Indigenous Peoples Divided
by Faith
Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY, May 6 (IPS) - Indigenous communities throughout Latin America
are facing the loss of their cultural traditions, divisive conflicts, and in
some cases even bloodshed, all in the name of God.
Many of the frictions stem from the hundreds of religions and sects that have
taken root in these communities, ranging from large, established denominations
like the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Adventist, Baptist and Mormon to newer,
lesser-known groups like the Church of the Word, the Fountain of Life, Alpha
Omega and the Guardians of the Holy Sepulchre.
”Whatever religion they try to inculcate us with, it will have an impact in
spiritual terms, which is in a way our Achilles heel, since most of us
indigenous peoples approach life from a spiritual level,” Luis Macas, a
Saragura Indian and president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities
of Ecuador, remarked to IPS.
Among the 40 million indigenous people who live in Latin America today, the most
prevalent religion is still Roman Catholicism, forcibly and often violently
imposed by the European ”conquerors” in the 15th and 16th centuries through
the complete annihilation or partial assimilation of pre-Columbian religious
beliefs and practices.
But over the years, other religions have come to compete for the ”souls” of
the region's aboriginal peoples, especially during the 20th century, in an often
rocky coexistence with the Catholic Church.
In the last 30 years, the Tzotzil Mayan indigenous community of Chamula in the
southern Mexican state of Chiapas has been shaken by 100 deaths resulting from
religious conflicts.
Another 30,000 community members have been expelled for professing Protestant
beliefs and thus incurring the wrath of local authorities, who practice a
particularly orthodox brand of Catholicism that rejects the reforms of the
Second Vatican Council of the 1960s, which promoted greater openness to other
religions.
Expulsion, imprisonment, physical beatings and the denial of educational and
medical services are among the manifestations of the religious sectarianism that
has emerged in recent years in large areas of the southern Mexican states of
Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero, where the majority of the population is
indigenous.
In Ecuador, a powerful and organised indigenous movement capable of leading
massive social protests, overthrowing presidents and reaching government
leadership positions earlier in the decade is now fragmented, and some observers
say it is because one sector, allied with Protestant religions, continued to
support President Lucio Gutiérrez, who was removed from office by Congress in
late April after over a week of street protests.
In Guatemala and Bolivia, which along with Mexico, Ecuador and Peru are the
Latin American countries with the largest indigenous populations, divisions have
also been wrought by differences of religious affiliation, which often merges
with support for particular political parties and local authorities.
”There are clearly internal problems in our communities provoked by religion,
because some churches address social concerns, while others merely focus on
spiritual matters and foster conformity, which has an obvious impact on the
struggles of the indigenous people,” noted Rafael González Roc, spokesman for
the Committee for Campesino Unity in Guatemala.
”Many religions have destroyed what we are, and it is sad to see the contempt
that the new generations have for what we once were. They think that the
traditional beliefs of the Mayans (the main indigenous ethnic group in Central
America) are witchcraft, or satanic,” he commented to IPS.
According to González Yoc, the Church of the Word and Assembly of God, both of
which are evangelical Protestant denominations based in the United States, were
implanted in indigenous communities in Guatemala to collaborate with the
military dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s.
Sociologist and journalist Roger Pascual of the Spanish non-governmental group
Agencia de Información Solidaria maintains that these two churches were backed
by the U.S. government to combat anything that appeared somehow linked to
communism in Guatemala.
It was during this same period that the Liberation Theology movement within the
Catholic Church had come to exercise a major influence in Central America.
Liberation Theology is based on a ”preferential option for the poor”, and
its proponents' involvement in the struggles of the poor and marginalised
sectors of the population gave them common cause with the leftist revolutionary
movements active in the region at the time. As a result, the Catholic Church
came to be viewed by some as a dangerously ”Marxist” institution.
In his ”Analysis of the Incursion of Sects into the Political Spheres of Latin
America”, Pascual states, ”The U.S. government contributed to building up
the Assembly of God Pentecostal sect to such an extent that it came to control
1,500 houses of worship, in addition to numerous television and radio
stations” in Guatemala.
In addition, he notes, ”The (Ronald) Reagan administration (1981-1989) was
also behind the establishment of the Church of the Word, which collaborated in
the coup d'état led by General José Efraín Ríos Montt en 1982.”
Guatemala was engulfed in a civil war from 1960 until 1996. Of the roughly
200,000 people who were killed (including 45,000 ”disappeared”) by the
government security forces, the majority were Mayan Indians. The war also led to
the internal displacement of one million people and the exodus of 500,000
refugees to Mexico alone, while 250,000 children were orphaned.
”Religions have an impact on our collective behaviour, and change the essence
of the way in which we are organised in communities and families. Because of
religion, the traditionally collective nature of indigenous peoples has given
way to individualism, and is dividing us,” said Macas.
”There are a huge number of sects in Ecuador, I believe over 300, whose role
is to pacify, divide and tame the people, subordinating them to the interests of
the dominant powers or big corporations, like the oil companies,” he added.
When critics talk about ”sects”, they are referring to more recently founded
Protestant denominations and churches, as opposed to established religions like
the Baptist, Episcopalian, Lutheran or Presbyterian churches.
The Roman Catholic hierarchy, together with some anthropologists and civil
society organisations, accuse these new sects of recruiting indigenous followers
with money and the offer of ”salvation”, while promoting beliefs that break
with their cultural traditions and way of life.
Some Catholic leaders have used highly confrontational language in referring to
these upstart Protestant churches. ”You have to be shameless to be a
Protestant,” declared the cardinal of Guadalajara, Mexico, Juan Sandoval Iñiguez,
while the former papal nuncio to Mexico, Girolamo Prigione, commented that
”these sects are like flies that ought to be swatted with a newspaper.”
Mexican writer Carlos Monsiváis has criticised this Catholic religious
intolerance, claiming that it breeds persecution and denies indigenous people
the right to change their beliefs, as if Catholicism were the only religion that
should be practised in these communities, an attitude he calls ”absurd”.
But many critics of these new Protestant denominations, including followers of
Liberation Theology - who have a long tradition of demanding respect for the
rights of indigenous peoples and fighting against the oppression they suffer -
believe that they distort the message of God, and in some cases merely serve to
foster ideological control by the United States.
”These sects create individuals who are mindless and alienated. They kill the
soul of the people,” said Spanish-born Bishop Pedro Casaldáliga, a leading
exponent of Liberation Theology who devoted almost 40 years of his life to
working with the poor in Brazil.
For his part, Pope John Paul II issued a number of documents and declarations
condemning these sects during his 1978-2005 papacy, while he promoted dialogue
with established Protestant churches, Judaism and Islam.
Sects that use healing, exorcism and promises of prosperity to attract followers
are ”a danger to Christians” and should be condemned in the same way as drug
trafficking and birth control campaigns, the late pope stated during a visit to
Brazil in 1991.
One denomination in particular, the U.S.-based Jehovah's Witnesses, has clashed
with authorities in the region because of the fact that its members refuse to
pay tribute to national flags and other patriotic symbols. They also cannot give
blood or receive transfusions.
Eugenio Poma, a Bolivian Aymara Indian, Methodist bishop and coordinator of the
Indigenous Pastoral Committee of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI),
which represents over 150 established denominations, told IPS that these new
religious groups ”that are growing like mushrooms” respond to ”dark”
interests.
”There are churches that only pursue spiritual indoctrination, like many of
these sects, and then there are others among us who go into communities to learn
and to help. Obviously, we are guided by very different interests, and this
separates us,” said Poma.
Nevertheless, he added, the ”indigenous heart, which strives for a life as
part of a community and fights for its rights” will eventually prevail.
”In the end we will struggle together, even though we belong to different
faiths. I believe we should come together and listen to each other, because when
it comes down to it, all of us indigenous peoples want the same thing,” he
concluded. (END/2005)
Copyright © 2005 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved.