The EconomistFebruary 8th 2020 The Americas 292
Bello A new war of religion
U
nder thebanner of “religion and
traditional (ecclesiastical) privi-
leges”, in 1858 Mexican Conservatives
rose in arms against a Liberal constitu-
tion which declared freedom of worship
and ended a rule preventing Catholic
church property from being transferred
to anyone else. After a three-year war, the
liberal principles of religious toleration
and the separation of church and state
triumphed. In the following decades
they spread across Latin America. Now, it
seems, this 19th-century political battle
has to be fought all over again.
The new blurring of the divide be-
tween spiritual and temporal realms
owes much to the rise of evangelical
Protestantism. Although 69% of Latin
Americans were still Catholics in 2014,
19% were Protestants (26% in Brazil and
more than 40% in three Central Ameri-
can countries), says a Pew poll. The
number of Protestants is likely to have
risen since then. Most are Pentecostals.
They emphasise a literal reading of
the Bible and a direct personal relation-
ship with God through baptism with the
Holy Spirit. Many want their beliefs to
shape public policy. Their concern is
mainly, but not solely, to oppose gay
rights and abortion. In some cases they
dismiss science and have intervened in
foreign policy. Some question the sep-
aration of church and state.
Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s populist presi-
dent, says he is a Catholic but was rebap-
tised in the river Jordan by a Pentecostal
pastor. “The state is secular but we are
Christian,” he has said, suggesting to
some that he is out to undermine the
former. After an uprising overthrew
Bolivia’s socialist president, Evo Morales,
in November, the caretaker conservative
successor, Jeanine Áñez, declared that
“the Bible has come back to the palace.”The new cabinet took the oath of office on
a large copy of the scriptures and before a
cross. Luis Fernando Camacho, who led
the uprising and is now a presidential
candidate, wants to end the secular state
enshrined in the constitution of 2009.
Capitol Ministries, an American evan-
gelical outfit that aims to set up Bible-
studies centres in the legislatures of nearly
every country on Earth, has opened eight
in Latin America. More are “scheduled to
launch”, according to its website.
The chief battleground for the new
religious conservatism is personal behav-
iour. Mr Bolsonaro derides gay people.
Damares Alves, a pastor who is his min-
ister for women, family and human rights,
promotes abstinence (rather than contra-
ception) to prevent teenage pregnancy.
Evangelicals opposed gay marriage even in
communist Cuba. Their policy concerns
go wider. Mr Bolsonaro has appointed a
sceptic of evolution to head the agency
that oversees the quality of higher educa-
tion and a former evangelical missionary
to run the body that deals with isolated
indigenous tribes. Some pastors opposedthe peace agreement of 2016 in Colombia
between the government and the farc
guerrillas. Capitol Ministries has lobbied
Latin American governments to follow
the United States in moving their embas-
sies in Israel to Jerusalem. Guatemala has
done so.
The Catholic church, too, is no strang-
er to politics. It used to promote Chris-
tian Democratic parties in Latin America.
It, too, has fought against abortion and
gay rights and to preserve religious
education. Pope Francis, an Argentine,
has made no secret of his sympathy for
Peronism, the ruling populist move-
ment. But evangelical politics tends to
have more vigour and organisation. In
Brazil, 195 of the 513 deputies in the lower
house of Congress are members of the
evangelical caucus. They include the
Republican party, formed by the Univer-
sal Church of Edir Macedo, a wealthy
megapastor. Evangelical pastors are
more likely than Catholic bishops to tell
their flock whom to vote for.
Not all evangelicals are conservative.
In Brazil’s election in 2018, Mr Bolsonaro
got 22m evangelical votes but his left-
wing opponent got 10m, estimates Data-
folha, a pollster. Nor is religious conser-
vatism carrying all before it. Brazil’s
Supreme Court last year ruled that homo-
phobic acts are criminal. Alberto Fernán-
dez, Argentina’s new president, has
proposed a bill to legalise abortion.
Popular religiosity in Latin America
has strong roots, as solace in an often
unjust world. But secularism has served
the region well. It has been free of reli-
gious strife since the 1920s. Latin Ameri-
ca cries out for more, not less, science.
Many of its citizens believe that their
democracies owe them the right to live as
they wish. The separation of religion and
politics needs defending.Blurring the separation between church and statevariety in their growing conditions but
more open economies, have doubled their
output over the same period. Pricey im-
ports raise exporters’ costs, making them
less competitive.
Ports are suffering. Ships arrive in
Buenaventura, the biggest port on the Pa-
cific coast, loaded with containers, but
they leave with nothing. Cartagena, on the
Caribbean coast, makes its living as a trans-
shipment port, shuffling goods from one
ship to another. But that is less profitable
than handling exports and imports. Co-
lombia’s “main export is air”, says AnibalOchoa, the port’s commercial director.
Until now, governments have ignored
the costs of Colombia’s closed shop. That is
partly because their priority was to defeat
the farc, a guerrilla group that waged a 50-
year war against the state. From the early
2000s Colombia earned a decent living
from oil and gas, which replaced coffee as
the main export. They account for nearly
60% of goods exports.
Now pressure is building to liberalise. A
peace agreement in 2016 ended the war. Oil
prices fell in 2014 and have yet to recover
fully. Reserves are running low. Tradecould become the economy’s new engine,
says Jorge García, one of the book’s editors.
So far, though, the push to open up has
had little support from the top. The govern-
ment has made some permits easier to ap-
ply for, but did not reduce their number or
cost. For now, it seems, only rich Colombi-
ans will be able to afford wine. Others will
drown their sorrows in aguardiente. 7................................................................
*“Comercio Exterior en Colombia: Política,
Instituciones, Costos y Resultados”, edited by Jorge
García García, Enrique Montes Uribe, Iader Giraldo
Salazar. Banco de la República.