Mexico Becoming a Less Faith-Oriented Nation According to Survey

A recent survey conducted by the World Values Survey, which took place in 81 countries shows that Mexico, like several other countries, is growing in number of people who stop practicing religion.

MEXICO CITY - A recent survey conducted by the World Values Survey, which took place in 81 countries shows that Mexico, like several other countries, is growing in number of people who stop practicing religion. The survey aimed at revealing changes in conduct of many societies focuses on analyzing various fundamental values such as politics, religion, economics, sexual behavior, gender roles, family values, community identity and civic participation.

If modernity cannot be reconciled with traditional values, then why should the church try to reconcile modernism in its theology and practice?

For evidence, see also:

Note that as the traditional faith has been cleansed of its sacredness, its otherworldliness, it's also driven people away from the Church for cheaper alternatives. Modernity--that is, modern thought, modern, secular living is souless, it is stale, it is ultimately superficial and empty. And yet our shephards will stop at nothing to root out the underpinnings of society, our Church, and replace it with man's synthetic alternative.

For evidence, see also:

http://www.losangelesmission.com/ed/articles/2004/0412jm.htm>

Polk believes that after Vatican II, the Church's antiseptic view towards the sacraments drove many Latino Catholics eager for more mysterious, mystical experiences into other churches. He adds that botanicas are filling some of those needs. "The Catholic Church tried to become more sterile, maybe more scientific in its approach to the mysteries of spirit and faith," said Polk. "And that's really the opposite of what the botanica is. It's a place where people are looking for new mystical traditions. As the Church became less ritualized, people started looking for ritual in other places."

Oddly enough, some of those Mexicans who left for Protestant churches are now heading towards Islam, particularly in Chiapas.

I think there were two results of the VatII reforms. The first was the destruction of legitimate folk religion and devotions (which of course have been replaced by the genuinely evil santería, apparently with the approval or at least tolerance of the Church). The second was the disappearance of the dogmatic and ethical component of Catholicism that enabled believers to structure and control their lives.

It was the latter that led Mexicans to leave the weak, social-services oriented Catholic church for the stricter Protestant churches. However, now that many of the Protestant churches are also nothing but social service organizations, they are looking for that structure in Islam.

" they are looking for that structure in Islam."

And they are finding it in Mexico and in Hispanic/muslim groups in the USA.

Although exact numbers are difficult to find, the American Muslim Council, an advocacy group in Washington, estimates that there are 25,000 Hispanic Muslims in the United States. The largest communities are in New York City, Southern California and Chicago -- all places that traditionally have had large Hispanic and Muslim populations. All-Spanish mosques have emerged in some of those areas.
Washington Post, Sunday, January 7, 2001; Page C01

http://www.islamfortoday.com/americanlatinos2.htm
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Muslim Converts in Chiapas, Mexico

• On June 27, 2003 Knight Ridder reported that Juan "Gómez, 26, a former Protestant who became a Muslim in 1996, is learning the language as a convert to Islam. He embodies a religious phenomenon in Chiapas [Mexico], where one-quarter of the 3.9 million people are poor Maya peasants who practice myriad religions, often blending ancient rituals with Roman Catholicism... The religious conquest of Chiapas persists five centuries after Spanish priests fought to convert the Maya, burning their books of complex hieroglyphics. Chiapas is unusual in mostly Catholic Mexico for its near-constant state of religious turmoil... Since the arrival of U.S.-based Protestant missionaries decades ago, this southernmost state bordering Guatemala has been wracked by violent clashes as faiths compete for souls... Islam joined the religious skirmishes in 1995 with the arrival of Muslim missionaries from Spain. So far, they have converted about 300 Chiapas families. There are only a few thousand Muslims in Mexico."
(June 27, 2003, Knight Ridder, Online)
http://www.pluralism.org/news/index.php?xref=Muslims+Reach+Out
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Islam won't get far though if it tries to forbid alcohol, dancing and fun. It'll make the same kinds of inroads it did with the black prison population here. One thing about the indigenough people in Mexico --- no one can fully convert them to anything, they hang on to their ancient traditions and beliefs --- they might appear to be Catholic --- but it's a Catholicism mixed with pre-Colombian religions.

" mixed with pre-Colombian religions."
From what I'm reading, that seems to be one of the attractions. Those Pre-Colombian religions were Moorish/Islamic.

"As the wave of reversions to Islam by the Latino-community continues, the process of transformation holds a different significance to each individual shahada. Some Latin Muslims find it is a return to the ancestry of their Moorish blood. Others find the concept of freedom from race identification to be one of Islam's assets. Still others find solace in the religion from the confines and inauthenticity of their culture's tradition of Catholicism. The Los Angeles Times interviewed Reymundo Nur and Saadiq Saafir, leaders of the Latin Muslim community, at the ILM Foundation. " 'We all realise that we're Muslim first,' Saafir said. 'This religion is going to bring us together.' Nur nodded. 'Inshallah,' he whispered. 'God willing.'"
http://www2.islamicity.com/LatinoMuslims/articles/spanishummah.html

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