Paul Sigmund
Princeton University

The dramatic changes that have taken place in the legislation, attitudes, and practices relating to religious freedom in Latin America have all affected the way in which religious education has been conceived in this diverse region, especially over the past century. These changes are principally linked to three significant developments, which this essay will review in greater detail:
1. The spread of the ecumenical spirit in the Catholic Church, resulting from the
reforms instituted at the Second Vatican Council, especially decrees on religious
freedom;
2. The dramatic increase in the numbers and militancy of evangelical Protestantism
throughout the region; and,
3. The adoption of new or amended constitutions which include guarantees of
freedom of religion and which have limited, or ended, the privileged legal status
of Roman Catholicism in the region.

The History of Conquest:

From the time of the establishment of Spanish rule, Catholicism was the official religion of Latin America. The "conquistadores" brought with them Dominican and Franciscan missionaries. This practice justified the spread of Spanish rule because it brought Christianity to the indigenous populations. They attempted, not always successfully, to define the indigenous religions as idolatrous. While some leading churchmen, such as Bartolome de las Casas and Juan de Mariana, questioned the legitimacy of the spread of Christianity by force, the Church remained closely linked to, and supportive of, Spanish rule. The "patronato," or right of patronage, which gave the Spanish monarch the right to choose bishops for the episcopacy, assured that church leaders would be loyal to Spain. In turn, the civil authorities supported the Christianization of the natives, the rooting out of previous religious practices, and the enforcement of religious orthodoxy. The Church controlled education, established universities, and became a central part of life in Latin American society.

At the beginning of the 19th century, however, the influence of the French and American revolutions was felt among the leaders of the independence movement. The support of the continuation of Spanish rule by the hierarchy and the Pope, as well as French-inspired anticlericalism, provided the basis for a struggle between liberals who wished to diminish the privileges of the Catholic Church and conservatives who saw it as a bulwark of the traditional order. The liberal reformers in Mexico in the mid 19th century took over Church lands and abolished the special legal status of the Church. While they also established state-sponsored educational programs challenging the Church's monopoly, the influence of the Catholic Church continued to be strong. The degree of legal and constitutional commitment to Catholicism, which at this point was adamantly opposed to religious freedom, largely depended on whether liberals or conservatives controlled the government.

By the 20th century, most countries had included guarantees of religious freedom in their constitutions, but legal and/or constitutional provisions still recognized the special position of Catholicism as the national religion. In a few cases, such as Argentina and Venezuela, state support was still provided to the Catholic Church. On the other hand, the 1917 Mexican Constitution expropriated all Church property, forbade Church schools, and even prohibited the wearing of clerical garb. In the 1920s, the Mexican government persecuted and, in some cases, killed Catholic priests.

As public education was expanded, and Latin America opened to foreign investment and cultural influence, commitment to religious freedom gradually spread. This commitment was enhanced by the adoption of the UN Declaration of Human Rights after W.W.II - a document which included religious freedom as one of its central provisions. Subsequently, the writings of the French Catholic philosopher, Jacques Maritain, influenced students and intellectuals and provided the ideological basis for the establishment of Christian Democratic parties in the 1950s. These political parties were committed to democracy, human rights, and religious freedom and, as such, rejected the conservative Catholic "integralism," which advocated state support for Catholicism.

The Vatican's Role in Religious Freedom:

During and after W.W.II, the papacy began to give greater support to democratic ideas. With the publication of Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) in 1963 by Pope John XXIII, the Catholic Church formally endorsed democracy and religious freedom. The commitment to democracy was reiterated in the decree Gaudium et Spes (The Church in the Modern World) and the Decree on Religious freedom ( Dignitatis Humanae), adopted by the Second Vatican Council in 1965. The Council also called for ecumenical dialogue and improved relations with other faiths and even with atheists. The shift from support for established religions to commitment to religious liberty had been anticipated in the theory and practice of Christian Democratic parties in Europe and Latin America. Nonetheless, these developments were also important as a repudiation of the traditional conservative endorsement of a privileged position for Catholicism. It also meant that religious instruction at church and in religious schools in Latin America became supportive of freedom of religion and church hierarchies made special efforts to reach out to the representatives of other faiths in ecumenical cooperation.

The Spread of Evangelical Protestantism:

While liberation theology, which argued that the Bible requires a special concern for the poor, received support among students and intellectuals beginning in the late 1960s, it had only limited success among the lower classes. Instead, this class tended to moved in large numbers to evangelical Protestantism all over the region. Where the mainline Protestant Churches had been content with maintaining their adherents and assuring good relations with the Catholic Church, the Evangelical and Pentecostal Churches actively spread their faith, especially among the recently-arrived poor who had migrated from the countryside to the burgeoning shantytowns in the large cities. The Gospel message, as interpreted by the evangelicals, called for self-discipline, sobriety, family values, and active participation in a supportive community that drew its inspiration from the Bible.

Religious surveys began to indicate that Protestants, mainly evangelicals, made up about 15% or more of the population. In El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, and Brazil, evangelicals formed political parties and coordinated efforts to achieve political and legal recognition. Although the Catholic Church had developed good relations with the mainline Protestants, it found it more difficult to work with the evangelical community, especially the Pentecostal Church. A meeting of the Latin American bishops in 1995 in Santo Domingo denounced the "sects" and the "ravening wolves" preying on the faithful. In turn, the evangelicals preached their Gospel message outside Catholic churches arguing that much of traditional Catholicism was idolatrous. Yet, despite the rancor, the militancy of the evangelicals made it evident that Catholicism no longer had a religious monopoly in Latin America.

New or Amended Constitutions:

A third development that favored religious liberty was the adoption of new or amended constitutions that expanded the guarantees of religious freedom and reduced or eliminated the special legal or constitutional position of one religion over others. While much of Latin America had been under military rule from the mid-1960s to the late 1980s, the return of civilian rule provided an opportunity to revise or replace earlier constitutions, including provisions on religion.

In 1992 in Mexico, most of the restrictions on church activity and property-holding were removed, although members of the clergy continued to be prohibited from participating in politics. It was not until 1994 that the Argentine Constitution was amended to eliminate the requirement that the president and vice-president must be Catholics and that Congress should promote the Christianization of the indigenous Indian populations. Nonetheless, the article declaring that the Argentine Government "supports the Roman Catholic religion" remains -- probably because the Catholic bishops still receive a small government subsidy. Colombia ended its concordat with the Vatican that had also included the requirement that the Government of Columbia approve new bishops. Chile extended the special legal status of the Catholic Church to the other churches and synagogues. In Cuba, the restrictions on believers were removed from the Constitution and from the statutes of the Communist Party in the early 1990s. There was a considerable increase in religious activity by both Catholics and Protestants during and after the papal visit to Cuba in 1998, although it remains true that actively religious Cubans are still suspect and Cuban education is hostile to religion. Only Argentina, Bolivia, and Costa Rica, while guaranteeing religious freedom, make special mention of the Catholic religion in their constitutions. In the first two cases, there has been strong public criticism of these provisions.

There are still instances of religious discrimination in Latin America, especially on an unofficial basis. However, the main social and legal barriers to religious freedom have been removed as a result of the developments described above. Understanding this history and these developments helps us to better understand the role of religious education.

Promoting Religious Diversity:

Instruction in Catholicism had been an integral part of the curriculum in the public schools of some of the more Catholic countries of Latin America, such as Columbia and Argentina. However, in recent years, it has been offered on a voluntary basis. Provision has been made in some countries, Colombia and Chile for example, to offer instruction in Protestantism as well. A particularly strict separation of church and state is still observed in Mexico. Conversely, in many countries, government money still provides significant support to Catholic universities. In the case of Chile, government funds are provided to non-profit schools of all kinds on the primary and secondary level.

Overall though, Catholic schools have largely come to endorse and promote religious freedom and good ecumenical relations. In cases in which a civic education program is offered in public schools, the constitutional and legal provisions favoring religious freedom are described and supported. Many Latin American countries also offer voluntary religious instruction in public schools.

While Latin American students still learn little or nothing about other world religions, the expansion of religious freedom means that discrimination against non-Christians is less likely and public ceremonies have become more ecumenical in including not only evangelicals, but also representatives of the Orthodox, Jewish, and Muslim faiths.1 In this instance, as in others, the globalization of culture has also produced the beginnings of globalization of religious understanding in Latin America.

The development of religious pluralism in what had been a predominantly Catholic culture, as well as the an acceptance of religious freedom and the abandonment of a privileged position, has resulted in societies that are more and more responsive to the creation and promotion of religious freedom in all the countries of Latin America. There are still inter-religious tensions, particularly concerning proselytizing by evangelicals. However, the educational systems and the overall culture of Latin America have now moved from the sometimes-contested dominance of a single religion to the acceptance and even promotion of religious diversity.

END NOTES
1 Except in Argentina, there are not significant numbers of Jews in most Latin American countries and the Middle Eastern population is largely Christian.

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