Atheism and Latino Americans

Hispanic population in the US in 1990. Since 1990 there has been a doubling in numbers and much greater presence outside the Southwest

In 2015, BloombergView reported concerning American atheism:

“  |  According to a much-discussed 2012 report from the Pew Research Center on Religion and Public Life, only 3 percent of U.S. atheists and agnostics are black, 6 percent are Hispanic, and 4 percent are Asian. Some 82 percent are white. (The relevant figures for the population at large at the time of the survey were 66 percent white, 11 percent black, 15 percent Hispanic, 5 percent Asian.)

...Craig Keener, in his huge review of claims of miracles in a wide variety of cultures, concludes that routine rejection of the possibility of the supernatural represents an impulse that is deeply Eurocentric.[1]

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There is a significant amount of racism within the atheist population (see: Atheism and racism). This also holds true for atheists in the Western World (see: Western atheism and race).

## Contents

* 1 Spirituality, Latino Americans and religiosity of Latino culture
* 2 Nones (no religious affilation), atheism, agnosticism and Latin Americans
* 3 Hispanics evangelicals and the future of religion/irreligion in the U.S.
* 3.1 Latin America, Catholicism, Protestantism, Pentecostalism, unaffiliated and atheism
* 3.2 Growth of Hispancic/Latino evangelicals in the United States
* 3.2.1 American evangelical view of atheists
* 4 Vegard Skirbekk and Anne Goujon religion/irreligion demographic projections
* 5 Latino irreligion and IQs/intelligence
* 6 See also
* 7 Notes

## Spirituality, Latino Americans and religiosity of Latino culture[edit]

Individuals with Mexican heritage: Population of the United States in 2000.

See also: Latino

The abtract for the 2006 journal article Spirituality Among Latinas/os Implications of Culture in Conceptualization and Measurement declares:

“  |  Latinos are now the largest minority group in the United States...

Latino theological literature describes spirituality as integral with Latino culture. Although Latinos are not a monolithic or homogenous group, there are fundamental cultural influences that must be considered in an exploration of spirituality among Latinas/os....

Most of the empirical research in spirituality and religiosity among Latinos has targeted primarily Mexican Americans. These investigations indicate that spirituality and religiosity are interwoven with their daily lives and serve as foundations of strength in coping with life's struggles. For example, religious attendance was associated with psychological well-being across 3 generations of Mexican American families and with physical health status among Mexican American women. Latinos describe their faith as intimate and reciprocal relationships with God, family, and community, with these relationships playing an important role in health and well-being.[2]

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## Nones (no religious affilation), atheism, agnosticism and Latin Americans[edit]

See also: Nones

According to the 2019 edition of the Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions:

“  |  The irreligious population are slowly, but steadily, increasing in size in Latin America. While in every country they constitute a minority, in some countries, they have gained considerable weight. This has occurred both in countries with higher levels of socioeconomic development – such as Chile (15.8%) and Uruguay (37.1%) – as well as in less developed ones such as El Salvador (12.1%) and Honduras (10.5%). The far majority of irreligious Latin American are religious “nones” who declare believing in a supreme entity but do not belong to religious groups. Atheism and agnosticism, instead, are a rare phenomenon, mostly restricted to elite segments.[3] |  ”

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## Hispanics evangelicals and the future of religion/irreligion in the U.S.[edit]

See also: Growth of evangelical Christianity

Due to Hispanic evangelicals, church attendance was up in New York City in 2013.[4]

With the continued rise in the number of Hispanic, evangelical Christians in North America and the rise of evangelicalism in Latin America and South America, secular leftism is not going to be dominant in America's future.[5]

### Latin America, Catholicism, Protestantism, Pentecostalism, unaffiliated and atheism[edit]

See also: Nones

Pew Research reported in 2014 about religion in Latin America: "Many of the findings about religion in Latin America mirror trends seen among Hispanics in the United States."[6]

In the United States, although some American atheists like to claim the unaffiliated (unaffiliated with organized religion), "nones" or "no religion" on religious surveys as one of their own, fewer than 15% of the "nones" consider themselves atheists.[7]

Pew Research also indicated in 2014:

“  |  Losses for Catholics have meant gains for Protestant churches and the category of people who do not identify with any religion. Just 9% of adults in the region were raised Protestant and 4% were raised unaffiliated, but twice as many now describe themselves as Protestants (19%) or unaffiliated (8%). Most Protestants across Latin America identify as Pentecostal Christians or are members of Pentecostal denominations.

Why are Latin Americans leaving the Catholic Church for Protestantism? The survey asked respondents to rate eight possible explanations. Protestants who converted from Catholicism most frequently say they “wanted a more personal experience with God.” Other commonly cited reasons include the style of worship at their new church and a desire for greater emphasis on morality.

In general, Latin American Protestants are more religiously committed than Catholics.[8]

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The American sociologist and author Peter L. Berger introduced the concept of desecularization in 1999.[9][10] According to Berger, "One can say with some confidence that modern Pentecostalism must be the fastest growing religion in human history."[11]

### Growth of Hispancic/Latino evangelicals in the United States[edit]

* Rise Of Hispanic Evangelical Church: Time Magazine Discusses Influence Of Latinos In America's Religion, Huffington Post, April 11, 2013

* The Rise of Evangélicos By Elizabeth Time magazine, April 4, 2013

* Switching Sides: Latinos Ditching Catholicism For Evangelical Churches

* Hispanics turning evangelical, Jews secular, Beliefnet.com, November 2013

* Hasta luego, American godless progressivism! Worship service attendance is up in New York City amigos!, November 7, 2013

* The writing is on the wall amigos: Godless progressivism will not be dominant in the USA's future, August 14, 2013

#### American evangelical view of atheists[edit]

Pew Research did a study on American views towards various religious groups where 100 was the highest possible score in terms of favorable views.[12]

According to Pew Research:

“  |  When asked about other non-Christian groups, evangelicals tend to express more negative views. White evangelicals assign Buddhists an average rating of 39, Hindus 38, Muslims 30 and atheists 25. The chilliness between evangelicals and atheists goes both ways. Atheists give evangelical Christians a cold rating of 28 on average.[13] |  ”

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## Vegard Skirbekk and Anne Goujon religion/irreligion demographic projections[edit]

Current religious demography scholarship suggest that the relatively low fertility of secular Americans and the religiosity of the immigrant inflow provide a countervailing force that will cause the secularization process within the total population to plateau before 2043. This represents an important theoretical point in that demography permits society to become more religious even as individuals tend to become less religious over time.[14]

In their 2010 journal article entitled, Secularism, Fundamentalism or Catholicism? The Religious Composition of the United States to 2043 published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vegard Skirbekk and Anne Goujon wrote:

“  |  We find considerable stability of religious groups over time, but there are some important shifts. Hispanic Catholics experience the strongest growth rates to 2043. Immigration, high fertility, and a young age structure will enable this group to expand from 10 to 18 percent of the American population between 2003 and 2043, despite a net loss of communicants to secularism and Protestantism. This will power the growth of Catholics as a whole, who will surpass Protestants by mid century within the nation’s youngest age groups...

The finding that Protestant fundamentalism may decline in relative terms over the medium term contrasts with a prevailing view that envisions the continued growth of “strong religion” (Stark and Iannaccone 1994a). This is the result of an older age structure, which increases loss through mortality, and immigration, which reduces the size of all predominantly white denominations — all of which are poorly represented in the immigration flow. Fundamentalists’ relatively high fertility and net surplus from the religious marketplace is not sufficient to counteract the effects of immigration. Obviously, this could change if significant immigration begins to arrive from more Pentecostalist source countries such as Guatemala or parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

Our work also sheds light on the religious restructuring paradigm, though we do not find a clear victor between secularism and fundamentalism. The secular population will grow substantially in the decades ahead because it has a young age structure and more people leave religion than enter it. The sharpest gains for secularism will be within the white population, where seculars will surpass fundamentalists by 2030. On the other hand, there are important demographic limits to secularism, demonstrating the power of religious demography. The relatively low fertility of secular Americans and the religiosity of the immigrant inflow provide a countervailing force that will cause the secularization process within the total population to plateau before 2043. This represents an important theoretical point in that demography permits society to become more religious even as individuals tend to become less religious over time.[15]

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For more information, please see: Growth of evangelicalism in the world and in the United States and American culture war, demographics and expected tipping point after 2020

## Latino irreligion and IQs/intelligence[edit]

See: Latino atheism and intelligence

## See also[edit]

* Sociology of "atheism is un-American" view
* Views on atheists
* American Atheists
* Black atheism

## Notes[edit]

1. ↑ The Atheism Gap By Stephen L. Carter, BloombergView, Mar 27, 2015 4:26 PM EDT
2. ↑ Spirituality Among Latinas/os Implications of Culture in Conceptualization and Measurement by Maureen Campesino, PhD, RN, PsyNP and Gary E. Schwartz, PhD, ANS Adv Nurs Sci. 2006 Jan–Mar; 29(1): 69–81.
3. ↑ Atheism and Nonreligion in Latin America, Geography by Matías Bargsted, Nicolás M. Somma and Eduardo Valenzuela, Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions, Reference work entry, First Online: 27 July 2019 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27078-4_558
4. ↑ Hispanics turning evangelical, Jews secular, Beliefnet.com, November 2103
5. ↑
* 3 Reasons America May Become More Religious By Napp Nazworth, Christian Post, August 22, 2013
* The writing is on the wall amigos: Godless progressivism will not be dominant in the USA's future, August 14, 2013
* Hispanics turning evangelical, Jews secular, Beliefnet.com, November 2013
* Rise Of Hispanic Evangelical Church: Time Magazine Discusses Influence Of Latinos In America's Religion, Huffington Post, April 11, 2013
* The Rise of Evangélicos By Elizabeth Time magazine, April 4, 2013
6. ↑ 7 key takeaways about religion in Latin America, Pew Research, 2014
7. ↑ Meet the 'Nones:' Spiritual but not religious
8. ↑ 7 key takeaways about religion in Latin America, Pew Research, 2014
9. ↑ Journal of Church and State, Desecularization: A Conceptual Framework by Vyacheslav Karpov, 2010
10. ↑ Peter L. Berger, “The Desecularization of the World: A Global Overview,” in The Desecularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics, ed. Peter L. Berger (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999)
11. ↑ Pentecostalism – Protestant Ethic or Cargo Cult?, Peter Berger, July 29, 2010
12. ↑ How Americans Feel About Religious Groups
13. ↑ How Americans Feel About Religious Groups
14. ↑ Secularism, Fundamentalism or Catholicism? The Religious Composition of the United States to 2043, Journal for the Sientific Study of Religion, vol. 49, no. 2 (June) 2010, Vegard Skirbekk and Anne Goujon,
15. ↑ Secularism, Fundamentalism or Catholicism? The Religious Composition of the United States to 2043, Journal for the Sientific Study of Religion, vol. 49, no. 2 (June) 2010, Vegard Skirbekk and Anne Goujon,