of religion be respected and we are going to defend it." National Educational Congress walkout During the July 2006 meeting of the National Educational Congress, delegates from the Bishops’ Conference of Bolivia walked out, claiming the meeting "had become political and exclusive... the government is seeking to impose its new education law, which reflects an attitude that prevents dialogue about certain aspects of the future of education in Bolivia." In a late-night meeting, Education Minister Felix Patzi spoke with several bishops and pledged to uphold religious instruction in schools and respect the Church-State agreement, saying: "We recognize the contribution of the Church in the area of education, technical formation, and other areas. Religious subject matter will respect the diversity of religions and that is something we share with the Church, everyone has the right to practice the diversity of other religions, there was never any disagreement on that." Bishop Jesus Juarez of El Alto, together with Auxiliary Bishop Luis Sainz of Cochabamba, said that not only do parochial schools have a fundamental right to offer instruction according to their own confession but that in state schools parents must have the ability to determine which religious course their children attend. Bishop Sainz demanded the Morales administration "clarify and come up with a consensus about the concept of secular education so that there are no longer any doubts." At the end of its conference, the National Educational Congress led by Patzi approved a resolution saying, "Education in Bolivia is secular and pluralistic because it respects the spirituality of each culture and freedom of belief, it promotes its own values, and rejects every type of dogmatisms." They called for the "curricula [to] be adapted in accord with the diverse beliefs of the country". While Patzi had stated that the policy would only go into effect after its consideration by the Bolivian Parliament, after the Educational Congress approved the measure he declared that its conclusions "were binding and would be implemented immediately." This drew another wave of protests from Bolivian Catholics who demanded Patzi's resignation. Archbishop Tito Solari described the Morales administration's actions at the event as operating "in a Communist fashion" and claimed that "the government [had] imposed its ideology without any room for dialogue." After the bishops' delegates left, those remaining approved the policy to expand the scope of the religious classes. Auxiliary Bishop Estanislao Dowlaszewicz of Santa Cruz characterized the results