Latin America remains a mostly Catholic region and culture but its overall numbers have taken a huge dive during the past four decades or so, a survey by the Pew Research Center has found. And the majority of those former Catholics have become Protestants.
According to the study, titled “Religion In Latin America: Widespread Change in a Historically Catholic Region,” the percentage of current Protestants who were raised as Catholics ranges from 15 to 74 percent, with U.S. Hispanics coming in at 47 percent. Colombia, Paraguay, Peru and Ecuador top the list, showing the trend toward Protestantism in Latin America most clearly.
The Pew data shows that the number of Catholics in Central and South America and parts of the Caribbean has plummeted from 90 percent to 69 percent since the 1960s.
Plummeting percentages
“Much of the movement away from Catholicism and toward Protestantism in Latin America has occurred in the span of a single lifetime,” Pew reported. “Indeed, in most of the countries surveyed, at least a third of current Protestants were raised in the Catholic Church, and half or more say they were baptized as Catholics.”
For instance approximately 1 in 4 Nicaraguans, 1 in 5 Brazilians and 1 in 7 Venezuelans are former Catholics, Pew reported.
The rise of Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity in Latin America has long been documented. The Pew data also accounts for the growth in the unaffiliated population throughout that part of the world.
“While the Catholic Church has lost adherents through religious switching, both Protestant churches and the religiously unaffiliated population in the region have gained members,” according to the study.
Unaffiliated today
Nine percent of Latin Americans were raised in Protestant churches compared to 19 percent who describe themselves as Protestants now, Pew said.
“And while only 4 percent of Latin Americans were raised without a religious affiliation, twice as many (8 percent) are unaffiliated today,” the report said.
Still, most have left for other churches where they reported finding a more satisfying church and worship experience.
Most former Catholics said they were seeking “a more personal connection with God,” while others said “they wanted a different style of worship or a church that helps its members more,” the survey found.
And the majority of Catholic-to-Protestant converts are Millennials, leaving Catholicism before the age of 25.
Religiously observant
The survey also found that Protestants in Latin America tend to be more religiously observant than Catholics. “A regional median of 83 percent of Protestants report attending church at least once a month compared with a median of 62 percent of Catholics.”
Protestants also are more likely to read Scripture outside of religious services and approach the Bible literally than Catholics.
Social issues is another area where the survey found differences, with Catholics in Latin America tending to be less conservative than their Protestant counterparts in relation to abortion, homosexuality, artificial means of birth control, sex outside of marriage, divorce and drinking alcohol.
“Protestants who participate in religious services at least once a week are somewhat more likely to oppose abortion and divorce — and considerably more likely to oppose homosexuality, sex outside of marriage and drinking alcohol — than are Catholics who attend Mass at least weekly,” the survey reported.
(TAB, BNG)
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