John Ceisel, Eric Anderson, Gigi, & Ivan John
Catholicism has been an institution in Latin America for hundreds of years. The original colonization of most of the countries was made in the name of Catholicism, and to this day it is the largest denomination of all Latin American countries with 70% of followers professing. It has been especially important in Argentina and Brazil even before the countries were independent. Followers’ beliefs in the denomination had always appeared to be unwavering and accepted as fact that it would remain in the forefront of choices in religion. It is still very much in the forefront, however Protestant denominations such as Assemblies of God, God is Love, and the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God have made notable surges in attendance and conversion of about 10% and 15% in Argentina and Brazil respectively. This is especially notable because Brazil has the largest Catholic population in the world with 88% of their population professing. The power and influence that made Catholicism so dominant came from the fact that the church traditionally sided with the ruling classes of the countries it was present in. This drew much criticism over the years, especially when the church sided with unlikely governments and leaders like the Argentine dictatorship following Peron. This relationship between church and state is typically mutual however. Argentina even had clauses in its Constitution that call for “support” for the Catholic Church up until the early 20th Century. The original Constitution gave salaries to high church officials and stated that a mission of the government was to convert Indians to Catholicism. Until very recently it was also written law that the President of Argentina had to be Catholic.
It is this strong connection with the government and some sometimes questionable affiliations that has apparently led people away from Catholicism. It is probably no coincidence that some events such as the end of the dictatorship in Argentina or the economic failures in pretty much every country in Latin America led to a strong distrust in the government and therefore in the church that was tied to it. Half of the members of Protestant groups were baptized since 1980 and roughly 8,000 Latin Americans convert to evangelism every day, leading many to believe that if the denominations could grow that large in that short period of time, what’s causing them to grow and what’s to stop them from overtaking Catholicism? There are currently more than 300 Protestant denominations in Latin America and about 15% of the population currently professes to one of the “big three”; either Assembly of God, God is Love, or the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God.
One of the main beliefs for such growth in both Protestant and Evangelical groups is modernization and globalization reaching Latin America. These movements tend to cause people to lose their roots and seek out new ones since options from all around the world are readily available to them. Further movement from Catholicism is typically caused by overall dissatisfaction or disapproval with the church and this stems from a variety of issues. For example, the Catholic Church is very conservative in sexuality and therefore its members are not given the option of abortion or any form of birth control, divorce, etc. Since the occurrence of women’s rights movements in all parts of the world, not just Latin America, the inability for women to become priests is hampering the church severely. There is also no tolerance for homosexuality in the Church; an issue that is becoming more sensitive as gay and lesbian circles in almost all parts of the world are becoming more recognized and accepted. In a globalized world that is becoming increasingly liberal on these issues, and in a Latin America that is becoming progressively in tune with that world it is easy to see why this outflow of members from Catholicism is occurring.
The Catholic Church is also suffering from the inability to secure enough priests. The fact that marriage is prohibited turns many young men away from even considering a life devoted to servitude. The Catholic priests in the past have been typically unpopular with the working class since they favor the upper class elites. This is because they require money to function and therefore do not do much to assist the poor. This led foreign Protestant ministers to come in and fill the void by giving the poor what they needed and therefore turning them away from Catholicism and towards Protestantism. It wasn’t only a coincidence that caused the ministers to invest so much time and money in Latin America. There is a strong “work ethic” mentality associated with Protestantism that naturally draws the lower class closer. The focus of their beliefs centers on everyday life topics such as work, love, and good health; not money which is unfortunately what the Catholic Church is seen as being tied to. In order to gain the trust of those in usually poor sectors of Latin America, the Protestant church did beneficial things to those people such as teach them to read, helping them build public works projects, housing, etc. in order to improve their quality of life and show them that by converting they weren’t just changing religions, but changing their way of life.
Another way that has quickly spread Protestantism into Latin America is the efficient use of media tools that most people have access to. This “televangelism” over either TV or radio used spiritual motivation from charismatic leaders like Pat Robertson to convince those listening that there was a better way of life to be had. Also being broadcast was “emotional liturgy” which included singing, crying, testimonial stories, displays of miracles, etc. that convinced people not just on a physical level but on a mental level that this way of life was better than could be imagined. While different than the Catholic Church on many levels, one fact stayed the same and that was the need for money. However, whereas the Catholic Church was seen as being wasteful and spending their money building elaborate churches and giving back to the rich, Protestant leaders channeled their money into giving to the poor and projects that would benefit the community. This made them quickly popular with everyone and showed that they were ready to make a difference.
With these big changes comes a series of consequences for both sides. The growth of Protestantism is allowing another important religion to emerge rather than having one dominant religion for a region. This implies a Constitutional guarantee of religious freedom which in effect would give Protestants the same rights as Catholics. This further creates the possibility for conflict to arise if the Catholic Church were to take direct action to attempt to restrict the movement of religious minorities, which in this case would of course be Protestantism. Whereas Protestantism may initially be viewed as healthy competition, it ends up hurting the Catholic Church even more by pointing out its faults and what crucial sectors of Latin America it either overlooked or didn’t optimize. This influx of Protestants, particularly in Brazil (which was noted before as the largest Catholic population in the world), has the Vatican worried and is therefore taking protective measures to curb this growth. The Pope has urged Brazilian bishops to make their teachings less elaborate and easier for everyone to understand in order to help counter “the seduction of sects and new religious groups” and in effect the 600,000 converting annually.
