Mexico Protestant Christians Expelled From Homes

Twenty Protestant families have been forcibly displaced from their homes in western Mexico because of their faith after the government refused to prevent the deportations, an advocacy official told BosNewsLife Friday, January 29.

Threats of expulsion have been ongoing since December 6 last year when a resolution was adopted by the village assembly saying that the Protestant members of the community would be expelled if they refused to convert to Roman Catholicism, described as "the traditional faith", Christians said.

The best movie ever about that era of the Mexican government being at war with the priesthood was by John Ford and starred Henry Fonda.
It’s called the fugitive. This is one for no Christian to miss, catholic or not. But RCC people will very much enjoy it.

Ford filmed it in Mexico and was careful to say this was not about Mexico, even though it clearly was. But the way he did it is an example of what has happened to Christians of all stripes, in numerous countries.
A work of sheer genius.

I think the laws were finally repealed in the 1990s. One of the interesting laws was that a religious leader could not run for public office.
They had a bad history of state and government terribly comingled where the Church was the defacto government.

We were lucky to largely shake off the European ways. The Mexicans were stuck and have been locked in battle ever since. They went overboard in their response, but that place seems doomed to be stuck in ignorance and backwardness. And I think the church does thrive on that.

My main concern is that the ones who come here not be allowed to bring that thinking here.

How was Benito Juarez a decent and fair man? He overthrew the euro-monarchist government. He deposed Santa Anna and didn’t like military dictatorship any better.
He tried hard to create a capitalist and constitutional republic with the USA as his beacon and goal. Not known to have committed evil acts against persons.
As for property, you mean church property, and property granted to it’s minions in monarchist land grants. Literally the church owned most of the nation either directly or through regal grants.
That isn’t ownership, it was pure power play seizure. And that is why it is fine for someone else to grab it back.

That’s decent stuff. The only argument against Juarez as a decent man is if one wants a monarchy or a Catholic state. Many people do, even here. But that is a different thing than pretending Juarez was a despot.

So lets not be blaming the Catholics for this one.

They are being booted by Catholics because they are not Catholic.

“So lets not be blaming the Catholics for this one”?

"He tried hard to create a capitalist and constitutional republic with the USA as his beacon and goal. Not known to have committed evil acts against persons. As for property, you mean church property, and property granted to itâ€™s minions in monarchist land grants. Literally the church owned most of the nation either directly or through regal grants. That isnâ€™t ownership, it was pure power play seizure. And that is why it is fine for someone else to grab it back. Thatâ€™s decent stuff. The only argument against Juarez as a decent man is if one wants a monarchy or a Catholic state. Many people do, even here. But that is a different thing than pretending Juarez was a despot."

Yeah, and Lincoln didn't commit acts against persons either, he just provoked a bloody civil war. The Church by no means owned "most of Mexico." There had already been various reforms that weakened the Church in Mexico prior to Juarez's tenure. When Juarez came along, not only did he use the state to steal Church lands, he put in place despotic regulations against the Church in Mexican society, and against clergy.

You're right that he looked to the US though -- he thought that the Mexican government could generate enough cash from the sales of stolen Church property, and from taxes on people who were awarded Church land that they had previously been tenants on, to make the US comfortable enough to extend loans and other aid to Mexico. And never mind that the Catholic Church provided many, if not most, of the basic services in society.

If you're okay with all of the above, then you're basically saying that government redistribution of wealth, against the best interests of the people but "for the people's own good," is fine. I doubt you'd be in favor of our government arbitrarily forgiving student loans or taking over banks, which is exactly the type of actions that the Juarez administration took.

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