The effect of the rising popularity of evangelicalism in South America

If you visit Latin America chances are that you will see at least one evangelical church in each city you go to. This is not surprising, given that statistics show that almost 20% of the people in Latin America are evangelicals which is 3% more than 30 years ago.

This shift in religious views started in the 1980’s, and today there are several Central American countries where evangelicals are a majority.

The rise of evangelicals in the region is transforming not only the religious situation there but has a serious effect on politics in Latin America as well. This is because conservative causes new constituencies and strength, especially for the local political parties.

The Roman Catholic Church used to hold a monopoly in the region prior to the 1980’s with the only alternative being atheism and anticlericalism. Today, the rapid rise of the evangelical religion is changing everything there.

Typically, evangelicals embrace more conservative ideologies especially when it comes to sexuality, gender and have patriarchal, conservative and homophobic values. This is exactly why the rise of evangelicalism is considered worrisome, especially for the politics in Latin America. A new form of populism is being fueled by the growing number of evangelicals and this is used by a number of political parties to gain votes and popularity among non-elite voters.

Unfortunately, many of these voters are very stubborn in their beliefs about sexuality and gender equality and this leads to even larger cultural polarization in the region.

One excellent example is the political situation in Brazil where the 90 and more evangelical congress members managed to overturn the rule and played a huge role in the leftist president Dilma Rousseff. In one of the most gay-friendly cities, Rio de Janeiro an evangelical pastor was elected as mayor.

This model is rapidly spreading among other countries in Latin America as well. Anti-gay marches were held in Costa Rica, Peru, Columbia, Mexico and the Dominican Republic - they were organized by the Evangelicals with the help of the Catholics in these countries.

If you want to read the latest developments in Latin America, you can refer to this excellent website for evangelical news South America (noticias cristianas).