Pare de Sufrir! Religious Conversion in Latin America and the United States

• In Event: Religious Pluralism in Latin America: Social and Political Implications of Changing Demographics

Abstract

The religious landscape of Latin America is changing. While a majority of Latin Americans are Catholic, Catholicism is no longer the sole dominant religion in every country in the region. In about half of Latin American countries, Catholic predominance has given way to a more diverse religious landscape that includes a growing number of people without religious affiliation, but especially, to the rise of Protestantism and the proliferation of Pentecostal Churches, like the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, which has a membership of over 30 million faithful across the region. In countries like El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala or Nicaragua, Protestants now make up between 35% and 42% of the total population.

A similar pattern of religious change is occurring among Latinos in the United States. While still majority Catholic, many Latinos have left the Catholic Church for evangelical and Pentecostal faiths, or for no religion at all.

This paper explores religious conversion in Latin America and the U.S., its main causes and some of its consequences. Using data from a 2013 Pew Research survey of 19 countries in Latin America and a 2013 Pew Research survey of more than 5,000 Latinos in the U.S., this paper will explore the reasons behind the decision to leave the Catholic faith to join Protestantism or become religiously unaffiliated. The paper will also look at how religious conversion in the region may impact the debate of important social issues, such as same sex marriage or legal abortion.

Authors

• Juan C Donoso, Pew Research Center

• Jessica Hamar Martinez, Pew Research Center