Republic of the Philippines

Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology

College of Arts and Social Sciences, School of Graduate Studies
Tibanga, Iligan City, Philippines

The Expansion of Protestantism in Rural Areas of Mexico

A Term Paper

Presented to:

Prof. Cecilia B. Tangian, PhD.

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Course of History 210: Issues on Contemporary North American History

Presented By:

Brecht A. Tampus
 Introduction

Mexico is the world's second-most-populous Catholic country, trailing only Brazil. However,

according to a recent poll, only 77.7% of Mexicans now identify as Catholics. 1 That rate is the

lowest ever reported. The ratio of Catholics in this thriving Latin American country has steadily

declined during the last two decades.

The INEGI, Mexico's National Institute of Statistics and Geography, conducted a decennial

population census that revealed this. While Catholicism is on the decline, Protestant

communities, particularly Indian areas, are seeing unprecedented expansion. In 2010, only 7.5

percent of Mexicans claimed to be Protestants; by 2020, slightly more than 11% claimed to be

members of the faith. One out of every ten Mexicans is now Protestant, despite the country's

strong Catholic background.2 This is a first in Mexican history.

The appeal of Protestantism to Indians has been a crucial reason in its recent rise in Mexico. It

has fought the power of traditional cargo systems and assisted Indian communities in

transitioning from an agricultural subsistence economy to a labor migration and trade economy.

Many people in Mexico and Central America converted to Protestantism as a new religion during

the last three decades of the twentieth century. Rural and Native American areas have seen the

most growth. This demonstrates that Protestantism in these areas is a reaction to traditional

Indian cargo networks that generate political and economic power, rather than a reaction to the

Catholic Church.

1
“Staying Alive: Religion in Mexico”. The Economist. 2002. Date accessed Nov. 13, 2021.
https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2002/07/25/staying-alive
2
INEGI (Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía, e Informática). 1992. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Resumen
General, XI Censo General de Población y Vivienda, 1990. Aguascalientes, Ags., México: INEGI.
 Statement of the Problem

1. What is the growth rate of Evangelical Protestantism from 1970 to 2000?

2. What type of Protestantism is growing in the Rural areas of Mexico?

3. Why is it spreading in the Rural Areas?

4. What are the factors that spread Protestantism?

Significance of the Study

The goal of this paper is to know the growth of Protestantism in the rural areas of Mexico and

the underlying causes of the growth of Protestantism in the country.

Methodology

In conducting this paper, an analysis on the available articles, research, journals, and statistical

data relating the expansion of Protestantism in Mexico was done. After analyzing the available

sources, each were categorized in their themes and sub-sets. After bringing all these together

then the study was established. In doing the research, Cultural materialism was used to be the

framework. Cultural Materialism is a frame of view that identifies the basic reasons of religious

transformation in people's material relationships with their environment and each other. This

viewpoint does not dismiss religion's idealistic qualities. Symbolism and emotional devotion are

prevalent throughout. It just sees them as the byproducts of religious transformation rather than

the source of it.

 Findings of the Study

The Growth Rate of Evangelical Protestantism from 1970 to 2000

While the recent growth of Protestantism in Mexico and Central America is obvious, quantifying

it remains a challenge. Many Protestant churches attempt to tabulate the figures; however,

because Evangelical churches have a great incentive to demonstrate that their missionary efforts

have been effective, their tabulations are vulnerable to exaggeration. David Stoll outlines how

some Evangelical advisors arrived at their conclusions.

Church-growth specialists first tallied up the memberships recorded by all denominations in a

country to arrive at their figures. They then multiplied that figure by another number to account

for unbaptized children, converts who had not yet been baptized, and so on. Depending on

"sociological elements," whatever those were, the multiplier was usually 2.5, 3, or 4. The

intended outcome was for the entire Evangelical community to benefit.3

For example, historian Everett Wilson (1997) thinks that there were 835,000 Evangelical

Protestants in Guatemala in 19934, whereas Evangelical social scientist, Dow Holland (1997)

estimates that there were 2.8 million in 1995. 5 These estimates are hard to reconcile because it's

tough to conceive a two-million-strong Protestant population in two years. In another example,

he claims that there were 5.5 million Protestants in Mexico in 1995, despite the fact that the

Mexican national census only reported 3.4 million in 1990. These projections indicate a ten

percent yearly growth rate, which is difficult to believe.6

3
Stoll, David. Fishers of Men or Founders of Empire: The Wycliffe Bible Translators in Latin America. London: Zed
Press. 1982. p. 125.
4
Dow, James W. and Alan R. Sandstrom. Holy Saints and Fiery Preachers: The Anthropology of Protestantism in
Mexico and Central America. Westport, CT: Praeger. 2001.
5
Ibid.
6
2003a. XII Censo General de Población y Vivienda 2000. Aguascalientes, Ags.: http://www.inegi.gob.mx, México:
INEGI.
The development of Protestantism in Mexico has been objectively documented by the Mexican

census, which is fortunate for social scientists. Unlike the US census, the Mexican census asks

about everyone's religion throughout the country. The long-running conflict between the

Catholic Church and the state has prompted the monitoring of ecclesiastical institutions. The

proportion of Protestants is calculated using the percentage of people aged five and above who

are declared Protestants by the heads of households in census tabulations. Because some of the

1980 census data on religion were not published due to computer issues, countrywide

comparisons with the 1980 data were not possible. Other census data, on the other hand, reflect

the growth tendency.

The number of Protestants in various Mexican states in 1970 and 1990, as tallied by the Mexican

national census for both years, is shown in Figure 1.

 Figure 1: Protestants in Mexico 1970 and 19907

This figure illustrates that Protestantism grew significantly in Mexico between 1970 and 1990.

When the census statistics from 2000 became available, it was clear that things had changed

between 1990 and 2000. Figure 1 depicts the updated census data. The development of

Protestantism as a whole has persisted. A steady exponential growth model was used to predict

the rate of annual increase of Protestantism in each state throughout both eras, 1970 to 1990 and

1990 to 2000. The results are depicted in Figure 2 below. In the south, growth decreased,

whereas in the north, it accelerated. The southern states remained the states with the highest

percentages of Protestants.

7
2003b. Catálogos de Codificación (cat-cpv2000.pdf). XII Censo General de Población y Vivienda 2000.
Aguascalientes, Ags.: http://www.inegi.gob.mx, México: INEGI.
 Figure 2: Mexican 2000 Census Data8

Type of Protestantism that is growing in the Rural Areas of Mexico

The majority of Protestantism in Mexico is passed down horizontally from person to person.

Once a religious community is established, the faith can be passed down from generation to
8
Ibid.
generation. Almost all established groups in Mexico, on the other hand, have as their mission the

conversion of as many people as possible. The older denominations, such as Baptists and

Nazarenes, are sometimes overlooked in their evangelizing efforts. In the 2000 census, they were

classified as "historical" rather than "evangelical," yet they continue to seek new recruits. The

distinction between historical Evangelical Protestantism and more recent Evangelical

Protestantism is more about proselytization approach than a lack of desire for gaining new

converts.9 Unlike current Pentecostals, the Nazarenes and Baptists regard themselves as saving

souls rather than bringing people into contact with the Holy Spirit. Despite these doctrinal and

procedural distinctions, few Protestants in Mexico are affiliated with churches that do not

actively seek new members through conversion. The differences between "historical,"

Evangelical, and Pentecostal organizations made in the 2000 census don't tell us much about how

these groups are spreading. The presence of historical Protestants in states where Mayan

languages are spoken, for example, does not imply that Mayans are committed to the traditional

Protestant faith. It means that the Nazarenes are converting many people there, whilst

Pentecostals are converting people in Oaxaca and the north.

Protestantism is divided into two primary groups according to the 2000 census: (1) Protestants

and Evangelicals (Protestantes y Evangélicas) and (2) Bible Oriented but Not Evangelicals

(Bblicas No Evangélicas).10 In the year 2000, the percentage of people aged five and up in these

two groups was

Protestants and Evangelicals – 5.20%

Bible Oriented but not Evangelical – 2.07%

9
Martin, David. 1990. Tongues of Fire: The Explosion of Protestantism in Latin America. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
10
2003b. Catálogos de Codificación (cat-cpv2000.pdf). XII Censo General de Población y Vivienda 2000.
Aguascalientes, Ags.: http://www.inegi.gob.mx, México: INEGI.
The first group, Protestants and Evangelicals, is divided into four subgroups: The figures

represent the proportion of each subgroup among all Protestants, including Bible Oriented

Protestants.11

Historical, older Protestant religions (Históricas) – 9.74%

Pentecostal Protestants (Pentecostales y NeoPentecostales) – 22.29%
Religions with Pentecostal origins (Raíces Pentecostales) – 1.12%
Other Evangelical religions (Otras Evangélicas) – 38.40%

The denominations included in each subgroup are shown in Figure 3. The Mormons, Jehovah's

Witnesses, and Seventh-Day Adventists make up the second category, which makes up the

remaining 28.44 percent of Protestants.12 It's vital to remember that the majority of these

Protestant organizations have a conversion tradition and seek to expand through conversion as

well as carrying down a family or cultural tradition.

11
2003b. Catálogos de Codificación (cat-cpv2000.pdf). XII Censo General de Población y Vivienda 2000.
Aguascalientes, Ags.: http://www.inegi.gob.mx, México: INEGI.
12
INEGI (Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía, e Informática). 1992. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Resumen
General, XI Censo General de Población y Vivienda, 1990. Aguascalientes, Ags., México: INEGI.
 Figure 3: Protestants and Evangelicals in the 2000 Census (INEGI 2003b)

Why is Protestantism Spreading in the Rural Areas Mexico?

Despite the significant links between Protestantism and Indianness, there appear to be as many

explanations for Protestantism's growth in Mexico and Central America as there are people who

have researched it. The explanations are varied, but can be traced into one attribute which is the

psychological explanations that attribute the change to Protestantism's approach to personal and

family problems.

In the psychological camp, Garma claims that current Pentecostal Protestantism appeals to

Indian groups because it is more spiritually therapeutic to native peoples than Catholicism. 13
13
Garma, Carlos. 2001. “Religious Affiliation in Indian Mexico.” In James W. Dow and Alan R. Sandstrom (eds.), Holy
Saints and Fiery Preachers: The Anthropology of Protestantism in Mexico and Central America, 57-72. Westport CT:
Praeger.
"Many Indians have understood the similarity between Pentecostal spiritual healing and

traditional supernatural curing that invokes the aid of divine elements or entities. Many Indians

have understood the similarity between Pentecostal spiritual healing and traditional supernatural

curing that invokes the aid of divine elements or entities. 14In local culture, the Pentecostal

ecstatic experience has analogues. Worship in traditional native religions frequently leads to the

individual experiencing a crucial reality that is generally unseen, sometimes with the help of

hallucinogenic medicines. This is compared to the Pentecostal experience by Garma and others.

The research with native healers among the ähu casts doubt on this theory as a complete

explanation for Protestantism's appeal. The ähu people of Hidalgo's Sierra undertake rituals

known as costumbres, or "flower ceremonies".15 These rites, which are organized by shamans,

are interactions between supernatural and humans. A costumbre begins with flower and food

gifts. Later, the supernatural, according to them, appear to eat the food and join in the festivities.

The faithful cross a line between the ordinary and the extraordinary within a costumbre. They are

aware of the supernatural' existence. This rite may appear to be similar to speaking in unknown

tongues, yet there are important distinctions. ähu shaman-priests and other adepts known as zid

ni ("flower ladies") ingest the hallucinogenic plant Santa Rosa during the costumbres, have

visions, and speak while in a trance state; yet, their speech is quite understandable. They discuss

the lives of those who are present. Their speech is a sort of counseling that addresses community

tensions.16

Other attendees of the ritual seek advice from the trancers.

14
Dow, James. 1986. The Shaman’s Touch: Otomí Indian Symbolic Healing. Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah
Press.
15
Harris, Marvin. 1974. Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches. New York: Random House
16
Cancian, Frank. 1970. “Tarascan Folk Religion: Christian or Pagan?” In Walter Goldschmidt and Harry Hoijer
(eds.), The Social Anthropology of Latin America, Essays in Honor of Ralph Leon Beals. Los Angeles: Latin American
Center, University of California.
The connection between speaking in tongues and native visionary counseling is tenuous at best.

Both happen during religious rituals and in a condition of enhanced consciousness. Both are

depicted as encounters with superhumans. Both are based on the concept that the supernatural

can be accessed through ceremony. One type of speech, however, is euphoric and incoherent.

The other is inspirational and imaginative. One is a one-of-a-kind experience. A public

counseling service is the other. The first is an intense personal encounter with the Holy Spirit,

while the second entails channeling visions to others. There are similarities as well as

differences. Ecstatic experiences are widespread in new religions, therefore it's difficult to

explain the emergence of a specific new religion in Mexico, Pentecostal Protestantism, in terms

of something that's practically ubiquitous in new religions but doesn't mirror Indian religious

practices.17

The stresses of economic transition, according to Annis (1987) and Smith (1977), stimulate

Protestantism.18 19
In Mexico, Protestantism appears to be inextricably linked to the country's

booming capitalist economy. However, it is not entering by the front door with the wealthy

bourgeoisie but through the rear door with the poorest native people. 20 It no longer functions as it

did in previous centuries in Europe and the United States, when it provided a moral justification

for the increase of middle-class wealth amid periods of economic transition, according to

Weber.21

17
Ibid.
18
Annis, Sheldon. 1987. God and Production in a Guatemalan Town. Austin: University of Texas Press.
19
Smith, Waldemar R. 1977. The Fiesta System and Economic Change. New York: Columbia University Press.
20
Ibid.
21
Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. New York: Penguin Classics. 2002.
An assessment of Weber's beliefs is especially essential because Protestantism is expanding

among the lower classes in Latin America, rather than the middle classes, where Weber believed

it belonged, and some adjustment of his theories may be required.

In most parts of Latin America today, the conditions that Weber observed in Europe during the

Protestant Reformation are not replicated. Rural Indian peasants and Latin America's lower

urban classes are reacting to a global capitalism that differs from the early capitalism described

by Weber. Weber argues how Protestant religion offered a new morality for commercial conduct

in Europe following the Reformation in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. The

opponent of capitalism back then was an economic system in which people worked for their own

comfort and goals, which were frequently dictated by Catholic values of the day.22 These

principles did not incorporate the concept of moneymaking as an objective in themselves to

which individuals were obligated as a calling. 23 Something had to be done to give the capitalist

entrepreneur a divine mandate that could transcend religious prohibitions on accumulating

riches. Protestantism was opposed to working solely to fulfill one's desires. 24 Work became a

sacred calling in Protestantism during the time. It declared that riches amassed through a

capitalist system of production was a sign of divine favor.

Weber examines how Protestantism in the United States aided bourgeois capitalism in another

work, The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism. This, he believes, is a continuation of

European sectarian asceticism, which could present economic prosperity as a form of grace. 25

The main school of Weberian thought in sociology began to define the link between capitalism

and Protestantism as primarily psychological as a result of this relationship to bourgeois

22
Ibid.
23
Ibid., p. 63
24
Ibid., p. 157.
25
Ibid., p. 157
capitalism.26 Protestantism is viewed as an ethic that ethically legitimizes the rising affluence of

the hardworking middle-class businessman in this psychological model. Entrepreneurial

behavior, according to this psychological paradigm, is influenced mostly by one's attitude toward

life and less by the political and legal system in which one lives.27

Peasants are subsistence farmers who live in close-knit villages where their social lives are

encapsulated. The urban, mercantile, bureaucratic, and regal classes all piqued Weber's interest.

In his consideration of religion and economics, he ignored peasants. Weber's perspective on

peasants was remote, idealistic, and mostly based on historical sources. He drew on historical

and even biblical descriptions of peasant religion to portray peasants as naturalists who were

primarily interested with magical ritual:28

Peasants' lives are so inextricably linked to nature, so reliant on organic processes and natural

events, and economically so unoriented to rational systematization, that they will only become

religious carriers when they are threatened by enslavement or proletarianization, whether by

domestic forces (financial, agrarian, or seignorial) or by an external political power.29

In other words, he considered peasants as being far distant from the dynamics of Protestantism's

moral and religious messages. Weber's relegation of peasants to the undynamic religious position

of traditionalists exclusively concerned in magical earth rites contradicts what we currently know

about peasant society.

Since Weber's treatises were written a century ago, much has been learned about Latin American

peasant societies. The Taiping insurrection in China, the Cao Dai and Hoa Hao movements in

26
Hamilton, Richard. 1996. The Social Misconstruction of Reality. New Haven: Yale University Press.
27
Ibid.
28
Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. New York: Penguin Classics. 2002.
29
Ibid., p. 80.
Vietnam, and the Dukabours and Raskolniks in Russia are examples of peasant religious

movements that Weber did not acknowledge. Even during the Protestant Reformation, a peasant

insurrection erupted in Swabia, Germany, which adopted Protestant religious ideals for its

humanistic philosophy. It's difficult to explain Weber's attitude toward peasants. He simply didn't

care about them and didn't believe they were capable of responding to religious transformation.

He excluded them from his theoretical considerations, despite the fact that, as data clearly shows,

their societies respond to religious themes in a very dynamic manner.

The Factors That Spread Protestantism

a. Cargo system

In the context of cargo systems, folk-catholic rituals take place. Cargo is a Spanish word that

means "formal responsibility," "charge," or "obligation," and the obligation is to undertake

ceremonies honoring the community's relationship with supernatural creatures symbolized by

pictures of Catholic saints.30 Although the representations are frequently of historical Catholic

saints, these beings are essentially local divinities. Cargo networks are largely present in

Mexico's and Guatemala's Indian regions. Cargo networks are economically, politically, and

religiously intertwined. They redistribute money, establish political authority, and promote deity

worship.31 The richer people of a community devote a significant portion of their resources to

organizing public fiestas. As a result, they gain respect, political clout, and power. In extreme

forms, known as civil-religious hierarchies, the sponsors control all political authority inside a

community and serve as the community's government.32

30
Baldwin, Deborah. 1990. Protestants and the Mexican Revolution: Missionaries, Ministers, and Social Change.
Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
31
Carrasco Pizana, Pedro. 1963. “The Civil-Religious Hierarchy in Mesoamerican Communities: Pre-Hispanic
Background and Colonial Development.” American Anthropologist. p. 483-497.
32
Ibid.
Cultural anthropologists examining cargo systems have a propensity to regard their demise as the

result of some type of general modernizing or secularizing trend. 33 This is an anthropological

form of a general secularization theory that has recently fallen out of favor among sociologists. 34

Individual reasons and actions are not examined in secularization theory, which leads to broad

generalizations. The collapse of a cargo system is, in fact, a localized process of religious

transformation rather than a global one of secularization. In secular modernity, a shipping system

does not vanish. People switch from one belief to another. In Mexico and Central America this

new belief has been Protestantism.

In 1922, William Cameron Townsend, the founder of the Wycliffe Bible Translators and a

prolific Mesoamerican Indian missionary, blamed the Guatemalan Indians' economic woes on

their cargo systems.35 He had hoped that Evangelical Protestantism would rescue the Indians

from their plight. He desired to relieve them from their crippling financial commitments.

Evangelical missionaries, like him, have always maintained that their primary goal was to

deprive the Indians of their cargo systems. The economic and political repercussions of

Protestantism were clearly highlighted in Robert Redfield's second study of Chan Kom, a Maya

community in the Yucatan, published in 1950. The village has been splintered by Protestantism.

Despite the fact that modernizing influences were affecting the community, Redfield understood

that it remained oriented on religion. "Progress," Redfield's paradigm for modernity without

secularization, was sparked by Protestantism. In his opinion, secularization was urban and

33
Cámara, Fernando. 1952. “Religious and Political Organization” In Sol Tax (ed.), Heritage of Conquest. Glencoe,
Illinois.: The Free Press.
34
Stark, Rodney and Roger Finke. 2000. Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion. University of
California Pres
35
Stoll, David. 1982. Fishers of Men or Founders of Empire: The Wycliffe Bible Translators in Latin America. London:
Zed Press.
spirituality was rural.36 The people of Chan-Kom modernized in a religious framework that was

dominated by Protestantism.

In the state of Chiapas, religion is a political issue. For expressing political opposition to

traditional cargo-based authority, hundreds of indigenous Protestant families have been evicted

from Oxchuc, Mitontic, Ametenango del Valle, and Chenalhó.37 When Jean Pierre Bastian

(1985) writes that Protestantism in Mexico and Central America is a kind of political resistance

against "Catholic" systems, he is referring to systems that are not Catholic in any theological

sense, such as Chamula in Chiapas.38 They are actually freight systems with significant civil-

religious institutions. Mayo Indians in Sonora became Protestants, according to O'Connor, to

avoid carrying religious cargos in the traditional Folk Catholic fiesta system. 39 To avoid an

expensive cargo system, the Mayo Indians chose Pentecostal Protestantism.

When the struggle between the Protestants and the Catholics becomes violent, the Catholics

frequently accuse the Protestants of ignoring civic responsibilities such as giving work to public

projects (tequio, faena).40 These labor levies are imposed by conventional political leaders who

get their power from cargo system involvement. Not only do Protestants reject supernatural

individuals, such as village saints, but they also reject the worldly authority of the saints'

subordinates, such as village elders and cargo holders. In the Indian states of Chiapas and

Oaxaca, these disputes have escalated to dangerous levels (Gross 2001).41

36
Redfield, Robert. 1941. The Folk Culture of Yucatan. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
37
Collier, George A. and Elizabeth Lowery Quaratiello. 1994. Basta! land and the Zapatista Rebellion in Chiapas.
Oakland, CA: Food First. p. 139.
38
Bastian, Jean Pierre. 1983. Protestantismo y Sociedad en México. México, Ediciones Cupsa.
39
O’Connor, Mary. 1979. “Two Kinds of Religious Movement among the Mayo Indians of Sonora, Mexico.” Journal
for the Scientific Study of Religion. p. 260-268.
40
Ibid.
41
Gross, Toomas. 2001. “Community and Dissent: A Study of the Implications of Religious Fragmentation in the
Sierra Juárez, Oaxaca.” A dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social Anthropology,
Cambridge University
Because of its large Indian population, Chiapas has seen a lot of strife. Cargo systems promote

Evangelical Protestants and conventional rulers. Thousands of Indians in Oxchuc switched to

Protestantism to avoid maltreatment by the ancient cargo system officials. To counter the

influence of the municipal cargo system, Indians in Zinacantan turned to Evangelical

Protestantism.42 Some economic entrepreneurs have successfully participated in a cargo system

for a short period of time, such as the truckers in Zinacantan. 43 Under the strains of the modern

market economy, however, this co-optation cannot continue. If cargo holders are new capitalists

who aren't dedicated to a redistributive economy, they will go unnoticed. In 1994, the trucking

industry collapsed. In Zinacantan, there has been a recent retreat, with individuals recommitting

to ancient cultural rites in resistance to Evangelical Protestantism.44

People in eastern central Mexico, according to Nutini (2000), switch to Evangelical

Protestantism due to the exorbitant cost of Catholic ceremonies, particularly in rural

communities with freight networks.45 The cases I've looked at in the eastern sierra, which is to

the north of his region, show compelling proof of the process. I was able to observe three

villages go through various stages of Protestant reformation from 1967 to 1999. (Dow 2001). 46

Each community was in a different stage of development at any one time. During this time, one

village, Santa Monica, went from being governed by a civil-religious hierarchy to being

governed by a town-meeting style of government. Half of the villagers converted to

Protestantism. By 2005, the proportions of Protestants had stabilized. During the Protestant
42
Collier, George A., Pablo J. Farias Campero, John E. Perez, and Victor P. White. 2000. “SocioEconomic Change and
Emotional Illness among the Highland Maya of Chiapas Mexico.” p. 20-53.
43
Cancian, Frank. 1965. Economics and Prestige in a Maya Community: The Religious Cargo System in Zinacantan.
Stanford, Stanford University Press. p. 199.
44
Collier, George A. 1997. “Reaction and Retrenchment in the Highlands of Chiapas in the Wake of the Zapatista
Rebellion.” Journal of Latin American Anthropology. p. 14-31.
45
Nutini, Hugo G. 2000. “Native Evangelism in Central Mexico.” Ethnology. p. 39-54.
46
Dow, James. 2001. “Demographic Factors Affecting Protestant Conversions in Three Mexican Villages.” In James
W. Dow and Alan R. Sandstrom (eds.), Holy Saints and Fiery Preachers: The Anthropology of Protestantism in
Mexico and Central America, p. 73-86. Westport, CT: Praeger.
expansion, there was occasional violence, but thankfully not much. Most villages, I believe, will

accomplish these adjustments without the serious religious violence seen in places like Oaxaca

and Chiapas. Protestantism, according to Turner, was opposed to the Highland Chontal's

customary freight system.47

b. Market Economy

Protestantism's recent strong growth in Mexico and Central America has coincided with

significant economic development. According to statistics, modern Protestantism has risen the

fastest among Indians. Given that the Indian people have been facing significant economic

changes as they transition from a subsistence economy to a contemporary global market

economy, it is legitimate to look for the material causes of religious changes in these economic

changes. The market economy, according to Karl Polanyi (1975), is one in which market trade

dominates the social mechanisms required to maintain the flow of products. 48 In a market

economy, all wealth is created through buying and selling. 49 Everything needed to keep humans

alive is available in marketplaces, and most people subsist by selling something, primarily their

labor. In Europe and the United States, market economies are fundamental pillars of social life,

and they have extended to other regions of the globe.

The industrial revolution was sparked by market economies. Profitable production was made

possible by widespread markets. Markets could be used to purchase inputs and sell products.

This permitted the difference between the cost of manufacturing and the sale price of the items to

be returned to the industry's business owner. Owners of the means of production discovered that

increasing machine technology, which eventually accessed the earth's fossil fuel resources, could

47
Turner, Paul R. 1972. The Highland Chontal. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. p. 92.
48
Polanyi, Karl. 1975. The Great Transformation. New York: Octagon Books.
49
Ibid.
lower the cost of production and enhance profits. Industrial societies were able to develop far

more wealth per capita with these new energy sources than paleotechnic peasant economies like

those found today in rural Latin America and Asia. Products made in the industrial system

currently contain more energy gains than products made in any peasant economy. A peasant

must join in the market economy, where his or her productivity measured in market value is

greater, in order to acquire these new valued products. These aren't just ordinary items. More

sanitary housing, improved medical services, and education are all key life-enhancing benefits.

Rural populations in Latin America primarily enter the market economy by relocating in search

of higher-paying work.50

Today, Mexico's and Central America's rural subsistence economies are being formalized in

order to integrate them into the energy-rich global economy. Values, practices, and institutions

are being aligned with a total dedication to markets as a survival strategy. Although imposing a

market economy on the poor can be harsh, the poor themselves profit from the new economy. 51 It

allows them to have access to nice things that they would not be able to produce on their own.

The large migration of peasant laborers from Mexico to the United States demonstrates that

peasants have a stake in the market economy. Protestantism, I believe, plays a crucial role in

economic reinstitutionalization by diminishing the dominance of traditional authorities who

favor a redistributive economy over a wealth-generating capitalist economy. Protestantism is

ripping economic and religious traditionalism loose in Mexico and Central America, sending it

downstream into the river of history.

The economic system and religion have a close link. Religion can establish the mechanisms by

which a person can attain political power by using his or her wealth. If a religion teaches that
50
Ibid.
51
Ibid.
gods desire humans to be giving, the most generous individual in the community will be the most

respected and politically influential.52 If entrepreneurship is considered a holy calling by religion,

the individual who uses wealth most creatively to start a new firm will be a political leader. The

moral injunctions of religion can be used to build a society's political foundation. Changes in

politics and economics may necessitate the creation of new gods to which fresh promises can be

made.

Protestantism fosters political liberty without being overtly political. 53 It prevents conventional

power holders from repeating the redistributive mechanism that gave them their power in the

first place. It stimulates the economy by allowing riches to be invested in tangible assets.

Protestant movements have always had complex relationships with governmental authority. By

the time Methodism and Pentecostalism arrived in Latin America, they had evolved a nonviolent

and politically apolitical political style. To put it another way, they had political ramifications

while avoiding confrontation with the government. Currently, there is a pressing need to tackle

the political clout that cargo systems wield in Indian communities. This is where Protestantism

comes in. In these areas, Protestantism is not a reaction to the Catholic Church. It's a retaliation

for freight systems that have accumulated political and economic clout opposed to the growth of

a business-oriented economy.54

Conclusion

Between 1970 and 1990, the expansion of Protestantism in rural areas was faster than in urban

areas, and it was linked to the existence of peasant, subsistence-oriented Indian groups.

Protestantism was opposed to freight systems, according to ethnographic evidence. Protestantism

52
Smith, Waldemar R. 1977. The Fiesta System and Economic Change. New York: Columbia University Press.
53
Ibid.
54
Ibid.
 challenged the Catholic Church in Europe during the Reformation, but the Catholic Church is no

longer a major political force in Mexico and Central America. The anti-Catholic attitudes of the

Reforma in the 19th century and the Revolution in the 20th century created a door to alternative

religions in Mexico.

The market economy has not yet been fully institutionalized in rural Indian parts of Mexico and

Central America. Ideologically backed cargo arrangements limit economic flexibility in

agricultural peasant economies. When Protestantism takes root in a peasant community, people

can put the money they earn through migrant labor to better their lives, and everyone can

accumulate some wealth to make their lives more secure.

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