Religion in Mexico

Mexico has no official religion, and the Constitution of 1917 imposed limitations on the church and sometimes codified state intrusion into church matters. The government does not provide financial contributions to the church, nor does the church participate in public education. However, Christmas is a national holiday and every year during Easter and Christmas all schools in Mexico, public and private, send their students on vacation.

In 1992, Mexico lifted almost all restrictions on the religions, including granting all religious groups legal status, conceding them limited property, and lifting restrictions on the number of priests in the country.^[1] Until recently, priests did not have the right to vote, and even now they cannot be elected to public office.

Christianity

Catholicism

Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

Roman Catholics are 82.7%^[2] of the total population,^[3] down from 96% in 1970.^[4] The number of Mexican Catholics has fallen by 5% in the first decade of the 21st century and in the south-east Catholics make up less than two-thirds of the population.^[5] In absolute terms, Mexico has the world's second largest number of Catholics after Brazil.^[6]

While most indigenous Mexicans are at least nominally Catholic, some combine or syncretize Catholic practices with native traditions. In the Yucatán Peninsula, some Mayan people still practice the traditional beliefs of their ancestors, without being syncretized with Christianity; the same happens with the Wixarika people of Jalisco and Nayarit.

Protestantism

About 9% of the population (6,160,000 people over the age of 5, according to the 2000 census, including Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, and Mormons) are Protestant,^[2] of whom Pentecostals and Charismatics (called Neo-Pentecostals in the census), are the largest group. The Anglican Communion is represented by the Anglican Church of Mexico.

Protestantism is strongest where the Catholic Church and the Mexican state have little presence.^[7]

Orthodoxy

Not many practice Eastern Orthodoxy in Mexico.^{[citation needed]}

Seventh-day Adventist

There are also a number of Seventh-day Adventists (488,946 people).^[2]

Jehovah's Witnesses

The 2000 national census counted more than one million Jehovah's Witnesses.^[2] According to the Jehovah's Witness report of 2010 there are 710,454 active members (members who actively preach), but 2.05 million people attend the Jehovah's Witnesses' annual Memorial of Christ's death (also known as The Lord's Supper.)^[8]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The first LDS missionaries in Mexico arrived in 1875 (although the original Mormons came to Mexico in the 1840s in Utah, when it was still a Mexican territory). In 1885, 400 Mormon colonists moved to Mexico. The LDS Church claims over a million members in Mexico. June 29, 1993, the Mexican government formally registered the LDS Church. This allowed the church to own property in Mexico. As of year-end 2006, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) reported 1,082,427 members, 207 stakes, 1,434 wards, 495 branches, and 6 temples in Mexico.^[9] 2000 Census figures however report only 205,229 Latter-Day Saints.^[2]

La Luz del Mundo

La Luz del Mundo is a Charismatic Christian denomination with international headquarters in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Its flagship church in Guadalajara is said to be the largest non-Catholic house of worship in Latin America^{[citation needed]}.

Buddhism

Buddhism in Mexico possesses demographic presence in the country. Approximately 108,701 Buddhists are counted in Mexico. Also one of six Tibet Houses in the world - Casa Tibet México - is located in Mexico City. It is used by the Dalai Lama and other leaders of Tibetan Buddhism to preserve and share Tibetan culture and spirituality. Alejandro Jodorowsky has stated that he discovered Zen Buddhism in the 1960s while in Mexico.^[10][11] There are also two institutions from Theravada Buddhism tradition, the Theravada Buddhist Monastery [4] and the Vipassana House of Meditation.[5] On the other hand we can find at least 30 Buddhist groups in Mexico.[6]

Islam

Islam is mainly practiced by members of the Arab, Turkish, and other expatriate communities, though there is a very small number of the indigenous population in Chiapas that practices Islam.

Judaism

The presence of Jews in Mexico dates back to 1521, when Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs, accompanied by several Conversos. According to the last national census by the INEGI, there are now more than 45,000 Mexican Jews, the near totality of which (around 95%) live in the Greater Mexico City area.^[2]

Bahá'í Faith

The Bahá'í Faith in Mexico begins with visits of Bahá'ís before 1916.^[12] In 1919 letters from the head of the religion, `Abdu'l-Bahá, were published mentioning Mexico as one of the places Bahá'ís should take the religion to.^[13]Following further pioneers moving there and making contacts the first Mexican to join the religion was in 1937, followed quickly by the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly of all Latin America being elected in 1938.^[12][14] With continued growth the National Spiritual Assembly was first elected in 1961.^[15][14] The Association of Religion Data Archives (relying on World Christian Encyclopedia) estimated almost 38,000 Bahá'ís in 2005.^[16]

Nonreligious

Although the demographics of atheism and irreligion in Mexico is hard to measure due to the fact that many atheists are officially counted as Catholic, almost three million people in the 2000 National Census reported having no religion.^[2] Recent surveys have shown that only around 3% of Catholics attend church daily and 44% attend church at least once a week,^[17] and, according to INEGI, the number of atheists grows annually by 5.2%, while the number of Catholics grows by 1.7%.^[18][19]

Notes

Further reading

• Dow, James W. "The Expansion of Protestantism in Mexico: An Anthropological View." Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 78, No. 4 (Autumn, 2005), pp. 827–851

External links

	Mexico portal
	Journalism portal

• Religion in Mexico