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RELIGION-LATIN AMERICA: Indigenous Peoples Divided by Faith
By Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY, May 6, 2005 (IPS) - Indigenous communities throughout Latin America
are facing the loss of their cultural traditions, divisive conflicts, and in
some cases even bloodshed, all in the name of God.
Many of the frictions stem from the hundreds of religions and sects that
have taken root in these communities, ranging from large, established
denominations like the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Adventist, Baptist and
Mormon to newer, lesser-known groups like the Church of the Word, the
Fountain of Life, Alpha Omega and the Guardians of the Holy Sepulchre.
"Whatever religion they try to inculcate us with, it will have an impact in
spiritual terms, which is in a way our Achilles heel, since most of us
indigenous peoples approach life from a spiritual level," Luis Macas, a
Saragura Indian and president of the Confederation of Indigenous
Nationalities of Ecuador, remarked to IPS.
Among the 40 million indigenous people who live in Latin America today, the
most prevalent religion is still Roman Catholicism, forcibly and often
violently imposed by the European "conquerors" in the 15th and 16th
centuries through the complete annihilation or partial assimilation of
pre-Columbian religious beliefs and practices.
But over the years, other religions have come to compete for the "souls" of
the region's aboriginal peoples, especially during the 20th century, in an
often rocky coexistence with the Catholic Church.
In the last 30 years, the Tzotzil Mayan indigenous community of Chamula in
the southern Mexican state of Chiapas has been shaken by 100 deaths
resulting from religious conflicts.
Another 30,000 community members have been expelled for professing
Protestant beliefs and thus incurring the wrath of local authorities, who
practice a particularly orthodox brand of Catholicism that rejects the
reforms of the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s, which promoted greater
openness to other religions.
Expulsion, imprisonment, physical beatings and the denial of educational and
medical services are among the manifestations of the religious sectarianism
that has emerged in recent years in large areas of the southern Mexican
states of Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero, where the majority of the population
is indigenous.
In Ecuador, a powerful and organised indigenous movement capable of leading
massive social protests, overthrowing presidents and reaching government
leadership positions earlier in the decade is now fragmented, and some
observers say it is because one sector, allied with Protestant religions,
continued to support President Lucio Gutiérrez, who was removed from office
by Congress in late April after over a week of street protests.
In Guatemala and Bolivia, which along with Mexico, Ecuador and Peru are the
Latin American countries with the largest indigenous populations, divisions
have also been wrought by differences of religious affiliation, which often
merges with support for particular political parties and local authorities.
"There are clearly internal problems in our communities provoked by
religion, because some churches address social concerns, while others merely
focus on spiritual matters and foster conformity, which has an obvious
impact on the struggles of the indigenous people," noted Rafael González
Roc, spokesman for the Committee for Campesino Unity in Guatemala.
"Many religions have destroyed what we are, and it is sad to see the
contempt that the new generations have for what we once were. They think
that the traditional beliefs of the Mayans (the main indigenous ethnic group
in Central America) are witchcraft, or satanic," he commented to IPS.
According to González Yoc, the Church of the Word and Assembly of God, both
of which are evangelical Protestant denominations based in the United
States, were implanted in indigenous communities in Guatemala to collaborate
with the military dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s.
Sociologist and journalist Roger Pascual of the Spanish non-governmental
group Agencia de Información Solidaria maintains that these two churches
were backed by the U.S. government to combat anything that appeared somehow
linked to communism in Guatemala.
It was during this same period that the Liberation Theology movement within
the Catholic Church had come to exercise a major influence in Central
America.
Liberation Theology is based on a "preferential option for the poor", and
its proponents' involvement in the struggles of the poor and marginalised
sectors of the population gave them common cause with the leftist
revolutionary movements active in the region at the time. As a result, the
Catholic Church came to be viewed by some as a dangerously "Marxist"
institution.
In his "Analysis of the Incursion of Sects into the Political Spheres of
Latin America", Pascual states, "The U.S. government contributed to building
up the Assembly of God Pentecostal sect to such an extent that it came to
control 1,500 houses of worship, in addition to numerous television and
radio stations" in Guatemala.
In addition, he notes, "The (Ronald) Reagan administration (1981-1989) was
also behind the establishment of the Church of the Word, which collaborated
in the coup d'état led by General José Efraín Ríos Montt en 1982."
Guatemala was engulfed in a civil war from 1960 until 1996. Of the roughly
200,000 people who were killed (including 45,000 "disappeared") by the
government security forces, the majority were Mayan Indians. The war also
led to the internal displacement of one million people and the exodus of
500,000 refugees to Mexico alone, while 250,000 children were orphaned.
"Religions have an impact on our collective behaviour, and change the
essence of the way in which we are organised in communities and families.
Because of religion, the traditionally collective nature of indigenous
peoples has given way to individualism, and is dividing us," said Macas.
"There are a huge number of sects in Ecuador, I believe over 300, whose role
is to pacify, divide and tame the people, subordinating them to the
interests of the dominant powers or big corporations, like the oil
companies," he added.
When critics talk about "sects", they are referring to more recently founded
Protestant denominations and churches, as opposed to established religions
like the Baptist, Episcopalian, Lutheran or Presbyterian churches.
The Roman Catholic hierarchy, together with some anthropologists and civil
society organisations, accuse these new sects of recruiting indigenous
followers with money and the offer of "salvation", while promoting beliefs
that break with their cultural traditions and way of life.
Some Catholic leaders have used highly confrontational language in referring
to these upstart Protestant churches. "You have to be shameless to be a
Protestant," declared the cardinal of Guadalajara, Mexico, Juan Sandoval
Iñiguez, while the former papal nuncio to Mexico, Girolamo Prigione,
commented that "these sects are like flies that ought to be swatted with a
newspaper."
Mexican writer Carlos Monsiváis has criticised this Catholic religious
intolerance, claiming that it breeds persecution and denies indigenous
people the right to change their beliefs, as if Catholicism were the only
religion that should be practised in these communities, an attitude he calls
"absurd".
But many critics of these new Protestant denominations, including followers
of Liberation Theology - who have a long tradition of demanding respect for
the rights of indigenous peoples and fighting against the oppression they
suffer - believe that they distort the message of God, and in some cases
merely serve to foster ideological control by the United States.
"These sects create individuals who are mindless and alienated. They kill
the soul of the people," said Spanish-born Bishop Pedro Casaldáliga, a
leading exponent of Liberation Theology who devoted almost 40 years of his
life to working with the poor in Brazil.
For his part, Pope John Paul II issued a number of documents and
declarations condemning these sects during his 1978-2005 papacy, while he
promoted dialogue with established Protestant churches, Judaism and Islam.
Sects that use healing, exorcism and promises of prosperity to attract
followers are "a danger to Christians" and should be condemned in the same
way as drug trafficking and birth control campaigns, the late pope stated
during a visit to Brazil in 1991.
One denomination in particular, the U.S.-based Jehovah's Witnesses, has
clashed with authorities in the region because of the fact that its members
refuse to pay tribute to national flags and other patriotic symbols. They
also cannot give blood or receive transfusions.
Eugenio Poma, a Bolivian Aymara Indian, Methodist bishop and coordinator of
the Indigenous Pastoral Committee of the Latin American Council of Churches
(CLAI), which represents over 150 established denominations, told IPS that
these new religious groups "that are growing like mushrooms" respond to
"dark" interests.
"There are churches that only pursue spiritual indoctrination, like many of
these sects, and then there are others among us who go into communities to
learn and to help. Obviously, we are guided by very different interests, and
this separates us," said Poma.
Nevertheless, he added, the "indigenous heart, which strives for a life as
part of a community and fights for its rights" will eventually prevail.
"In the end we will struggle together, even though we belong to different
faiths. I believe we should come together and listen to each other, because
when it comes down to it, all of us indigenous peoples want the same thing,"
he concluded.
(END)
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