(Evangelical Focus) The 6th Transatlantic Summit For Freedom and the Culture of Life, organised by the Political Network for Values (PnfV), was held in Madrid, at the Spanish Senate on 1 and 2 December.
300 political and civic leaders from 45 countries in Europe, the Americas and Africa attended on personal invitation.
“We want to send a strong message in favour of freedom and the culture of life. True democracies have freedom and respect for human dignity as their inalienable foundations, from which a culture of life is born. Freedom and the culture of life are the foundations of our civilisation”, says Lola Velarde, executive director of PnfV.
According to Velarde, “when we chose this summit we were concerned that in many countries not only the right to life, but also the right to defend it, is being cancelled”.
"The opposition we faced in the weeks leading up to the summit only confirms that this is more necessary than ever," she added.
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Despite being labelled “fundamentalist, intolerant and anti-rights”, the speeches focused on the defence of freedoms and the right to life (especially of the unborn), by those who often have a strong social commitment of helping the underprivileged and the marginalised.
Although the meeting was non-denominational, the vast majority of attendees were Christians, with a very high percentage of evangelicals from several countries.
Tweet This: 300 political and civic leaders from 45 countries attended the Transatlantic Summit For Freedom and the Culture of Life in Madrid Dec. 1-2.
The event was led by Chilean José Antonio Kast, president of the PNfV, and hosted by Jaime Mayor Oreja, honorary president of the PNfV and former Spanish interior minister.
“This is not a debate between two cultures, we are facing the lie, the narrative, which is half-truth, the worst of lies, the ignorance. We are facing a lack of culture, a sick obsession with the destruction of Christian foundations, contempt for science and biology. we are facing a perverse manipulation of history and always trying that history divides us”, pointed out Mayor Oreja.
Political, academic and civic leaders from three continents
Political leaders; members of the European Parliament; senators, US congressmen, parliamentarians, from Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Portugal, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Uganda, Malawi and Kenya participated as speakers at the roundtables.
Representatives of academic and civic institutions, as well as doctors and researchers from three continents also took part in the event.
A network of dialogue and collaboration
The PNfV is an international network of politicians actively engaged in the promotion and defence of life, family and freedoms.
The Transatlantic Summits are a cornerstone of the network. They gather politicians and civic leaders from the Americas, Europe and Africa to strengthen ties, exchange perspectives, share experiences and best practices, and build synergies to advance a common agenda of values. They are usually held every two years.
The first Summit was held at the United Nations headquarters in New York in 2014, followed by others at the European Parliament in Brussels in 2017, at the Colombian Capitol in Bogotá in 2019, at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest, and last year again at the UN headquarters in New York on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Editor's note: This article was published by Evangelical Focus and is reprinted with permission.
