanish Ambassador Pledges No Change In Religious Freedom Commitment

The recent change in Spain’s government will not signify a diminishing of respect for religious freedom, Javier Rupérez, Spain’s Ambassador to the United States, told Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders at an April 19 luncheon in Silver Spring, Maryland. “Imposing one religion on the people is wrong,” he said, referring to Spain’s former status as a “confessional state” where Roman Catholicism was the official religion. After the Second Vatican Council, Ambassador Rupérez wrote a book about the “Confessional State and Religious Freedom,” which was part of a move in Spain to recognize the rights of minority religions. During his visit to the Adventist headquarters, the ambassador met with Dr. Jan Paulsen, world church president, and Dr. John Graz, secretary-general of the International Religious Liberty Association and public affairs director for the world church. [Mark A. Kellner]

Film Produced by Adventist University Released

“Angel in Chains,” a film based on a true story and produced by Southern Adventist University’s School of Visual Art and Design in Collegedale, Tennessee, is now being distributed on DVD and VHS by Pacific Press in Adventist Book Centers throughout the United States. The movie was filmed on location in Arizona with a crew of 40 students and instructors, and is the first film produced by an Adventist educational institution to receive national distribution. [Ansel Oliver]