Spain includes the major part of the Iberian peninsula and Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, and the Canary Islands off northwest Africa, and the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the North African coast. An estimated 5.6 million immigrants live in Span including 3 million non-registered people, mainly from North Africa and Latin America.
Spain’s tumultuous past shapes its present. The Muslim Moorish occupation lasted 700 years until 1492. The next three centuries of the worldwide Spanish empire was some of the mightiest economic power, followed by instability, civil wars and dictatorships of the 19th and 20th centuries. Spain is one of the world’s heaviest users of cocaine, heroin and marijuana, with most being young people. Gambling addiction is also high, with an estimated 15% of household income spent on betting.
Catholicism was the state religion for a long time, and non-Catholics were subject to discrimination and persecution. Today, Spain is moving from a traditional Catholic society to a secular-dominated and multi-religious society. The Catholic church is in crisis, and the country has never experienced a national revival. There is still discrimination against evangelicals in radio, tv and distribution. But evangelicals are growing and there is a considerable increase in missionaries in the last 30 years. Pray that spiritual revival will come, and the necessary resources will be made available to the people of Spain.
