David Maldonado in his article, Hispanic Christianity within Mainline Traditions
David Maldonado in his article, Hispanic Christianity within Mainline Traditions, highlights the seismic shift of Hispanic Americans from Catholicism to Protestantism in America. In the last 15 years, about one million Latinos have left the Roman Catholic and joined other Evangelical Protestant churches. The author tries to explain the reasons behind the major religious migration by comparing Catholicism, conservative and mainline Protestantism. Socioeconomic factors greatly influence the shift since human beings seek material and spiritual compensation from the church; thus, they shift to a low-tension community that will meet their needs accordingly and flexibly.
The author gives two possible causes for the shift. Firstly, Catholic churches are unresponsive in that they fail to meet the needs and expectations of the followers particularly the poor. Conversely, the sectarian groups fill in the vacuum by providing enthusiastic, community fellowship, culturally accessible and sensitive leadership to the worshipers. Secondly, the sectarian groups offer the platform for the Americanization of the Latinos who seek to be part of the mainstream society and break from their archaic traditions. However, the author considers the second explanation more credible than the first because Latino Protestants have decent jobs and lifestyles. Transfer of loyalties to Protestant religious groups has been an essential tool for Westernization and modernization, and the Latinos utilize it for assimilation and accommodation into the mainstream society, in America.
The possible discussion questions derived from this article could be as follows. Why are people drifting from Catholicism and joining Protestant groups? What are the social factors that influence this religious phenomenon? What will be the future of Catholic Latino churches in America in the next 10 years?
The article is quite convincing and detailed because it attempts to unravel the reasons behind the massive movement of Latinos from Catholicism to Protestantism. The empirical approach that the author uses to answer tentatively some of the questions related to the Hispanic shift is satisfactory. From a personal opinion, I would concur with the thoughts of the author because Protestant churches are more flexible in interacting and communicating with the followers than Catholics. Therefore, they attract Christians because they meet their spiritual and material needs, which is what a majority seeks by attending church.
