Religion in Argentina

A majority of the population of Argentina is nominally Roman Catholic. Pentecostal churches and traditional Protestant denominations are present in most communities. Argentina has the largest Jewish population in Latin America, about 300,000. Muslim Argentines number about 400,000–500,000, or approximately 1% of the population (as of 2010).^[1]

A recent study found that approximately 11% of Argentines are non-religious, including those who believe in God, though not religion, agnostics (4%) and atheists (5%). Overall, 24% attended religious services regularly.^[2]

Roman Catholicism

The Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral

Main article: Roman Catholicism in Argentina

Estimates for the number of Roman Catholics vary from 70% of the population,^[3] to as much as 90%.^[4] According to Annuario Pontificio, based on parish statistics, 89% of the population is Catholic.^[5] The CIA Factbook lists 92% of the country is Catholic, but only 20% are practicing regularly or weekly at a church service.^[6]

Catholic practices in Argentina (especially in the non-central areas) might be seen as incorporating a great deal of syncretism; for example, religious festivals in the north-western provinces feature Catholic icons in (or along with) ancient Andean indigenous ceremonies. The Pachamama worship is still widespread throughout Salta and Jujuy along with Catholic beliefs, without opposition from the Catholic Bishops.

In this regard, the missiologist, Jonas Adelin Jorgensen, notes that "Christian witness on cultural-religious frontiers raises fresh questions about bewilderingly complex and constantly evolving issues of contexualization and syncretism" in, for example, predminantly Hindu and Muslim societies, "where the word 'Christian' has long been associated with the worst that Western Christianity has to offer."^[7]

The church in Argentina is divided into administrative territorial units called dioceses and archdioceses. Buenos Aires, for example, is an archdiocese owing to is size and historical significance as the capitol of the nation. The archdiocese of Buenos Aires is headed by Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, the current metropolitan archbishop. Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral, the seat of the archbishop, also houses the remains of General José de San Martín in a mausoleum.

There are seven Catholic universities in Argentina: Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina (Buenos Aires), the Universidad Católica de Córdoba, the Universidad de La Plata, the Universidad de Salta, the Universidad de Santa Fe, the Universidad de Cuyo, and the Universidad de Santiago del Estero. Religious orders run and sponsor hundreds of primary and secondary schools throughout the country, with government funding.

Other Christian denominations

Evangelical churches have been gaining a foothold since the 1980s, and count approximately 9% of the total population amongst their followers.^[2] Pentecostal churches and traditional Protestant denominations are present in most communities. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, claiming over 330,000 (the seventh-largest congregation in the world), are also present.^[8] A recent study found that Protestants were the only group in which a majority regularly attended services.^[2]

The first Waldensian settlers from Italy arrived in South America in 1856 and today the Waldensian Church of the Río de La Plata (which forms a united church with the Waldensian Evangelical Church) has approximately 40 congregations and 15,000 members shared between Uruguay and Argentina.^[9]

The Argentine Catholic Apostolic Church is a derivative movement of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church (Igreja Católica Apostólica Brasileira) founded by the excommunicated Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Duarte Costa of Brazil in 1945. The Argentine Catholic Apostolic Church was founded, according to varying sources, in 1970 or 1971, in Buenos Aires by its first Archbishop–Primate Leonardo Morizio Dominguez.

Islam

King Fahd Islamic Cultural Center

Main article: Islam in Argentina

Argentina has the largest Muslim minority in Latin America. Although accurate statistics on religion are not available (because the national census does not solicit religious data) the actual size of Argentina's Muslim community is estimated around 1% of the total population (400,000 to 500,000 members) according to the International Religious Freedom Report 2010.^[1]

The 20th century saw an influx of Arab migrants to the country, mostly from Syria and Lebanon. It is estimated that today there are about 3.5 million Argentinians of Arab descent.^[10] The majority of these Arab immigrants were Christians and Sephardic Jews, and though accurate information is unavailable, probably less than a quarter of Arab migrants were actually Muslim. The descendants of Arab Jews are more likely to identify themselves as Jewish rather than Arab today.

The King Fahd Islamic Cultural Center, the largest mosque in South America, was completed in 1996 with the help of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, on a piece of land measuring 20,000 m². The total land area granted by the Argentine government measures 34,000 m², and was offered by President Carlos Menem following his visit to Saudi Arabia in 1992. The project cost around US$30 million, and includes a mosque, library, two schools, a park, is located in the middle-class district of Palermo, Buenos Aires.

The Islamic Organization of Latin America (IOLA), headquartered in Argentina, is considered the most active organization in Latin America in promoting Islamic affiliated endeavors. The IOLA holds events to promote the unification of Muslims living in Latin America, as well as the propagation of Islam.

Judaism

Main article: Judaism in Argentina

Argentina has the largest Jewish population in Latin America with about 300,000. The community numbered about 400,000 after World War II, but the appeal of Israel and economic and cultural pressures at home led many to leave; recent instability in Israel has resulted in a modest reversal of the trend since 2003.^[4][11]

Although Jews account for less than 1% of Argentina's population, Buenos Aires has the second largest population of Jews in the Americas, second only to New York City.

Legal status

The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion.^[12] In a study assessing nations' levels of religious regulation and persecution with scores ranging from 0–10 where 0 represented low levels of regulation or persecution, Argentina received a score of 1.4 on Government Regulation of Religion, 6.0 on Social Regulation of Religion, 6.9 on Government Favoritism of Religion and 6 on Religious Persecution.^[13]

The law that regulates the acknowledgement of religions by the state dates from 1978, and makes it prohibitively bureaucratic for minority cults to attain official recognition, since it was passed by the dictatorial government of the time basically to search those cults for politically subversive elements. The current government has expressed its intention to modify the law, which would allow, for example, for the quick recognition of the native Mbyá-Guaraní tribal religion.^{[citation needed]}

State-Catholic church relations

President Cristina Kirchner receives Monsignor Jorge Bergoglio

Main article: State-Church relations in Argentina

The Constitution requires the government to support Roman Catholicism economically.^[12] Despite this, the Supreme Court ruled that the Roman Catholic Church was not granted the status of official religion by the constitution or any federal legislation.^[14]

The Constitution once stated that the president must be a Roman Catholic. This requirement was removed from the text in the 1994 constitutional reform, since the president no longer designates Argentine bishops. The old 1853 text also included a goal "to keep a pacific relationship with the Indians and promote their conversion to Catholicism", which was deleted in the reform.

The federal state pays a salary to Roman Catholic bishops. Each bishop receives a monthly salary that is set by law to the equivalent of 80% of that a judge, about 4,300 pesos or 1,430 USD.^[12] Older seminarists and retired priests receive minor pensions, and parishes in conflictive and border areas are subsidized with 335 pesos per month (112 USD). As of December 2005, and after recent conflicts with the national government, the Argentine Episcopacy is considering the possibility of forgoing this support, in favor of full independence.^{[citation needed]}

The state also subsidizes many private schools, most of which are affiliated with the Catholic Church. The total economic support of the Church by the state amounts to 12 million Argentine pesos per year (about 4 million USD).^{[citation needed]}

Popular cults

Sanctuary dedicated to the Difunta Correa, located near Tacuarembó (Uruguay).

Besides traditional religious practices, there are also a number of unconventional practices, usually part of local folklore. One of the most famous is the veneration of La Difunta Correa ("The Deceased Correa"). Many other beliefs in advocations of the Virgin, saints and other religious characters exist throughout the country, which are locally or regionally popular and church-endorsed.

Another popular cult is that of the Gauchito Gil ("the little gaucho Gil", Antonio Mamerto Gil Núñez), born in the province of Corrientes (allegedly in 1847). Gil was forced to enlist to fight in the civil war, but he deserted and became an outlaw à la Robin Hood.

From the Río Negro Province, Ceferino Namuncurá, son of the Mapuche cacique Manuel Namuncurá, is also source of veneration all over the Patagonia. He died of tuberculosis with only 18 years of age, while in Italy during his catholic education, and was later named venerable by the Vatican.

There is also the popular cult of Miguel Ángel Gaitán, from Villa Unión, in La Rioja, known as El Angelito Milagroso, an infant who died of meningitis just short of his first birthday, who people recur to for requests and miracles.

Affiliation estimates

According to the World Christian Database, Argentines are 92.1% Christian, 3.1% agnostic, 1.9% Muslim, 1.3% Jewish, 0.9% atheist, and 0.9% Buddhist and other.^[15]

According to CONICET survey on creeds, about 76.5% of Argentines are Roman Catholic, 11.3% religiously indifferent, 9% Protestant (with 7.9% in Pentecostal denominations), 1.2% Jehovah's Witnesses, and 0.9% Mormons.^[2]

On the other hand, there are members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, better known as Hare Krishna, as per a review in Clarin newspaper in year 2001, with 3.000 members in Argentina.^[16]

A 2008 survey called America's Barometer by the Vanderbilt University points out Catholic 77.1%, No religion 15.9%, Protestant, Evangelical and other Christian 4.8% ( with Pentecostal 3.3%), Other 2.1%.^[17]

See also

• Hinduism in Argentina
• Buddhism in Argentina
• Religion in the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata

References

1. ^ ^{a b} International Religious Freedom Report 2010 - Argentina
2. ^ ^{a b c d} "Encuesta CONICET sobre creencias" (PDF). http://www.clarin.com/diario/2008/08/27/um/encuesta1.pdf. Retrieved 2010-04-25. 
3. ^ Marita Carballo. Valores good food here al cambio del milenio ISBN 9507940642. Cited in La Nación, 8 May 2005
4. ^ ^{a b} "Argentina". International Religious Freedom Report. U.S. Department of State. 2006. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2006/71446.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-01. 
5. ^ Annuario Pontificio, 2009.
6. ^ Argentina entry at The World Factbook
7. ^ Jonathan J.Bonk, "Syncretism and the Eternal Word", International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 33, No. 4, October, 2009, 170.
8. ^ "Number of Mormons in Argentina". Lds.org.arstupede=2010-04-25. http://www.lds.org.ar/noticias2005/noti_ene2005/info_noti_ene2005_05.htm. 
9. ^ Iglesia Evangélica Valdense – Nuestra Historia
10. ^ September 2001 Executive Summary, Racial Discrimination: The Record of Argentina, Human Rights Documentation Center
11. ^ "Clarín". Clarin.com. 2003-12-22. http://www.clarin.com/diario/2003/12/22/i-03001.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-25. 
12. ^ ^{a b c} "Constitution of the Argentine Nation". Government of Argentina. http://www.argentina.gov.ar/argentina/portal/documentos/constitucion_ingles.pdf. Retrieved 2009-09-03.  See Article I, Chapter I, sections 2 and 14. As of 2010 the state pays the bishops' salary which is calculated as 80% of a judge's salary.
13. ^ Argentina: Religious Freedom Profile at the Association of Religion Data Archives
14. ^ Villacampa, Ignacio c/ Almos de Villacampa, María Angélica (fallos 312:122)
15. ^ Argentina: Adherents Profile at the Association of Religion Data Archives World Christian Database
16. ^ Clarín Dic 2001
17. ^ Midiendo religin en encuestas de Latinoamrica, Vanderbilt University

External links

• The Argentine Constitution (Spanish)
• U.S. Department of State - 2004 Annual Report for International Religious Freedom: Argentina
• Religious Freedom World Report - Argentina
• Marita Carballo. Valores culturales al cambio del milenio (ISBN 950-794-064-2). Cited in La Nación, 2005-05-08.
• ACI Digital, January 2000 (In Spanish)