The percentage of Latinos in the United States and Latin America who say they have no religious affiliation has steadily increased regardless of how ingrained religion is in Hispanic culture.
State of the game: The percentage of Hispanics in the US who identify as atheist or agnostic has increased in the past 12 years, according to data from the Pew Research Center.
of big picture: The number of Americans who believe in God has fallen to its lowest level in nearly eight decades of polling. The religious “nobodies” are the fastest-growing segment in America, even surpassing evangelicals, Bishop Walter F. Sullivan Andrew Chesnut, chair of Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, told Axios.
- “None” are people who consider themselves atheists or agnostics, who do not practice any particular religion, or who practice New Age beliefs unrelated to organized religion.
By the numbers: According to an analysis of US Census data by Trinity College, only 6.4% of Latinos identified as having no religion in 1990. That rose to 12.4% in 2008.
In Latin America, the percentage of people who are not connected quadrupled to 16% from 1996 to 2020, according to Latinobarómetro, the leading annual regional survey.
- The survey found that 40% of people in Uruguay are “none”, while another 10% are agnostic or atheist.
Yes but: Leaving religion can be difficult for Latinos because it is so ingrained in the culture and many families raise children in Christian doctrines early on, Luciano Joshua Gonzalez-Vega, a columnist for a secular website, told Axios.
- “I found solace in religion. So, for me, the process of leaving religion was a particularly difficult one,” says Gonzalez-Vega, who “came out” as a nonbeliever at age 18.
- Many Latinos feel that being open about their lack of religion would bring “social consequences that they felt were not worth it,” including estrangement from family and holiday gatherings, Gonzalez-Vega says.
- “It’s really hard to separate any form of Latin culture from Christianity,” they said.
What they say: “The religious right has given religion a bad name, and that explains a lot of the rise of secularism in the United States,” Juhem Navarro-Rivera, political director and managing partner of Socioanalítica Research, told Axios.
- Navarro-Rivera said conservative religious sects that attack same-sex marriage or oppose abortion are alienating younger generations.
- The rise in non-religious affiliation is strong among young Latinos, who are more comfortable letting go of religious obligations than previous generations, said Navarro-Rivera, who is a non-believer.
Between the lines: Groups like the American Humanist Association and the Secular Coalition for America are working to include more Latino voices to make Hispanics feel comfortable engaging, said Anthony Cruz Pantojas, an SCA board member.
- The American Humanist Association, for example, launched a “1 in 5” campaign aimed at helping Latinos feel safe not to believe in God.
- “I think we’re going to need a little more time to fill those spaces,” Cruz Pantojas said.
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