Spanish Priest Faces Jail Over Islam Views

A Catholic priest in Spain is facing jail time after he was found guilty of making comments deemed “Islamophobic” — nine years ago.

Father Custodio Ballester faces a three-year prison sentence and fines for answering a question posed by Cardinal Juan José Omella in 2016, about an interfaith dialogue between Christians and Muslims.

“This renewed revival of Christian-Muslim dialogue, paralysed by the alleged ‘imprudence’ of the beloved Benedict XVI, is far from a reality,” Father Ballester wrote at the time.

“Islam does not allow for dialogue. You either believe or you are an infidel who must be subdued one way or another,” he added.

MY CASE WILL DETERMINE FATE OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN SPAIN”

In a 2017 YouTube video, Father Ballester expanded on those remarks, warning that Islam not only poses a threat in Europe, but also that in many Muslim-majority countries, Christians face persecution.

The Association of Spanish Muslims Against Islamophobia, responded to Father Ballester’s public comments by filing a complaint that prompted charges against the Catholic priest.

Father Ballester told the Catholic News Agency (CNA) that his words were not hate speech or discriminatory.

He believed the outcome of his case would determine “the survival of freedom of expression in today’s Spain.”

‘WE’LL BE HEADED TOWARDS A CUBAN DICTATORSHIP”

“Otherwise, we’ll be headed towards a new Cuban dictatorship.”

“One where you were arrested for what you said as well as for what you thought, if it differed from what Fidel Castro decided,” he explained.

Fellow priest Father Jesús Calvo, and journalist Armando Robles were also charged under Spain’s hate-speech laws, The Catholic Herald reported.

PRIEST’S TRIAL HELD NINE YEARS AFTER HE MADE “OFFENDING” COMMENTS

On October 1, the Provincial Court of Málaga held a trial, dedicating several hours to examining the complaints against Father Ballester’s comments of nine years ago.

It concluded he was guilty of a hate crime.

“The prosecution demonstrates with its actions that so-called hate crimes exist to restrict freedom of thought and expression,” the accused priest told CNA.

“SPAIN’S HATE LAW IS A BLANK CHECK”

“The Hate Law is legally a ‘blank law’ or a blank check.”

“Not even the prosecutors themselves know how to define ‘hate.’”

“They fabricate the crime in each case based on who allegedly committed it, and it’s a one-way crime.”

“They only charge Christians, never Muslims,” Father Ballester asserted.

WHAT ARE SPAIN’S HATE SPEECH LAWS

Spain’s hate speech legislation was first outlined in the Spanish Penal Code in 1995 and later expanded in 2015 to include online offences.

The laws criminalise public expressions that incite hatred, hostility, discrimination, or violence against individuals or groups.

Those groups would be based on religion, race, ethnicity, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, illness, or disability.

“THIS IS INSANE. HE WAS JUST COMMENTING ON THEOLOGY AND ISLAM”

In light of the potential prison sentence facing Father Ballester, CBN News journalist Raj Nair declared: “This is insane. He wasn’t saying: Let’s go hurt people that are Muslim. Let’s go burn their houses down.”

“He was just basically stating, sort of like a geopolitical understanding of the theology and the outworkings of Islam.”

“People are being arrested for liking comments, for making comments, for sharing their opinions which is the bedrock foundation of Western society.”

PRIEST VOWS TO APPEAL IF CONVICTED

Penalties for violating Spain’s hate laws include a prison sentence ranging from one to four years, plus fines.

Father Ballester’s sentence is expected within weeks

He has vowed to appeal his case to the European Court of Human Rights, if he is sent to prison.

The former member of the Spanish army’s special forces has long been outspoken on issues of faith, morality and religious freedom, and is up for a fight.

He has also faced criticism from secular and LGBT groups for defending Catholic teaching on marriage and sexuality.

FAITH GROUPS AND FREE SPEECH ADVOCATES CALL FOR ACQUITTAL

Faith organiations, free speech advocates and hundreds of supporters are calling for his acquittal, saying the judgment was a politically-motivated attack on Christianity.

Abogados Cristianos, the Spanish Foundation of Christian Lawyers, said it had collected more than 28,000 signatures in defence of the priest.

Maria Garcia, the president of the Spanish Observatory for Religious Freedom and Conscience expressed alarm that the priest is facing prison “simply for warning, in the exercise of his freedom of expression and conscience, about the threat of radical jihadism.”

“Defending religious freedom also means protecting the freedom of those, like Father Custodio, who warn of realities that have already caused deaths in our country and in Europe,” she said.

CASE EVOKES MEMORIES OF POPE BENEDICT OUTCRY

Father Ballester’s case recalls the uproar following Pope Benedict XVI’s 2006 Regensburg lecture, when the pontiff quoted a statement about Islam that was made by Byzantine (Eastern Roman) emperor Manuel II Palaiologos in the 14th century.

The Pope presented this quote as a historical example that spoke to the incompatibility between religious faith and violence, with the pontiff arguing that violence is incompatible with God’s nature and the nature of the soul.

But the Pope’s use of the quotation, taken out of context, was widely interpreted by many Muslim leaders and communities as an attack on Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, leading to widespread protests in numerous Islamic countries.

The Catholic Herald writes: “Nearly two decades later, similar questions about freedom of expression, truth and tolerance remain at the centre of Europe’s increasingly tense conversation with Islam.”