God and politics

[NewsWhore]

Heated arguments at yesterday's meeting of the Revisory Assembly, the body appointed to discuss the proposed Constitutional Reform, resulted in its adjournment by Assembly president Reinaldo Pared Perez. Pared is also President of the Senate. Conversations became heated as legislators discussed the invocation of "God" in the preamble to the Dominican constitution. Senators Frank Martinez and Pelegrin Castillo both commented that the motion presented by Senator Minou Tavarez Mirabal and Senator Francisco Brito only invoked the nation's motto, "God, Homeland and Liberty" and not God himself, thus limiting the role of God in the Magna Carta. Senator Carlos Pena proposed that the preamble needed to be more specific in citing the origins of the God being invoked by including in the preamble that the God being referenced was the one of the patriarchs Abraham, Jacob and Isaac. A proposal by Santiago's Technological University (UTESA), defended by Jose Gonzalez, didn't include any mention of God in its proposed version of the preamble. Legislators presented 15 separate motions to amend the invocation of "God" in the constitution, but as voting began, legislators protested and argued, clamoring for an opportunity to speak. The situation escalated when Senator Francisco Brito argued that they were spending too much time reviewing Senator Minou Tavarez Mirabal's proposal and not his.

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