Latinos leaving Catholic church for evangelical Protestantism, changing the landscape of politics

(Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

By Delilah Alvarado

Some Latinos are shifting their religious views from Catholicism to evangelical Protestantism, and Latino pastors are founding more churches than ever before, according to The Atlantic.

In the U.S., Latinos are the fastest-growing demographic of evangelicals.

According to Mark Mulder, a sociology professor at Calvin University and a co-author of "Latino Protestants in America," Latino evangelicals have higher religiosity compared to Latino Catholics and Anglo Protestants.

And while Latino congregations are diverse and not easy to characterize, one statistic found that Latino Protestants are likelier than Latino Catholics to vote Republican. And while Latinos voted in record-breaking numbers in the 2020 elections with high numbers for the Democratic vote, religious affiliation divided Hispanics more so than gender or age, with more Protestants in favor of former President Donald Trump while Catholics and nonreligious Hispanics were less likely to approve of Trump, according to the Public Religion Research Institute.

Catholic traditions emphasize social justice, while Protestant theology emphasizes individualism and personal relationships with God, corresponding with Republican ideologies about personal responsibility which appeals to some Latin voters. Some Latinos may also favor Protestantism because of their conservative beliefs, such as being opposed to abortion rights.

First-generation Latin Americans are also more likely to gravitate toward Protestant churches because they're more likely to find Latino pastors they can identify with. A 2019 study of Hispanic Protestant churches found 80% of Hispanic Protestant church planters are first-gen immigrants, per the Baptist Press.

“The biggest struggle of Hispanic pastors is being able to lead Hispanic families that have experienced racism and so many other injustices,” Obe Arellano, the Luz y Vida Protestant pastor, said. “You probably won’t be able to find a Hispanic pastor who hasn’t had someone in their church who’s had to go to immigrant court because they don't have papers.”

Despite these findings, it is still difficult to predict how the shift in theological beliefs will transform the American evangelical ideal, or American politics and religion.

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