Latin America is now less Catholic, more diverse, says Lutheran leader

Latin America was once considered a Roman Catholic continent but is now characterised by a religious pluralism that can lead to hostile competitiveness, the main governing body of the World Council of Churches has heard.

“An astounding shift is taking place,” the Rev. Walter Altmann, moderator of the WCC central committee, said in his report presented to the governing body on 30 August 2006. “There are no signs to indicate that the consistent trend towards religious pluralism may be reversed over the coming years.”

Altmann, president of the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil, noted that in his country the percentage of Roman Catholics decreased between 1999 and 2001 from 83 per cent to 73.5 per cent of the population. Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal movements had correspondingly seen extraordinary growth, said Altmann, elected moderator of the WCC governing body following its assembly in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre in February.

“At the same time, we observe another process developing more silently but with profound implications. That is the rediscovery of the religious expressions of indigenous communities and especially those with origins in the spirituality of Afro-descendants,” said Altmann, the first Latin American to head the WCC central committee.

“All indications are that Latin America will, in the future, present an even more colourful spectrum of religious plurality than it does today,” he said. Still, “Among evangelical churches there is often a strong anti-Catholic sentiment and discourse. Words like ‘idolatry’, ‘syncretism’, ‘witchcraft’ are used without hesitation, when referring to other churches or religious expressions.”

Such sentiments are sometimes also found in traditional denominations as well, Altmann noted. The Methodist Church in Brazil had voted recently to withdraw from interchurch bodies that had the Catholic Church and non-Christian groups in membership, including the National Council of Christian Churches in Brazil, which hosted the WCC assembly in February.

“Ironically,” noted Altmann, the decision of the Brazilian Methodist church was taken, “just a few days before the Assembly of the World Methodist Council, meeting in Seoul, expressed its support for the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.”

Born in Porto Alegre in 1944, Altmann was president of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) from 1995 to 2001.

forms of ‘holy wars’ or all-out competition, the only biblical and theologically responsible option is that of ecumenical dialogue and cooperation.”

— Ecumenical News International

http://www.nsw.uca.org.au/news/2006/latin-america-less-Catholic_07-09-06.htm

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