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Why Mexicans Are Making a Mass Exodus From Catholicism
Pope Francis wears a Sombrero he received as a gift from a Mexican journalist aboard an airplane to Havana. (Reuters)
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Pope Francis is visiting Mexico, a country that has been a stronghold of Catholicism for centuries. But a growing number of Mexicans are leaving the Catholic faith, and the pope is hoping to use his visit to convince them to stay faithful to the church.
Sara Granados is among those who have left the faith. She was born into a devout Catholic family, and by 17 she had already fulfilled all the required religious rites. But soon she realized that wasn't getting her closer to God.
"After 17 years old, I still had emptiness in my heart," Sara explained. "I had no desire to live and for me, it was better to die than to live. A friend of my mother told me, 'I'm taking you to this place.' She never mentioned church, but she brought me to church. That day the pastor was preaching and he said a word that touched my heart."
Thousands of Mexicans like Sara are embracing evangelical Christianity.
In 1970, 96 percent of Mexicans claimed to be Catholic. According to a 2010 Mexican national census, that figure has dropped to less than 85 percent.
One reason for the decline? Evangelicals leaders are spiritually closer to their flock.
Surveys have found an average of one Catholic priest for every 6,000 Catholics in Mexico, compared to one evangelical pastor for every 200 followers.
"The work of the evangelical Christian church in evangelism has been successful in past few decades. Many have come to hear a different message that brings peace, harmony, blessing, and salvation to human beings," Pastor Benjamin Lomeli of Iglesia El Buen explained.
Other reasons Mexicans have left Catholicism include evangelical outreach and the tarnished image of the Catholic Church.
Catholic Church spokesman Father Jose de Jesus told CBN News that Catholic Church leaders "... must recognize that certain scandals have caused many to be disappointed by the church and to seek a different spirituality."
With a record number of people here now embracing evangelical Christianity, Pope Francis is hoping his visit will re-energize his flock and keep Mexicans faithful to the Catholic Church.
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Netanyahu: 'Israel Has No Better Friends' Than Evangelicals
Black lights and sensational music. Dancing. Prayer. Charity. A march of thousands of colors from more than 80 nations—a march in solidarity with Israel. In essence, it's Jerusalem's Christian Zionist Super Bowl.
Such was the scene of the 36th annual Feast of Tabernacles conference and celebration, hosted by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) from Sept. 27-Oct. 1. The event brought more than 5,000 people to the Israeli capital, including more than 50 pro-Israel Christian parliamentarians and government officials from more than two-dozen countries. Several African nations sent a large delegation of cabinet ministers and members of parliament (MPs) to officially represent their countries.
According to Dr. Jurgen Buhler, executive director of ICEJ, the median age of attendees was between 30 and 40. The weeklong festivities mark Israel's largest annual event for tourists and the largest solidarity mission to the Jewish state this year, injecting an estimated $16 million into the Israeli economy.
In a video speech Sept. 29, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the Christian Zionist attendees for their "unfaltering, enthusiastic support [of Israel] over the years."
"Israel has no better friends around the world," he said.
Similarly, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said, "Not everyone in the world seeks the best for Jerusalem. There are people that challenge our history. Sometimes, we feel alone. ... Your friendship is warming our hearts. I want to thank you for your prayers and your unprecedented support and passion."
In a speech that pulled heavily from the Torah, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin spoke to thunderous applause. He said his Jewish ancestors of 2,400 years prior could not have envisioned the ingathering to Jerusalem of Jews from around the world—from Russia, Ethiopia, North America, Morocco, to build farms and villages and make the desert bloom.
"Yes, my dear friends, the return to Zion is not just the redemption of the Jewish people alone. It should give hope to all mankind. Indeed, it would change the world. ... Thank you for standing with us. Pray for the people of Jerusalem—may it prosper. God bless," said Rivlin.
The focus of this year's Feast was "The Evangelical Revolution and its Potential for Israel," and conference sessions honed in on the impact rising evangelical support could have on the Jewish state—politically and economically.
According to an ICEJ backgrounder, among the estimated 2 billion Christians in the world today, as many as 700 million are considered evangelicals, and it is the fastest-growing stream of Christianity. If current trends continue, there will be an estimated 1 billion Evangelicals within the next 20 years.
"This all holds great potential for the nation of Israel in political, diplomatic, and economic terms, as a substantial majority of evangelical Christians tend to hold favorable views of Israel," ICEJ said in a statement.
Evangelical Christianity emerged out of the Protestant Reformation in Europe in the 16th century. When Martin Luther translated the Bible into common German (and others later into other common languages), it allowed Christians to discern for themselves whether official church teachings were truly aligned with God. Many of these nascent church movements also rediscovered the individualist experience of being "born again," the hallmark of evangelism today.
Rev. Dennis Balcombe, the longest-serving Western evangelical missionary to China, explained that a movement of underground evangelism in China that grew from a few thousand faithful some 45 years ago now boasts an estimated 130 million followers.
"There are more Christians in China than in North America," Balcombe said. "China's doors are opening. The Lord said, 'Behold, I have set before you an open door.' ... The people of China are tired of Communism or persecution, of being beaten by the police, of prison. Now, many leaders are turning to Jesus Christ."
It is estimated that 30 percent of China will be evangelical within 30 years.
In India and Africa, too, the evangelical movement has taken root. According to Dr. Vishai Mangalwadi, India is now home to more than 100 million Christians. Within 20 years, India is likely to be 20-percent Christian.
The most dramatic growth in the evangelical movement is occurring within what some call the "Global South"—Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. The continent of Africa alone has seen a dramatic increase in Christian identification, from 10 million Christians in 1900 to 493 million in 2010. The projected growth in Africa is expect to exceed 1 billion evangelical Christians by 2050.
How has this happened? According to Nanasso Amina, a Feast of Tabernacles delegate from Cameroon, the vehicle is "friendship evangelism."
"We win their confidence and then present Christ to them," she told JNS.org.
This "friendship evangelism" was the impetus for a controversial statement by Israel's chief rabbis shortly before the ICEJ-hosted Feast. In a letter dated Sept. 3, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau and Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yizak Yosef accused the annual celebration by evangelical Christians in Jerusalem of being an effort to convert Jews to Christianity. They called the event "spiritually dangerous."
Like the rabbis, Ruth Guggenheim—executive director of Jews for Judaism, an organization that seeks to counteract proselytizing—was wary of the Feast's intentions, saying, "There is a tremendous power in being immersed in their prayer services. 'Davidic dance' programs and various workshop festivities can be very seductive and overwhelming." She added, "All one needs to do is Google 'Messianic Judaism Israel' and you will see the level of sophistication and number of [websites] directly targeting Jews for conversion."
But David Parsons, ICEJ's media director, countered Guggenheim's assertion by explaining that evangelicals make up less than 1 percent of Israel's population and that their missionary activity mainly target the Muslim-Arab population.
Dr. Naim Khoury, a pastor in Bethlehem, said he has seen more "Arabs and Palestinians open to the gospel" in recent years. He noted that conversions to Christianity need to take place covertly and that most individuals who chose faith in Jesus leave the disputed territories for abroad, where they can live freely. He noted that when a Muslim chooses Christianity, it is often based on a spiritual reflection.
"They reflect on what is happening in the Middle East, the terrorism, and they question their faith," he said.
Leading up the Feast, ICEJ responded to the chief rabbis' letter by stating that the organization "has always respected and upheld the laws of the State of Israel, including those covering missionary activities, and it is regrettable that the Chief Rabbinate acted solely on the misrepresentations of those bearing false witness against us."
Former Knesset member Rabbi Dov Lipman, who spoke at the Jerusalem conference, said he has learned over the years that Israel is not only isolated, but doesn't have many friends around the world—and that it has found a stalwart friend in the evangelical community.
"I believe that the way Israel can win in the public diplomacy war in South America, Africa, Europe" is to engage the Christian community, "and we have to embrace that relationship," said Lipman.
In Lipman's estimation, Jews have the right to be both "suspicious" and "skeptical" of evangelical support. But "if we pull away from that and focus on what we share, this could be the most important relationship for Israel," he said.
Several Pacific Island nations showed their religiously motivated support for Israel in recent years through their pro-Israel voting patterns in the United Nations General Assembly. Two years ago, Nigeria, for the first time in its history, abandoned its traditional pro-Palestinian position at the U.N. when the Palestinian Authority sought to secure statehood in the Security Council. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan made a decision to abstain from the deliberation, playing a role in keeping the Palestinian from attaining enough votes to force a U.S. veto of the statehood measure.
"The vast majority of Zionists around the world are not Jewish, but Christian believers in the Bible that want to stand with Israel," said Calev Myers, founder of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice. "We need to equip them. It is much better for a blue-eyed, blond girl from Sweden to deliver the message of Israel and defend us abroad than for Israelis to try to defend themselves."
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Survey fail - Christianity isn't dying: Ed Stetzer
Ed StetzerMay 13, 2015 USA TODAY
Fakers who don't go to church are just giving up the pretense.
A new Pew Research Center survey found the Christian share of the American population declined almost 8 percentage points from 2007 to 2014. Drawing from this point, many continued their breathless claims that the Christian sky is falling.
Rather than predict the impending doom of the church in America, this latest study affirms what many researchers have said before. Christianity isn't collapsing; it's being clarified. Churches aren't emptying; rather, those who were Christian in name only are now categorically identifying their lack of Christian conviction and engagement.
Gallup recently found that weekly religious attendance as a percentage of the U.S. population is about where it was in the 1940s — hardly a statistical collapse.
Simply put, the strains of a funeral dirge aren't being played at the graveside of American Christianity because there is no body for burial.
Evangelicalism is growing
Yes, you read that correctly. Evangelical Christianity is growing in America. From 2007 to 2014 the number of evangelicals in America rose from 59.8 million to 62.2 million, according to Pew.
While it should be noted that evangelicals' share of the overall U.S. population dropped by 0.9% over the last seven years based on denominational affiliation, the percentage of U.S. adults who self-identify as evangelical rose from 34 to 35% over the same period of time. Don't miss that: More than one-third of Americans call themselves evangelical.
And despite what many are saying, evangelicals are attending church more than ever. The latest (2014) General Social Survey found that in the last two years of the study a greater percentage of evangelicals are attending church than in any other time of the last 40 years. Currently, 55 percent of evangelicals attend church at least nearly every week.
This is part of the growing "evangelicalization" of American Christianity in which the church in the U.S. is increasingly taking on the attributes of evangelicalism. According to Pew, half of all Christians self-identify as an evangelical or born again.
So why is Christianity shrinking?
If evangelical Christianity is growing, or at the very least remaining steady, why is Christianity as a whole shrinking and why are those who claim no religious affiliation increasing at such a rapid rate? In short, nominals — people whose religious affiliation is in name only — are becoming nones — people who check "none of the above" box on a survey.
Those who value their faith enough to wake up on Sunday morning and head to their local church are mostly still going. What I have described as "convictional Christianity" will continue. Those who say their faith is very important to their lives are not suddenly jettisoning those beliefs to become atheists.
According to Pew, unaffiliated Americans grew from 16 to nearly 23% in the last seven years. That increase largely came from the ranks of Catholics and Mainline Protestants, religious traditions with high numbers of nominals. Among adults who claim no religious affiliation, 28% were raised Catholics, while 21% grew up Mainline.
Many of these who have been labeling themselves as Christians are starting to feel free to be honest about their religious affiliation, or lack thereof. Jewish, Muslim or Hindu are no longer the only religious survey options passed over for many Americans. Christianity has joined the list.
So, the number of people who are practicing a vibrant faith is not fading away, quite the contrary. Christianity and the church are not dying, but they are being more clearly defined. Both the recent Pew and GSS data affirm this clarification should only continue.
Nominal Christians are becoming the nones and convictional Christians remain committed. It is fair to say we are now experiencing a collapse, but it's not of Christianity. Instead, the free fall we find is within nominalism.
That's the real story of this data and one that needs to be told. The nominals are becoming the nones.
Ed Stetzer is the executive director of LifeWay Research.
In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors. To read more columns like this, go to the Opinion front page of USA TODAY.
