Study Says Hispanics
Alter U.S. Catholicism
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN,
NYTimes on the Web, April 26, 2007
The influx of Hispanic immigrants to
the United States is transforming the Roman Catholic Church as well as the
nation’s religious landscape, according to a study of Hispanics and religion
released yesterday.
The study, conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Forum on Religion
and Public Life, found that half of Hispanic Catholics practice a “distinctive
form” of charismatic Catholicism that includes speaking in tongues, miraculous
healings and prophesying — practices more often associated with Pentecostalism.
Among Catholics who are not Hispanic, only 12 percent are involved in these
practices.
The study also found that two-thirds of Hispanics choose to worship in “ethnic
congregations” that have Hispanic clergymen and Spanish-language services, and
where a majority of congregants are Hispanic. These congregations are
cropping up throughout the country, even in areas where Hispanics are sparse.
Hispanics are the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States, doubling
from 1980 to 2000, and projected to more than double between 2000 and 2020, Pew
researchers said. As of 2005, there were 42 million Hispanics in the
United States, about 14 percent of the population.
According to the survey, 68 percent of Hispanics are Catholic, 15 percent are
born-again or evangelical Protestants, 5 percent are mainline Protestants, 3
percent are identified as “other Christian” and 8 percent are secular (1 percent
refused to answer).
Among non-Hispanic Americans, the largest groupings are 20 percent Catholic, 35
percent evangelical Protestant and 24 percent mainline Protestant.
The religious identity of Hispanics will affect politics, the report says.
The Hispanic electorate is largely Democratic (63 percent), despite being
conservative on social issues like abortion and homosexuality. But
Hispanic evangelical Protestants — whose numbers are growing — are twice as
likely as Hispanic Catholics to be Republicans. This is a far greater gap
than exists between white evangelical Protestants and Catholics.
About one-third of Catholics in the United States are now Hispanic.
Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center, said in an interview that
Hispanic Catholics looked different from typical white suburban Catholics.
“They are different in terms of beliefs, practices, language and culture, but
they remain very Catholic,” Mr. Suro said. “The open question here is,
Does the institution adapt to them, or do they adapt to the institution?”
The study also found that conversion is a common experience for many Hispanics.
Nearly one in five changed either from one religion to another, or to no
religion at all.
The biggest loser from all the conversions is the Catholic Church, while
evangelical Protestant churches are the beneficiaries.
Despite the departures, it is Hispanics who are replenishing Catholic ranks,
Luis E. Lugo, director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, said in a
news conference.
“The gains for the Catholic Church in this country among Latinos, from
immigration and higher fertility rates, are more than making up for those Latino
Catholics, particularly in the second generation, who go to other churches or
turn secular,” Mr. Lugo said.
The study, “Changing Faiths: Latinos and the Transformation of American
Religion,” is based on several surveys — the main one conducted from Aug. 10 to
Oct. 4, 2006 — that involved more than 4,600 adult Hispanics. The margin
of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
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