VOLUME 1, NUMBER 2                                      _                 ____                 MARCH 2003
PROLADES OCCASIONAL BULLETIN

Research on

Religion-In-The-Americas
     

Edited by Clifton L. Holland, Director of PROLADES
Apartado 1524-2050, San Pedro, Costa Rica, Central America
E-mail:  prolades@racsa.co.cr    Internet:  www.prolades.com

Welcome to the occasional bulletin of the Latin American Socio-Religious Studies Program (known as PROLADES in Spanish), dedicated to "Research on Religion-In-The-Americas" (RITA).  The RITA Database Project was launched on the Internet in 2000 as a means of making available, in an electronic format, information on all known religious groups in 50 countries of the Americas, plus Spain and Portugal.  The RITA database and associated information has been compiled by PROLADES in association with fellow researchers in many countries of the Americas:  North, Central and South America and the Caribbean regions.

PROLADES was founded in San José, Costa Rica, in 1977 to promote socio-religious research throughout the Americas and to provide technical assistance to organizations that request our assistance.  The founding director of PROLADES was Clifton L. Holland, who has conducted social science research projects in more than 25 countries of the Americas since 1969.  Holland earned the Master of Arts degree in Missiology, with a concentration in Cultural Anthropology, at the School of World Mission at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, in 1972.  Also, he has studied at the Latin American Biblical Seminary (1975-1976) in San José, Costa Rica, and completed doctoral studies at Fuller Theological Seminary in 1980-1981.  Holland currently teaches Missiology and Social Sciences at the Evangelical University of the Americas (UNELA) in San José and is the Coordinator of the Institute of Socio-Religious Studies (IDES) at UNELA.  In addition to Costa Rica, he has taught university courses in Caracas, Venezuela; Quito, Ecuador; Managua, Nicaragua; and Pasadena, California, USA. 

EDITORIAL:  

One of the major factors in Latin American society today is a change in religious affiliation.  Historically, most people were born into Roman Catholic families and remained Catholics all their lives.  However, a recent article in La Nación (28 February 2003), Costa Rica's leading newspaper, calls attention to the fact that Roman Catholic Church officials are increasing concerned about the growing decline in Catholic affiliation as reported in a series of public opinion polls in Costa Rica since the late 1980s.  According to a November 2001 public opinion poll by Demoscopia, only 70.1% of the population claimed to be Roman Catholics, whereas 18% claimed to be Evangelicals, 1.8% were followers of other religions, and 10.1% had no religious affiliation or declined to answer the question.  Moveover, 9% of those who were born Catholic changed their religious affiliation between 1996 and 2001, according to the poll. 

However, not all of those who have changed their religious affilation during their lifetime were born Catholics; some were born into Evangelical families.  Therefore, the problem of desertion is a factor that affects all religious groups to a greater or lesser degree.  Whereas most of those who were born into Catholic families and later changed their religion have become Evangelicals, today there are a growing number of new options in the religious marketplace.  Some of those who have changed their religious affiliation in Costa Rica since 1995 have joined Marginal Christian groups (such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Light of the World Church or a dozen or so other groups), non-Christian religions, or the population segment that claims no religious affiliation (or who refused to answer the question).  

It could be that the portion of those who belonged to "other religions," or 1.8% of those polled by Demoscopia, was a statistical undercount (the margin or error was plus or minus 3%), since several previous polls had reported about 3% of the population in that category, which includes Margin Christian groups (at least 14) as well as non-Christian religions (about 70 distinct groups), plus a few Eastern Orthodox churches.  However, there is little evidence that the "other religions" sector is growing significantly in Costa Rica, despite the large number of groups reported (85-90) and the great variety of beliefs represented within this sector.

Most of the "change of religious affiliation" is taking place among nominal Roman Catholics in Costa Rica who are dissatisfied with their previous religious experience and have been attracted to a variety of Evangelical groups (at least 230 church associations plus scores of independent congregations), with the Pentecostal churches having a higher appeal than the non-Pentecostal ones in terms of attracting new members in Costa Rica.  However, the different reasons given by those who have changed their religion is quite diverse, as reveal by a growing number of studies that have been done on this phenomena, especially during the 1990s throughout the Americas.

Also, during the 1990s, three important books were written on the subject of Protestant church growth in Latin America, and to a lesser degree on the reasons given by those who have left the Catholic Church:

PROLADES has recently put together a series of documents on this subject--A Study of Religious Change in Latin America-- that is now available on our website at: religion-change.htm   We invite our readers to dialogue with us about this subject and to submit any additional articles or research documents that would contribute to this discussion.  Most of these documents are in English, but there are a few in Spanish as well. See the Forum section of our website.

--Clifton L. Holland

NEWS & REPORTS

 

RESEARCHER PROFILES

HELP WANTED:  COUNTRY RESEARCH ASSOCIATES (CRAs)

We are actively looking for contacts with interested people in every country of the Americas to assist PROLADES in the on-going task of updating and adding to the existing databases, documents and Internet links for RITA.  We would like to establish contact with fellow researchers, professors in universities and programs of theological education, university graduate students, missionaries and staff members of religious organizations, denominational leaders, staff people in non-governmental organizations (NGOs), university-educated business people and other interested persons in each country of the Americas. Please contact us if you are interested in assisting us as a COUNTRY RESEARCH ASSOCIATE.  See CRA GUIDELINES for more information.

For your information, PROLADES has a long history of ecumenical relationships and does not discriminate against anyone on the basis of race, religion, national original, ethnicity or gender.  We respect the human and civil rights of each person and ascribe to the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief. We are committed to religious tolerance and the freedom of religion for all.

BOOKS & DOCUMENTS RECEIVED

NEW RESOURCES AVAILABLE ON RITA!

COMING SOON ON RITA!

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EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

PRODUCED BY
PROLADES
THE LATIN AMERICAN SOCIO-RELIGIOUS STUDIES PROGRAM
Apartado 1524-2050, San Pedro, Costa Rica
Telephone:  (506) 283-8300; FAX:  (506) 234-7682
E-mail:  prolades@racsa.co.cr