Posted on 02/13/2007 12:00:51 PM PST by Alex Murphy
Evangelical Christians are increasingly attacked by “traditional Catholics” in a southern Mexican state, according to a persecution watchdog group.
In the indigenous region of Chiapas state, traditional Catholics – a blend of Catholicism and native religious practices – are more frequently being accused of various acts of religious intolerance against protestants, such as “threats, intimidation, and robbery or expulsion from their communities, or death,” reported Alfonso Farrera, director of the National Bar of Christian Lawyers, to Compass Direct News.
In total, the bar says it has records of 200 cases of unresolved religious intolerance against evangelical Christians in Chiapas state, while incidents of persecution are “accelerating daily in the indigenous regions.”
Many of the conflicts arise from community leaders demanding evangelicals pay quotas for Catholic festivals, according to Compass. Some Evangelicals have said that though they are willing to cooperate in community projects, they refuse to fund religious festivals involving drunkenness and immoral behavior.
Common complaints by Evangelicals include local leaders cutting off the water supply or being denied benefits from government programs because of their faith.
Evangelical families are also often threatened with expulsion from their properties because they do not share in the faith and lifestyle of the town.
The Roman Catholic bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Felipe Arizmendi, has denied ties with the “traditional Catholics.”
Arizmendi declared that the “so-called traditional Catholics, who do not depend on our diocese, do not take into account the Bible nor the laws of this country, but are governed by their own agreements and traditions,” according to Mexico City’s La Jornada newspaper on Feb. 8.
Protestant Christians in other states besides Chiapas have also reported persecution by indigenous groups and by traditional Catholics. Christians living in indigenous regions in the central state of Hidalgo are among those who have reported harassment because of their faith.
According to the World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission, persecution of protestant Christian is likely the result of Mexico’s association of Protestantism religion with America. Traditional Mexicans view Protestant Christianity as a threat to their culture, tradition, and Catholic faith, especially given the number of Mexicans in recent decades that have changed to evangelical Christianity after reading the Bible.
Mexico is composed of 89 percent Roman Catholic and only six percent Protestant.
I hope you're not calling me an anti-inquisitionist. Some of my best friends are inquisitors....here on FR.
And....I'm neither Reformed nor Secular. I'm a New Testament Christian....you know, the ones who still celebrate the Holy Days of Our Lord? [Leviticus 23]
If the immigrants who have swamped and trashed Southern California over the last 30 years are at all representative, Mexico is a pagan country with a thin veneer of Catholicism.
For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. - Philippians 1:29
And when we do go through a rough time, sometimes we can Know what the Bible says ("Count it all joy") but we do not feel like having any joy. That’s okay – all is not lost. We can still pray, "God, I know I am going through this tough situation so that you can grow my faith. James 1:2 says to count it all joy, but I don’t feel like that too much right now. God, help me get to that point where I can count it all joy." Then we can work on bridging the gap between our head (what we know) and our heart (what we feel).
That explains the corruption throughout the country.
Naw, but sheep are allowed to chase off wolves.
Are you saying persecution, confiscation of home, land, and belonging, is ok so long as roman catholics are doing it to others.
LOL BUMP
Oh, pobre Salvation. Victimhood and Freeper aren't likely bedfellows.
Of course if this stupid policy had been followed Mexico would never have been Catholic in the first place.
Carry on.
“threats, intimidation, and robbery or expulsion from their communities, or death,”
When was the last time a Catholic was killed by a Proddie on Free Republic? Robbed? Has a a Proddie on FR threatened you with physical harm?
Actually, I am quite thankful for your post. You have proven, once again, that RCs around here will not ever, no not even once, admit that a Catholic can do wrong, especially when it comes to their dealings with Protestants.
Just like those party pooper Evangelicals.
LOL!! I hope the flamigo looks both ways before crossing. :O)
I once put a pink flamingo in my yard just to annoy a Yankee neighbor who thought they were the height of tackiness.
I showed her.
How pathetic. You're equating words that are typed in an internet chatroom to violence? lol.
Well, I'm not willing to admit that these people are even real Catholics, since their bishop seems to want nothing to do with them.
Just like you guys will call some flakes within your ranks "not really Christian," I think we get to reserve the right to call some flakes "not really Catholic" ... and I think the acid test for that is "do they obey their bishop". These folks flunk the test.
But that really doesn't address my post now does it?
Proddies in Mexico are clearly being persecuted in Mexico and Salvation responds by claiming that persecution of RCs occurs here on FR.
Rather than denouncing what is going on in Mexico, it seems Salvation has sided with the "traditional" Catholics by justifying their behavior with some vague accusation that she herself has been persecuted.
Oh please, we're all sinners here on this earth. Catholics can and do wrong. I wouldn't classify those people in MX as real Catholics based on the above.
What's wrong is wrong, regardless of who is doing it.
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