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Article: Evangelical strength in Latin America is homegrown.(ANALYSIS)
- Article from:
- National Catholic Reporter
- Article date:
- August 25, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 National Catholic Reporter. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Despite theories ranging from American muscle to the will of the Holy Spirit, a Latin American expert on Protestant missions says the Catholic church's own failures, both contemporary and historical, offer the best explanation for massive defections in a region once defined by Catholics as "the continent of hope."
By any standard, the realignment of Christianity in Latin America during the 20th century was breathtaking.
Conversion of Catholics to Protestantism actually surpassed, in numerical terms, the results of the Protestant Reformation in Europe in the 16th century. Evangelicals soared from 50,000 to 64 million, and nearly 40 percent of the world's ...