Status of Christianity Country Profile: Panama (original) (raw)

The Growth of Protestant Religions in Mexico and Central America

In the last half of the twentieth century, many people in Mexico and Central Amer-ica turned to Protestantism as a new religion. In this paper, I examine the scope of the turn and look at some of the theories that explain why it happened. The scopeof the increase in Protestantism was wide, involving both urban and rural cultures.The available statistics show that it was dramatic and made even more dramaticby the common idea that Latin America was solidly Catholic

The De-Catholicization of Latin America

In 2014, according to Pew Research Center, about 69% of Latin America’s population identified as Catholic, in comparison with 92% in 1969. During the same period, the share of Evangelicals grew from 4% to 19%, a growth rate three times larger than the world’s population growth. This trend is due to the increase of new Christian denominations and irreligiosity, and is being recorded all over Latin America, which may no longer be a Catholic majority by 2030.

Religion in Latin America

2018

Religion has been one of the driving forces in Latin America from preColumbian times to the present. As Rene de la Pedraja illustrates in Chapter 3, the Europeans who came to the New World with crosses and swords found religion and politics similarly intertwined in the indigenous civilizations. Since then, religious beliefs have been influenced by multifaceted encounters between divergent cultures. And, as Richard S. Hillman introduces in Chapter 1, these interactions shaped enduring legacies that have been modified over time. Since the earliest conquest, European conquistadores (conquerors) established the Catholic Church as an official institution of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies and suppresse d indigenous religions-many of which were grounded in highly sophisticate d civilizations. The significant role of the church continued after independence in the early 1800s and into the twentieth century. Even today, a substantial majority of the citizens of contemporary Latin America...

Mainline Protestantism in Latin America

A short history of mainline Protestant traditions in Latin America from the colonial era to the present with a focus on the development of Protestantism as a vital, native force rooted in the region's concerns and cultures

Religion and Daily Life in Latin America

Catholicism become the most widespread religion in Latin America.By the 1990s Latin America was responsible for 42% of the world’s Catholic population. Despite their common Catholic identity,Latin Americans also have Amerindian, African, and popular non-Christian religious traditions inherited from Spain. Even today many Catholics incorporate practices and beliefs that are not accepted by the Church, including devotions to non canonized saints, some of them portrayed as bandits (or who protect criminals). Over the past few decades, the religious map of Latin America has been further enriched by the presence of new religions, predominantly Protestant denominations. Because Pentecostalism shares various cognitive and emotional ties with African and indigenous religions, this may help to explain its popularity among indigenous inhabitants of rural areas and for those with a history in Afro-Brazilian religions.This chapter also discuss religious practices in Latin America, including miracles; different hierarchies of “supernatural” beings; reciprocity, which includes promise and sacrifice; pilgrimages; popular celebrations; and a variety of devotional practices

The US and Panama: The Evolution of an Asymmetric Relationship

2011

This article examines the historic transition of the Panama Canal from the United States to Panama and analyzes how this transition transformed the relationship between the US and Panama. We argue that the relatively peaceful transition of the Canal from the US to Panama, despite its flaws, ultimately allowed Panama to overcome a history of occupation, to gain long-awaited sovereignty over its territory and to expand its role in the international community. With the acquisition of the Canal, and the lengthy transition period which allowed adequate time for Panamanians to master Canal operations, Panama has become an essential player in the global economy and now uses the Canal as a catalyst for national economic growth. The transition, as well as the divergent interests of both actors, changed the historically asymmetric relationship between the US and Panama. While the US remains dominant, Panama has solidified its sovereignty.

Protestantism in El Salvador: Conventional Wisdom versus Survey Evidence

Latin American Research Review

Protestantism has grown strikingly throughout Latin America in the last two decades. Estimating such growth is hazardous in the absence of firm national survey data, but the phenomenon is clearly embracing sizable segments of national populations. In Guatemala, estimates of Protestants in the national population ranged from 20 to 25 percent by the early 1980s, with more recent estimates approaching 30 percent.