Comments on Secularism and the Hispanic Immigrant

Thx for the post Dan. The catholic church in Latin America, though, strong has always been an ally of the dictatorships, from Argentina to Nicaragua. People in Latin America have always seen through that, while remaining devout catholics. Progressive clergy were often assasinated, specially in El Salvador and Brazil. It is of little surprise that once here a lot of folks escape the right wing politics of the catholic church, though still attend church and are devote catholics. Obviously it is a case of the republicans understanding Latin American history. It is no small wonder that the right wing evangelicals have invested millions in Latin America in trying to replace the liberation theology churches and the christian based communities that teach tolerence, liberation of the poor and resitence against right wing policies. Bush's current immigration proposal is unworkable, and again insults the population they claim to be trying to reach. Im an atheist and a recovering catholic, this was good to see.

Oops , that should read "the republicans lack of understanding Latin American history."

Many people are unaware of these viscous attacks on immigrants, possibly using oil or high fructose corn syrup.

Ack! You got me, Fnarf. Making the change now.

Oh, and I saw the video of you putting quarters in your nose--14 of them--and thought, "How hard could that be?" I could only manage to get four into my nose--and I've got a big nose. I salute you.

@1, I do think a) if the Church supports oppressive regimes it's cus they'll get shot if they don't (true story). If you think the church is 'right wing' you've obviously never read these kinds of things: http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/Houseletter.pdf or this one here http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/20070119minwageaa.pdf. I don't think this makes them left wing, but the US bishops are economically about on the level with Democrats, and social issues (I mean abortion etc) are NOT left-wing issues (not by my defnition), they're just human rights; that's where the Church is regressive, but that's also where hispanics are more likely to agree wih the church. b) more importantly, not everything is done for political reasons. It's called assimilation. God's dead up here. He's not quite done done there. If they were so politically conscious, they would have fled the church at home and rejoined it here.

To conclude, Marxist interpretation is sooo 1870s, and it's too bad Nietzsche didn't write an Antimarx to go along with his Antichrist.

well, if it is happening, it ain't happening in my fam. 99% of my family is catholic, the remaining 1% is some sorta re-born christian, and then there is me, literally the only atheist in my tree. And, being Mexican-American, it is a big family tree...

The interesting thing is, while the majority of my family are pro life and anti-gay-rights; they vote democrat. My guess is, they vote for the candidate with the best economic policy, and pray that they never have to deal with an abortion or a gay family member.

The rest are pro-life & anti-gay-rights and vote republican :(

Sooo, the GOP is wrong because only 87% of Hispanics are religious, and not 94% like it used to be? I'd say it's still a tantalizing demographic they're going to want to target.

Nothing new here Dan. Business week or Newsweek ran this same type of story over two years ago. The gist of it is that the majority of the Latin American immigrants who do leave the Catholic church simply move over to an evangelic church. Not exactly a move in the right direction. The article specifically pointed out that this is a big trend in second and third generations to the US.