Latinos changing Christianity in U.S.

ReligionAndSpirituality.com
April 27, 2007

Latinos are transforming America's religious landscape, especially the Roman Catholic Church, according to a major study released Wednesday. The study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Hispanic Center found that Latinos, whose numbers are growing through immigration and a high birth rate, now account for a third of American Catholics and is likely to rise.

Latinos are nourishing a distinctive form of worship known as renewalism that is sweeping across Latin America. "You could call it bringing the fiesta spirit into the Catholic Church," said Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

One of the fastest-growing movements in Christendom, renewalism emphasizes God's intervention in human affairs through the Holy Spirit, taking the Bible literally, speaking in tongues, faith healing, exorcism and prophesy, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday. The study also found that Latino evangelicals are twice as likely as Latino Catholics to be Republicans and are much more likely to approve of President Bush and to favor using force in Iraq.

In interviews with 4,016 Latinos from August to October, Pew found most consider themselves religious and pray daily. Almost 70 percent are Roman Catholic, 15 percent are Protestant, within which 54 percent of Catholics and 57 percent of Protestants define themselves as charismatic or Pentecostal. By contrast, about 10 percent of non-Latino Catholics and 20 percent of Protestants identify as charismatic or Pentecostal.

Conversions are bringing more Latinos into the Protestant faiths. The study found half of Latino evangelicals are converts, mostly ex-Catholics who wanted a more personal experience with God and were bored by traditonal Mass. At the same time, Catholic renewalists are forming new worship groups within the church.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 21.2 percent of the 6.7 million residents were Hispanics in 2005, the Chronicle wrote.

This worldwide trend is likely to be a top discussion item next month when Pope Benedict XVI heads to Brazil for the fifth general conference of Latin American bishops.



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