Santo Domingo.- The director of the Presidential Management Council at the national level, Dio Astaciosaid today that in the Dominican Republic there are currently two million Protestant Christians.
The also director of the Office of Liaison with the Christian Community and the Executive Power, revealed that in the country, there are some 16,500 churches corresponding only to the Protestant community.
A study, carried out in 2018-2019, indicates that there is a drop in the percentage of the Dominican population that identifies as Catholic from 67.6% in 2008 to 49.2% in 2019.
These data were presented in that year by an AmericasBarometer Survey, who indicate that, in the case of Protestants, their percentages had increased from 12.1% in 2008, up to 26% by 2019, who would have identified as Protestant evangelicals.
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In relation to abortion, that same study reveals that 60.7% of Dominicans would argue for an abortion when the mother’s health is in danger; while 61.1% would justify it when the fetus is non-viable, due to a congenital malformation, and 49.6% would validate it when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.
Pastor Astacio referred to these terms in an interview he gave to the Matinal program, which is broadcast on Telemicro, channel 5.
Astacio stated that the Protestant churches in the Dominican Republic should receive more support from all of Dominican society, due to the socio-spiritual and educational work they carry out.
In this sense, he also referred to the controversial Penal Codein his opinion, said that the subject has to be dealt with separately by the congressmen, so that their approval is later admitted, later, it can be lavished.
It is recalled that Pastor Dío Astacio, was a candidate for mayor in the Municipality of Santo Domingo Este, in 2016, on the ticket of the Christian Democratic Quisqueyano Party (PQDC), who together with Manuel Jiménez, undertook a hunger strike for alleged fraud committed against him by the then candidate of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), Alfredo Martínez, (a) El Cañero.
Manuel Jiménez, who was running as a candidate for mayor on the Broad Front electoral ticket, and other political organizations, along with Dío Astacio, were not elected, as they had denounced a fraud against him, so they decided to go on a hunger strike taking refuge both in the Paz y Bien Church on Sabana Larga Avenue, in Ensanche Ozama, near Las Américas Avenue, as a protest against the alleged electoral fraud.
