Native Evangelism in Central Mexico [1 ed.] 9780292758421, 9780292744127

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Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

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Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

BY H UG O G . N U T I N I A N D J E A N F . N U T I N I

University of Texas Press

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Austin

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Copyright © 2014 by the University of Texas Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First edition, 2014 Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to: Permissions University of Texas Press P.O. Box 7819 Austin, TX 78713-7819 http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/rp-form The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper).

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Nutini, Hugo G. Native evangelism in central Mexico / by Hugo G. Nutini and Jean F. Nutini. — First [edition]. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-292-74412-7 (cl. : alk. paper) 1. Evangelicalism—Mexico. 2. Mexico—Church history—21st century. 3. Protestant churches—Mexico. I. Title. BR1642.M6N88 2014 277.2′083—dc23 2014007277 doi:10.7560/744127

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Contents

Preface

vii

Acknowledgments Introduction

xiii

1

1. Analytical Framework of the Study

19

2. The Theology and Teleology of Amistad y Vida (Cristianos) 39 3. Cristianos: The Structure and Material Organization of the Congregation 54 4. La Luz del Mundo: Theology, Teleology, and Ideology

74

5. La Luz del Mundo: Structure and Ritual-Ceremonial Organization of the Congregation 99 6. The Process of Conversion: Antecedent Factors and Results 120 Conclusions Notes

167

Bibliography Index

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Preface

H. Nutini has been acquainted with evangelism since his survey of the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley and the Sierra de Puebla during the summer of 1958, and his and J. Nutini’s survey of the Córdoba-Orizaba region in 1969. We did not investigate evangelism systematically until the mid-1990s, as we had previously been concentrating on the study of kinship, ritual kinship, several aspects of folk religion, witchcraft and sorcery, and sociocultural change in the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley and social stratification and mobility in the Córdoba-Orizaba region. Later on, we centered our research on superordinate stratification and mobility, namely, the study of the aristocracy, plutocracy, and upper middle class in Mexico City. All our field research was focused on the foregoing projects, and it was not until 1996 that we began our systematic study of evangelism. Over the next ten consecutive summers (May, June, July, and September), and occasionally throughout the year, we exclusively investigated evangelism in the Córdoba-Orizaba region and the TlaxcalaPueblan Valley. During this period, US Protestant evangelism became very active in this region, particularly in small towns and a few villages. Although we did not collect systematic data, all kinds of data cropped up in our studies of religion and social organization. But we wanted to have a more representative sample, and the opportunity to collect systematic data arose when we be-

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viii Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

gan to work in the Córdoba-Orizaba region. In 1982 we did a general study of the social stratification and mobility in the region; and in 1996 we began systematic data collection on both US Protestant evangelism and native evangelism in the region. The latter body of data constitutes the bulk of this monograph. In the past fi fty years, several dozen books have been written by anthropologists, sociologists, and historians about the inroads that evangelism has made in Latin America during the last one hundred years. Most aspects of evangelism have been described and analyzed in the context of Catholicism: reasons for conversion, varieties of Protestant evangelism, doctrinal and pragmatic aspects that attract disenchanted Catholics, the factors of class and ethnicity in conversion, social and economic conditions underlying the process of conversion, local and national political factors involved in conversion, the organization of congregations, evangelism and religious change, interaction of evangelists with the Catholic majority, the process of reconversion to Catholicism, diocesan and parochial reactions to evangelism, variegated strategies and methods employed by the Catholic Church to counteract evangelism, and so on. We will not trudge over these well-known aspects of evangelism nor engage in a review of the literature. Rather, we will concentrate on topics that have not received enough attention in the literature, such as the psychology of conversion, some of the theological and teleological aspects of evangelist sects that play an important role in the process of proselytism, the concept of religious “persona,” and doctrinal and pragmatic elements that survive conversion, and the necessary and sufficient variables that structure it. Given the above considerations, the primary concern of this book is native evangelism, which has not received nearly as much attention as Protestant evangelism. The book is a study of contrast of two native sects: one a liberal, egalitarian congregation (Amistad y Vida), and the other a rigid, stratified congregation (La Luz del Mundo). Of all native evangelist sects in central Mexico, these two are the most visible. There are about seven other native sects—some are splinter groups of Pentecos-

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Preface

ix

tal and Jehovah’s Witnesses sects—some of which were established as early as 1935. The congregations of these two native sects are quite atypical, and that is why we selected them for investigation. The ethnographic present for this book is 2006. The information on which it is based is of two kinds: unsystematic data gathered since 1958 by H. Nutini and since 1969 with J. Nutini in several regions of central Mexico, and systematic data collected in the Córdoba-Orizaba region and the TlaxcalaPueblan Valley from 1996 to 2006. The systematic data on which this book is based may be summarized as follows. Most of the participant observation was done by Hugo G. Nutini and Jean F. Nutini and two field assistants, Laura Carpio de Altamira and Davíd Bello Meléndez. Four other field assistants, Adriana Carpio, Rafael Hernández, Gilberto Bello, and Paula Contreras, administered questionnaires but occasionally did open-ended interviewing, sometimes on their own, sometimes under supervision. A productive strategy was to leave informants with a questionnaire to complete, and to return a week or two later and interview them in depth. Our most congruent data was collected in this fashion. Another productive method was interviewing groups of five to ten male or female congregants, usually after the Sunday service and quite often in the premises of the temple. These were often conducted by a male-female team. Group interviewing, throughout our long experience in the field, has proven to be a good method to collect data about which there is a low degree of cultural consensus. But men and women must be interviewed separately; otherwise the latter would not answer spontaneously for fear of being put down by the former. Time and again, members of the data-gathering team would conduct short interviews with our best, most vocal informants to expand or clarify specific points. Finally, the ten summers during which the data collecting took place provided a longitudinal dimension that was instrumental in determining if there had been reconversion to Catholicism (little, as it turned out); how converts had been integrated into their new faith; their

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Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

relationship with their former coreligionists, kin, ritual kin, friends, and neighbors; and other questions that require a diachronic dimension (albeit a ten-year one) to fully understand them. The above and several additional questions fall under this category. Questionnaires provided most of the quantitative data. We administered five structured questionnaires, ranging from fi fteen to fi fty questions. The fi rst and most extensive asked for basic demographics: occupation, education, place of residence, self-perceived class and/or ethnic membership, time of conversion (if they had not been born in the sect), relations with former coreligionists, social interaction with Catholics and members of Protestant and native sects, economic resources of the congregation, nonreligious activities undertaken by the congregation, strategy and methods of proselytism, measures taken by the Catholic Church to counter evangelist proselytism, and a few others. Several of these were broken down into more specific questions; and if we noticed that respondents were getting impatient or bored, we ended the interview and returned to fi nish it later. The administration of the questionnaire took between two and a half and three hours. The other four questionnaires were on specific topics, and ranged from fi fteen to twenty-five questions each. They were on the following topics: reasons for conversion (15); circumstances at the time of conversion (18); organization of the cult (21); doctrinal configuration and belief system (25). Some were follow-ups to questions in the main questionnaire, but the great majority were questions that had not been broached earlier. Take for example the reasons for conversion: the questionnaire was designed to get at the religious, social, and economic factors of conversion, as well as the synergy they entailed. “Religious factors” included questions designed to obtain information regarding such reasons for converting as priests’ disinterest in the parish community, and their favoritism of the more affluent or important parishioners (charging excessively for religious services). In rural communities, we adduced the onerous economic burden of the cult of the saints; routinization

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Preface

xi

of the cult; social factors such as the lack of women’s participation in the affairs of the church, lack of cohesion and support in the parish, indifference to the needs of parishioners; and excessive fees for ritual services, as well as several other examples. More central to our own concerns were the personal and socialpsychological ambiance, particularly in the latter case. Thus, the questionnaire was designed primarily to ascertain the psychological framework of conversion, which we thought of primary importance to the converts’ fi nal decision to leave Catholicism, no matter what the price in alienating their kin and those close to them. This basic strategy constitutes one of the central themes of this book. Finally, as has been our practice for two generations of fieldwork in central Mexico, the role of key informants was crucial in the data-gathering process. Key informants are individuals (males and females) who have a central position in the domain of investigation, are exceptionally well informed, and are willing to be interviewed without restrictions of time and place. By the third summer of our research for the present study, we had identified seven key informants: three for Amistad y Vida, two for La Luz del Mundo, and two for Catholic relationships with evangelists. From key informants we fashioned a miniethnography of the subject at hand, which had two main purposes: as a source of questions to ask and the determination of key junctures to investigate, and as a reference to interpret quantitative data. This field strategy yielded very good results, as it had in innumerable field research projects.

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Acknowledgments

The field research on which this book is based owes its existence to a series of small grants. From the University of Pittsburgh we received two grants from the Center of Latin American Studies, and one from each of the following funding sources: University Center for International Studies, Central Research Development Fund, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Center for Social and Urban Research. In addition we received grants-in-aid from the American Philosophical Society, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, and the Jacobs Fund of Bellingham, Washington. We are grateful to these institutions for their fi nancial support. It is practically impossible to single out every individual and institution that, in one form or another, helped us to write this book and to carry out the fieldwork on which it is based. Nonetheless we would like to express our appreciation to those who made the most significant contributions. To the congregations of Amistad y Vida and La Luz del Mundo in the cities of Fortín de las Flores, Córdoba, Orizaba, and Zongolica, and of several rural communities in the Córdoba-Orizaba region, and in the cities of Tlaxcala, Puebla, Apizaco, and several rural communities in the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley, we are grateful for allowing us to interview a wide range of congregants. We are intellectually and professionally indebted to Paula Kane, Elio Masferrer, Doren Slade, Lisa Moskowitz, Barry Isaac, Keith Brown,

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Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

Leonard Plotnicov, David Robichaux, and Timothy Murphy, who read parts of the text, made constructive criticisms, suggested changes in style, presentation, and organization, or discussed theoretical or methodological matters. We are especially indebted to Barry Isaac for his invaluable assistance with fi nal manuscript revisions. We are grateful to Father Xicohtencatl Xochitotzin Ortega from the city of Tlaxcala and Father Manuel Ortiz Caballero of Orizaba for their information and assessments of Amistad y Vida and La Luz del Mundo and the relationship of the Church with evangelists in general. And last but never least, we are deeply indebted to the interviewers and field assistants mentioned earlier. Their dedication and accuracy in collecting data contributed greatly to this book.

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Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

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Introduction

By “native evangelism” we denote dissent movements turning away from Catholicism, as well as doctrinal and organizational dissent from American Protestant evangelist derivations. The Pentecostal, Seventh-Day Adventist, and Jehovah’s Witnesses sects are the most common sources of emulation. Native evangelical sects come into being in basically two different ways: either an individual or group, originally member(s) of a Protestant sect, becomes dissatisfied with some organizational or doctrinal aspect, secedes, and launches a new movement; or a divinely inspired leader initiates a native sect upon hearing the word of God, who, in the time-honored Christian tradition, reveals to him or her the only true doctrinal path to worship and provides the blueprint for the organization of a congregation. In reality, the new sect is a mélange of beliefs and practices of Protestant origin. In both cases, native evangelism sects evolve and, within a few years, acquire their distinct evangelical characteristics. There are no fundamental differences between native evangelism and Protestant evangelism. (Protestant evangelical sects differ significantly from one another doctrinally, of course, but all have the same attraction for disenchanted Catholics desirous of some form of religious change. Converts may adduce idiosyncratic grounds for choosing Pentecostalism, Seventh-Day Adventism, or any other Protestant sect, but the reasons for

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Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

conversion are basically the same.) Thus, native evangelism and Protestant evangelism, irrespective of doctrinal differences and modes of proselytism, are part of the same religious movement that is wresting souls from Catholicism. Conversion is supported by the central doctrinal and pragmatic concerns that native evangelism and Protestant evangelism share: the Bible as the sole source of religious understanding and moral action; total rejection of the cult of the saints; emphasis on individual religious identity; lack of hierarchy in ritualism and ceremonialism; preaching as a core vehicle for religious experience; the congregation as a source of social and psychological dissatisfaction with administrative decentralization; and in most cases, democratic organization of the congregation. There are, of course, differences among native evangelist sects, just as there are differences among Protestant evangelist sects; variations among the former depend largely on which Protestant group served as their model. Thus, native evangelical sects are in most respects extensions of Protestant evangelism, and whatever differences obtain between them are centered on reactions to local conditions and the needs of dissatisfied Catholics on their own terms, although they are well aware they are emulating a Protestant model. This book is concerned with two native evangelical sects that are widespread in central Mexico, particularly in the CórdobaOrizaba region. The fi rst, Amistad y Vida A.C. (Cristianos) (Friendship and Life Association, but its members call themselves “Christians”), was established years ago in the city of Córdoba; it grew very fast, and today it has more than forty local congregations in the Córdoba-Orizaba region, the TlaxcalaPueblan Valley, the Valley of Mexico, and in metropolitan Mexico City.1 The second, La Luz del Mundo (the Light of the World) was founded in 1926 in Guadalajara, Jalisco; it has experienced unprecedented growth, and by 1990 had become the largest native evangelical sect in Mexico. It has more than five hundred congregations in most states of Mexico, and probably a total membership of nearly one million, including congregations in other countries, despite the sexual scandals that

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Introduction 3

have plagued the sect during the past two decades. La Luz del Mundo has expanded to the United States, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and several other countries in South America. We studied a congregation of Amistad y Vida in Fortín, Veracruz, and four congregations of La Luz del Mundo (one each in Fortín, Córdoba, and Orizaba, Veracruz, and one in the city of Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala). The aim of this book is an in-depth description and analysis of these doctrinally and organizationally different sects, which in our opinion are representative of native evangelism in central Mexico today. Insofar as these sects are of North American Protestant derivation, we will begin with a short historical and ethnographic sketch of evangelism in Mexico.

Historical Considerations The presence of Protestant evangelism in Mexico dates back to the middle of the nineteenth century, when Mormon missions were established in the northern and central parts of the country (Tullis 1987). But their effect was minimal because they made few converts. Seventh-Day Adventists appeared before the turn of the century (Greenleaf 1992). By 1920 or so, most of the Protestant evangelist sects proselytizing today had established missions in several states of the country. Although Protestants were harassed, suffered individual attacks, and were socially ostracized (Baldwin 1990) mainstream (historical) Protestantism was tolerated in Mexico during the regime of Porfi rio Díaz (1876–1910); it was mostly confi ned to some of the largest cities, but it penetrated a few rural areas (Rivera 1961). This changed during the course of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and its aftermath; by the mid-1920s, Protestant evangelism had become a presence in many rural areas. But in an upsurge it became widespread in the years following World War II, and Protestant evangelism today is a fact of religious life in most parts of the country: in 1970 there were about nine hundred thousand evangelists; by 1990 their number had in-

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4

Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

creased to nearly four million (Bowen 1996:38); and in 2005 there were probably close to ten million.2 In most of Mexico, inroads by evangelism have been most pronounced in two environments: regiones de refugio (regions of refuge, as defi ned by Aguirre Beltrán [1967]), where there obtains a sharp Indian/Mestizo dichotomy—such as the Tzeltal-Tzotzil region of Chiapas, the Sierra de Puebla, and Huasteca Potosina; and in the more traditionally conservative religious areas of Mexico, such as the states of Hidalgo, México, Puebla, Tlaxcala, and central Veracruz, including particularly the small and medium cities associated with them. This pattern on the whole obtains in central Mexico, except for the secondlargest region of refuge, namely, the Córdoba-Orizaba region, where evangelism has hardly made a dent among the Nahuatlspeaking Indians, who occupy mostly the tierra fría regions, above five thousand feet of elevation. In most of the cities, large and small, on the other hand, evangelism has been extremely successful, despite the fact that these regions of central Mexico are among the most conservative in the country. Probably the best account of the establishment and growth of Protestantism in Mexico until the early 1980s (both the traditional denominations and evangelist sects) is that of Bastián (1983:69–161). He very ably describes the social and political conditions under which Protestantism was introduced into Mexico from the United States, the social and economic variables that were instrumental, and what the evangelist missionaries achieved. With a good deal of insight, Bastián addresses many aspects of Protestant proselytism, such as the relationship of missionaries with the leadership of the revolution, the ordination of local Mexican pastors, and the creation of seminaries and evangelical schools. Of special interest for the present book is Bastián’s (1983: 116–122) description of the establishment of Methodist schools in the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley about the time the armed phase of the revolution got underway. He also discusses the political maneuvering that the missionaries had to undertake in order to set up shop and gain the favor of the emerging revolution-

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Introduction 5

ary leadership. By the end of 1911, he reports, Methodist missionaries “had established in the region 43 congregations with 1,427 members, 16 daily (primary) schools with 1,322 students, and in the city of Puebla two high schools with 634 students” (Bastián 1983:116). The high schools were attended by wellknown local leaders, who proved of significant help in spreading Protestantism. He goes on to describe how these graduates returned to their communities and became lay preachers, thereby setting down the foundations of evangelism. In summary, as exemplified by the Methodists, not only in the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley but also in other regions of Mexico, the so-called historical churches (primarily Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist denominations) undoubtedly laid the foundations for the great surge of evangelism that began in the mid-1940s. In rural and urban environments they set basic ideological foundations of Protestantism, accustomed peasants and lower- and working-class urbanites to the doctrinal and organizational tenets of the new religion, and gave direction to evangelist sects to proselytize effectively. Had it not been for the Methodist and Lutheran missionaries who worked in the Córdoba-Orizaba region from the mid-1920s to the mid-1940s, the proselytizing of the evangelist sects that replaced them—and have continued to prosper—would not have been as successful as it has been from the 1980s onward. This assessment is overtly expressed by a Pentecostal pastor from Orizaba: El éxito que hemos tenido como evangélicos durante los últimos años [1985–2000] se debe en gran parte a la excelente labor pastoral de los misioneros Luteranos y Metodistas. Nos enseñaron a acercarnos y a predicar a la gente, a entender sus inquietudes espirituales y sus necesidades sociales. Pero más que todo nos enseñaron a predicar a la gente la gracia redentora del Espíritu Santo. The success that we have had as evangelists during the last years is due greatly to the excellent pastoral work of Lutheran

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Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

and Methodist messeigneurs. They taught us to approach and preach to the people, to understand their spiritual preoccupations and social needs. But more than anything else they taught us to preach the redemptive grace of the Holy Spirit.

Thus, the central doctrinal tenets of Protestantism in many regions of Mexico were fi rst sowed by the historical denominations, which were in time greatly modified by specific evangelist sects. This included all the basic doctrinal and organizational traits, as noted above, that all Protestant denominations and sects share, as contrasted to Catholicism. The combination of these traits, plus something specifically believed (almost invariably initiated by the founder or founders of a new faith, and involving usually some radical departure from mainstream Christian theology and teleology), constitutes the defi ning core of every Protestant and native sect. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, as we shall discuss in the following chapters, some of the earliest “heresies” of Christianity (condemned between the Councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon)— namely, Arianism, Nestorianism, Pelagianism, Monophysitism, Sabellianism, Donatism, Manicheanism, and Gnosticism—are given a different twist and expressed in modern vernacular. Of these “heresies,” the most commonly adopted by evangelism are Arianism, Nestorianism, Sabellianism, and Donatism, but we do not know whether the folk theologians of evangelism were aware that they were reverting to these “heresies.”3 Native evangelist “prophets” (also known as “apostles,” “messiahs,” and other names) have demonstrated the same penchant as their Protestant evangelist counterparts for doctrinally creating new theologies and teleologies, and sometimes outlandishly combining biblical elements with local historical elements. In fact, Protestant and native evangelist sects share one all-encompassing belief, namely, that they are the only true Christians, as revealed to the founder or founders of the sect. This exclusivity takes many forms, but the end result is the same: all other faiths, especially Catholicism, are not true Christian faiths, as their proponents have either misread the

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Introduction 7

Bible or misinterpreted the teachings of Jesus Christ and his original apostles. An exception to this generalization is Amistad y Vida, which is the most tolerant and liberal of all native evangelical sects. (The doctrinal, organizational, and ideological configurations of Protestant evangelism of North American origin are well known, and we need not say much about them. This is not the case with native evangelist sects, and it is an aim of this book to give an account of their constitutive elements.) Protestant denominations today (2005) no longer proselytize in rural areas, at least not in those areas included in this study. They confi ne themselves to the largest cities, such as Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, and until recently the city of Puebla. Protestant evangelism in rural areas and among the working classes in urban environments in central Mexico is primarily practiced by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventist, Pentecostal, and Mormon sects, and by the Baptist denominations’ evangelical wing. During the past thirty-five years they have been very successful in converting significant numbers of Catholics in rural Mestizo communities and urban working-class neighborhoods (Bastián 1983; Bowen 1996; Amerlinck 1970; Garma Navarro 1987; Juárez Cerdi 1997; Gaxiola et al. 1984; López Cortés 1990; Tullis 1987). Evangelism, however, has not been successful in making converts among the traditional middle class and the superordinate sectors of Mexican urban society—but neither has mainstream Protestantism made significant inroads in these strata. Thus, Protestant evangelism has been an important religious factor in Mestizo folk communities, and to some extent in transitional Indian communities and among the lower and lower-middle classes of urban society. This is changing, however, and native evangelism has much to do with it. This is the case, for example, with Amistad y Vida, which is appealing more and more to middle-class people, both in the Córdoba-Orizaba region and the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley. Mainstream Protestantism made its appearance in Mexico shortly before the onset of the Díaz dictatorship. It was confi ned to foreign residents who established congregations but

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Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

did not actively proselytize, and few Mexicans became Protestants. Porfi rio Díaz maintained a policy of religious tolerance, but the Catholic Church fostered a strong anti-Protestant stance, which led to much intolerance. After the onset of the 1910 Revolution, urban intolerance toward Protestants decreased. But in rural areas, where Protestant evangelism made its appearance in the following decade—seeming to manifest overnight—intolerance became increasingly more overt as evangelism gained more converts. In some parts of the country, it became confrontational (Bastián 1990; Boff 1982; Bridges 1973; Lindsell 1976; Patterson 1979; Wonderly and LaraBraud 1964). For example, in Chiapas, some of the troubles several municipios in the state have been experiencing over the past fi fteen years are grounded in the antagonism and antipathy of local confrontations between Catholics and Protestant evangelists (López Meza 1992). In large urban centers today, mainstream (historical denominations, as they are most often called) Protestantism (mainly Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Anglicans) is quite visible and active, interaction between Catholics and Protestants is civil, and tolerance prevails. The Catholic hierarchy does not seem to be threatened, which is due mostly to the fact that mainstream Protestantism has not succeeded in converting many middle- and upper-class Catholics (Martin 1990). Moreover, Protestant evangelism has not made any inroads in these generally well-educated classes. Evangelism in these social environments, in fact, is considered an index of social-class position and is associated with the kind of fundamentalism that is all too commonly associated with televangelism, which these privileged Mexicans see in their daily diet of cable, satellite, and direct broadcasting from the United States. In fairness to US mainstream Protestantism, this image of the faith fostered by evangelism is extremely biased; but fortunately, it has not influenced the ambiance of tolerance that nowadays pervades the religious life of educated Mexicans. Nonetheless, the Catholic hierarchy worries about the inroads that evangelism has made in the lower-middle-class and working-class sectors of urban populations. For at least two de-

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Introduction 9

cades, it has been taking measures to counteract what it considers unacceptable proselytism. The Church must comply with the government’s policy of religious freedom but regards it as going against the centuries-old tradition that Mexico is a Catholic country that should not permit any other religion. Thus, in order to counteract religious inroads, the hierarchy has no recourse but to engage in any action congruent with freedom of religious expression, including imitating the techniques and general proselytizing ambiance of evangelists (Nutini 2000; Amerlinck 1970; De los Reyes 1990; Juárez Cerdi 1997; López Cortés 1990; McGuire 1982). The battle for the souls of Mexicans, however, is being most earnestly fought in rural areas. In the close environment of community life, Protestant infi ltration (as priests refer to the establishment of evangelical congregations in their parishes) is perceived as generating an immediate danger to the functioning of Catholic congregations, which in the more secular and impersonal ambiance of the city is less visible and not perceived as such. It should be noted, however, that this attitude is changing. Urban parish priests are becoming as apprehensive as their rural counterparts, and actively take measures to neutralize evangelist proselytism. Whatever the case, parish priests, local lay officials in urban parishes, officials of the more structured local religious government (ayuntamiento religioso) of rural parishes, and the most traditional sectors of the local laity no longer take a laissez-faire attitude, and doctrinally as well as in everyday affairs, they assail evangelist practitioners and local congregations. In summary, confrontation currently characterizes the Catholic reaction to the proselytism of Protestant evangelism in most regions of Mexico, and the situation is likely to deteriorate (Greenleaf 1992; Paloma 1989; Bruce 1990; López Meza 1992; Metz 1994; Zapata Novoa 1990).

Ethnographic Background When H. Nutini undertook an ethnographic survey of the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley and the Sierra de Puebla in 1958, of

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10 Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

the more than one hundred Indian, Mestizo, and mixed communities in which he collected information, no more than fi fteen included Protestant evangelists, and of these only seven were organized local congregations (Nutini and Isaac 1974). Individual evangelists and congregational groups kept a low profi le and public worship was minimal. Worship was almost entirely centered in the houses of congregants since not all congregations had built temples. Congregants did not directly criticize Catholic practices. Catholic parishioners, on the other hand, did not inveigh against evangelists verbally or physically; rather, they regarded them as a curiosity—a fashion, if you will—and felt that most of them would ultimately see their error and come back to the fold. One local priest also took a laissez-faire attitude and did not often preach against evangelists from the pulpit, although he insisted that kinsmen and friends of the new converts try to show them the error of abandoning the Church. This general ambiance changed rather rapidly over the next two decades. At least in Tlaxcala, which we know best, the situation had greatly altered by 1990; about one of every two rural municipios in the state was home to evangelists, and local congregations had sprouted in many communities. The same increase in evangelist proselytism was part of the urban scene: the small city of Tlaxcala (60,000) boasted at least eight congregations, whereas the city of Puebla (1,750,000), a bastion of Catholic conservatism, we were told, had more than 150 congregations. And during the past decade, proselytism continued to grow. We observed a similar pattern of growth in the Córdoba-Orizaba region of central Veracruz. In the city of Fortín (35,000), equidistant between Córdoba (450,000) and Orizaba (400,000), eight congregations were established between 1970 and 2000. Today, Córdoba and Orizaba are regarded by local Catholic authorities as hotbeds of evangelism. We are certain that a similar situation exists in many parts of Mexico. In Guatemala, the growth of Protestant evangelism has been even more spectacular (Bastián 1990; Bowen 1996; Bruce 1990; Key 1989; Metz 1994; Zapata Novoa 1990).

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Introduction 11

We do not have reliable information as to how the situation changed in the Córdoba-Orizaba region between the late 1950s and the early 1990s. We surmise that changes were similar to those that obtained in the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley, which can be summarized as follows. Individually and collectively, evangelists became much more assertive, encouraged primarily by the government, which states explicitly that all religious faiths in Mexico are free to worship with no impediments of any kind. The Catholic hierarchy must abide by this governmental stance, but sub rosa and whenever they could get away with it, they encouraged local priests and Catholic laymen to counteract proselytism and take a militant position against evangelists. Evangelists, as a result, became more vocal, worshiped openly in many temples that had been constructed locally and publicly, and no longer took a subservient stance. Relations between evangelists and Catholics became strained, and physical and verbal confrontations occasionally took place. Perhaps the most common reason was the refusal of evangelists to participate in and contribute to the celebration of the cult of the saints on the many occasions that take place throughout the year. The situation has not yet reached the point of community-wide confrontation, such as the veritable pitch fights that have happened in some parts of central Mexico, especially in Michoacán. During the summer of 2004 in this religiously conservative state, two evangelist congregations in one community flatly refused to contribute the weekly household contributions (domínicas) collected by the fiscales (the main officials of the local religious hierarchy). This led to serious physical violence that had to be put down by the state police, as was widely reported in the dailies. The evangelists did not relent, and the case went to court (Diario La Reforma, August 19, 2004). Whether this kind of confrontation between evangelists and Catholics at the local, community level will increase in central Mexico is anyone’s guess.4 Of all Protestant evangelists proselytizing in the TlaxcalaPueblan Valley and the Córdoba-Orizaba region, probably the Jehovah’s Witnesses are the most successful, followed closely by the Seventh-Day Adventists, Mormons, and Pentecostals. The

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12 Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

Baptists and other, more obscure, splinter groups of the evangelical sects (Assembly of God, Iglesia de Bethel, Iglesia Apostólica de la Fe en Cristo Jesús, Nazarenes), including Mexicanfounded evangelical sects (Iglesia Cristiana Interdenominal, Iglesia de Dios en la República Mexicana, Iglesia de la Luz del Mundo, Cristianos), are also present but not nearly as pervasively as the main three. It should be noted, however, that although these sects may be locally identified by their names, in referring to Protestant evangelists, most rural and urban Catholics are not aware of the differences among the sects, referring to them generically as either “Protestantes” or “Evangélicos.” As to the doctrinal differences and millenarian beliefs of the various sects, the great majority of Catholics are woefully ignorant, and vaguely lump them together as schismatics who drastically depart from what they regard as the essence of Christianity. These include the cult of the saints (the many advocations of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ, as well as the cult of the dead), an extensive complexity of ritual and ceremonials. These cults utilize a strong sense of propitiation and entreaty, and their main objective is generating a collective wellbeing.5 This conception of Catholicism is overtly and precisely expressed by rural, folk people, and less so by urbanites, particularly those who have been uprooted from their folk past for a generation or more. By contrast, mainstream, quite orthodox Catholics (people of middle-class extraction and the upper sectors of society), having outgrown the collective ritualism of folk Catholicism, are the most secure in their faith, do not feel threatened, do not need the social and psychological support afforded by evangelism, and do not worry, or even think, about the inroads of Protestantism of any kind. As a consequence, there is, as far as we are aware, no concerted effort by Protestants of any denomination to proselytize among the better-educated and more affluent classes of Mexican society. (The ambiance of conversion has been changing, however, and during the past decade a modicum of middle-class people have converted to mainstream Protestantism and evange-

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Introduction 13

lism.) Understandably, then, those Catholics most traditionally wedded to a collective conception of faith are the most likely to be converted to Protestant evangelism, and they have been so throughout the century. This inherent weakness of folk Catholicism is well understood by evangelist missionaries, as they tap into the folk beliefs and practices that are most likely to make people receptive to conversion. At least nine pastors of Protestant evangelist sects expressed this aspect of their proselytism, none better than a Pentecostal pastor of a Mestizo/transitional community in the tierra caliente of the Córdoba-Orizaba region: Una de las recomendaciones más importantes que les hacemos a nuestros hermanos y hermanas cuando los entrenamos para salir a predicar, es que hagan hincapié en lo innecesario de rendir culto a los santos, y gastar enormes cantidedes de dinero en celebraciones costosas e idólatras. También enseñamos a nuestros predicadores a hacer entender a la gente lo totalmente absurdo de querer influenciar a Dios a través de los santos, gastando lo poco que tienen en comilonas y borracheras. One of the most important recommendations that we teach our brothers and sisters when they go out to preach is that they should emphasize how unnecessary it is to worship the saints, and to spend enormous sums of money in expensive and idolatrous celebrations. We also teach our preachers to make people understand the total absurdity of wanting to influence God through the saints by spending what little they have on big feasts and drinking bouts.

The pastor went on to say that this proselytizing strategy has been followed by all evangelist sects and, as far as he knew, has been crucial to the growth of evangelism in the region. The proselytism of Protestant evangelism greatly worries the Catholic Church, which for more than two decades has been making a concerted effort to counteract it. This has led to a reexamination of Church policy at the parochial level, empha-

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14 Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

sizing the social needs of local congregations, and not infrequently, in a taking-the-bull-by-the-horns approach, adopting some of the techniques of their religious adversaries. In Tlaxcala, for example, the bishop of the diocese has insistently urged local parish priests to pay more attention to the social and economic needs of the people, and organizes frequent seminars to teach priests how to proceed. Even more significant, the archbishop of the archdiocese of Puebla has instructed priests to explore the charismatic aspects of Catholicism and adapt them to local conditions. Apparently, these and other measures to combat evangelism have been taking place in many dioceses of central Mexico. The inroads of Protestant evangelism in Mexico, and in most countries of Latin America, have become a major factor in the changing religious landscape of Catholicism. The secularization that most Latin American countries have been experiencing since World War II has led, among other things, to a religious tolerance in which all branches of Christianity have the right to compete for peoples’ souls (Garrand-Burnett 1992; López Cortés 1990). This is likely to lead to important religious change, in which the Catholic Church will fi nd itself in fierce competition with Protestantism. Although there is a considerable amount of partisan information on this ongoing confl ict, as far as we are aware it has not been systematically investigated by anthropologists, who are the best informed about folk peoples in Mexico, where the most serious confrontations are now going on. However, some anthropologists (see Amerlinck 1970; Annis 1987; Bennett 1987; Garma Navarro 1987; Juárez Cerdi 1997; López Cortés 1990; Zapata Novoa 1990) and sociologists (see Bowen 1996; Hunter 1982; Kilbourne and Richardson 1988; Snow and Macha lek 1988; Stoll 1990) have studied proselytism in urban and rural environments, the types of conversion, some of the consequences of conversion, and the growth, politics, and overall effects of Protestant evangelism on community, regional, and national life. The operational premise of this book is that in order to study evangelism, particularly in the rural context, one

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Introduction 15

must be thoroughly acquainted with the basic doctrinal and pragmatic tenets of Catholicism. Otherwise, the investigator is likely to miss aspects of Catholicism that bear directly on assessing the success evangelism has had in recent years. This is particularly the case with native evangelism.

The Nature of Evangelism in Central Mexico Native evangelism is a rather recent phenomenon, probably no more than sixty years old. In fact, most native evangelist sects in central Mexico were established during the past thirty years, but a few go back to the late 1940s. The Cristianos sect was founded in 1982, and at least two others no more than ten years earlier. La Luz del Mundo, founded in 1926, is a notable exception. Today, all of them are growing and prospering. It was in the course of a project, begun in 1987, on social structure and mobility in the Córdoba-Orizaba region that we became aware of native evangelism. Two years later, a short survey in the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley on the western slopes of La Malintzi (the mountain that dominates the eastern part of the valley) showed that several native evangelist sects were present. Five years later we initiated the investigation of the nascent Cristianos and the already well-established La Luz del Mundo sects. The research continued every summer for twelve years, and is yet to be completed. Thus, since 1993, we have jointly investigated native and Protestant sects in these two areas of central Mexico. Given that there are no ethnographic studies of native evangelist sects, we decided to report fi rst on these two sects, which are representative in several respects, but are also good studies in contrast of doctrine, ethos, and leadership. In addition, these two sects exhibit the strength and potential for growth and the inherent drawbacks that apply to most native evangelist sects, at least in central Mexico. The most outstanding feature of native sects for the potential growth of evangelism is its nationalist component. Although native evangelist sects are aware that their doctrine is of

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16

Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

North American evangelist derivation, they consider themselves a Mexican movement away from Catholicism. This nationalistic aspect of native evangelism is likely to grow and make it a formidable competitor of traditional Protestant evangelism, as is already happening in several regions of central Mexico. The success of native evangelism suggests that it not only constitutes a threat to Catholic hegemony but also is developing into a formidable adversary to Protestant evangelism. Protestant evangelists give the appearance of accepting their more recent rivals. However, there is an undercurrent of hostility, especially in the present case, to Cristianos, who are envied because the sect has successfully managed to attract middle-class people to whom, at least in the Córdoba-Orizaba region, sects such as Pentecostals, Seventh-Day Adventists, and Jehovah’s Witnesses have had little or no appeal. Fundamentally, native evangelists are perceived by Protestant evangelists as newcomers who do not embody the true spirit of the Bible. The pressure on Catholicism is bound to increase as evangelists become more numerous and powerful. Evangelists have never presented a united front, and our tentative assessment is that evangelists of all stripes will do so when their number and influence reach a critical point. Here again, when this will happen is difficult to tell, but to judge from what is happening in several parts of the country, notably Chiapas, it will not be long in coming. H. Nutini has analyzed these matters (2000), which we would not be remiss to recapitulate here. The two native evangelist congregations that constitute the central concern of this book have a rather similar creed and doctrine but exhibit vast differences in ethos, organization, and pragmatic orientation. Cristianos, with an almost nihilistic emphasis on egalitarianism, lack of hierarchical organization, and pronounced liberalism, appeal mostly to idealists with a fairly secure material existence, who reject Catholic rigidity in search of a meaningful religious experience—a return, if you will, to an idealized traditional community. This is in sharp contrast to the appeal exerted by La Luz del Mundo among the disadvantaged, who accept a hierarchical and fundamentalist sect

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Introduction 17

that provides for their material improvement. Probably no other sect, native or Protestant, has done as much to improve the economic welfare of its members. It is no wonder that the membership of La Luz del Mundo remains staunchly loyal, despite the public fiscal and sexual scandals at the top of the hierarchy, particularly during the past fi fteen years. The antagonism against native and Protestant evangelism in the Córdoba-Orizaba region and the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley has so far remained mostly latent and covert. But this appearance of tranquility is not likely to persist for long, as evangelists of all persuasions become more active and assertive. So far evangelists have tried to maintain a low profi le, but this is bound to change once they fully believe that the government is serious about enforcing freedom of religious expression.6 When Protestant and native evangelists become more militant in defending their rights, the Church will take a tougher stance. What the hierarchy would be able to do, without running head-on into government policy, is impossible to predict, but they would certainly instruct local parish priests to impair in one way or another the proselytizing activities of evangelists. Parish priests have so far tended to regard evangelical success as a passing fad that will disappear in time, but diocesan authorities take a more realistic position. For the past two decades they have tried to institute minor social and religious reforms to make Catholicism more attractive to the disadvantaged. In particular, the diocese of Tlaxcala has encouraged the establishment of local prayer groups without clerical leadership, revitalizing such organizations as Acción Católica (Catholic Action) for community development, and, as mentioned above, instructing priests to be more concerned with the material needs of their parishes. Whether these measures have resulted in diminishing conversion has yet to be determined, but they illustrate the great concern of the Mexican Church leadership with native and Protestant evangelism. Many students of religion and social scientists (Poewe 1994; Alvarez 1987; Boff 1985; Martin 1990; Paloma 1989; Wilson 1987; Levine 1986; Stoll 1990; Bastián 1990; Deiros 1986;

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18

Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

Garrand-Burnett 1992; Greenleaf 1992) have called attention to the growth of Protestant evangelism in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America during the past two generations. But native evangelism has hardly elicited much attention, despite the significant, increasing number of converts from a rather wide spectrum of Mexican society. The success of native evangelism is due not so much to the similar methods of conversion used by it and by Protestant evangelists, but rather to its nationalistic character. In this introduction, we have tried to place native evangelism in relationship to Protestant evangelism. At the same time, we put in perspective the significance of native evangelism and its future development. The remainder of this book covers the following topics: 1. An analysis of evangelism centered on methods of proselytism, reasons for conversion, organization of local congregations, doctrine, and leadership; 2. The analytical framework employed in the study of evangelism, with a focus on what constitutes an in-depth ethnography and the concept of “religious persona” as the basic tool in the study of conversion; 3. Analytical ethnographies of two Amistad y Vida A.C. (Cristianos) and La Luz del Mundo congregations; 4. Comparative analysis of native sects and their relationship to Protestant sects, in two milieus in central Mexico; 5. Social, economic, and religious factors underlying the success of evangelism during the past generation; 6. And what has been the Catholic reaction? Can the Church make the doctrinal and pragmatic changes necessary for it to adapt to growing religious tolerance, thereby effectively counteracting evangelism without resorting to an outright religious war?

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CHAPTER ONE

Analytical Framework of the Study

As there are no ethnographies of native evangelist congregations, the central concern of this book is an ethnographic study of two congregations belonging to two native evangelists sects: one established twenty-four years ago and in the process of expansion; the other founded eighty years ago, and probably the most successful native sect in the country. The fi rst, Amistad y Vida A.C. (Cristianos), is located in the small city of Fortín, Veracruz; the second, La Luz del Mundo, is located in the city of Tlaxcala, the capital of the state of the same name. Through the longitudinal study of the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley (1958 to the present) and the Córdoba-Orizaba region (1968 to the present), we have a detailed ethnographic knowledge of these areas, including the urban environments that dominate their social, economic, and religious life, and the changes that the areas have undergone during the past four decades. Much of this ethnographic work has been on religion, religious change, and related matters (witchcraft, sorcery, and curing), which we regard as essential for understanding the rapid religious transformation that has been ongoing for more than a generation. Moreover, we are thoroughly acquainted with the social, ethnic, demographic, and economic conditions in the rural and urban milieus in which native congregations are embedded. Before specifying how the in-depth ethnographies will be im-

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20

Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

plemented, we would like to address several points, to be discussed at some length. What are the justification and raison d’être of ethnography in historical perspective? What are the uses of ethnography and the role it plays in complementing and interpreting quantitative data? What constitutes an in-depth ethnography, and how can it most appropriately be implemented? The concept of “persona” is a fundamental tool in the study of conversion and religious change. (Parenthetically, the elaboration of these concepts allows us an opportunity to present the general analytical framework that has guided our ethnographic and ethnologic work in Mexico for two generations).

The Diachronic and Synchronic Raison d’Être of Ethnography Ethnography, like history, is an end in itself: a deep-rooted proclivity, which in Western civilization goes back to the Greeks, to preserve for the future a testimony of the collective deeds and accomplishments of a social group. This syndrome has multiple variations in cultures and civilizations everywhere, and has been embodied in written and oral traditions. Although the earliest ethnographies, in basically the modern denotation of the term, go back to classical times (e.g., the work of Herodotus [1965] and Tacitus [1948]), in Western civilization ethnographic accounts were essentially written, sung, and told in the context of myth, legend, and epic literature until the sixteenth century. Systematic ethnography begins with the work of Bernardino de Sahagún, the Franciscan friar who completed his investigation of the culture and society of central Mexico in about 1570. It remained the most complete ethnography until the onset of the twentieth century, and by the end of this period “ethnography” had become exclusively associated with the budding discipline of anthropology. Lest we be misunderstood, ethnography is an activity that has always been practiced exogenously, endogenously, or both at the same time. Let us explain. Herodotus wrote about his

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Analytical Framework of the Study

21

own culture and also about the practices and customs of several societies of the Mediterranean area, whereas Tacitus wrote only about Germanic peoples. The tradition of doing exogenous ethnography essentially disappeared in Western society until the onset of the Renaissance, and from then on, due mostly to the expansion of Western European peoples throughout the world, it became the only kind of ethnography, as endogenous ethnography crystalized into various forms of literature. The latter did not disappear, but it was exogenous ethnography that became the core of anthropology as a scientific discipline. Thus, if Herodotus is our apical ancestor, and therefore something of a mythical figure, Sahagún is the legitimate father of modern ethnographers. In the Anglo-Saxon world, systematic ethnography begins in Australia shortly after the middle of the nineteenth century (Voget 1975; Honigmann 1976; Harris 1968; Lowie 1959), and more significantly in the United States with the foundation of the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) and the work of Major John Powell (1875), Henry Schoolcraft (1951), Lewis Henry Morgan (1851), and several others (Judd 1967; Penniman 1965; Eggan 1968). The specific aim of the BAE was to record the culture of the American Indian tribes, which was rapidly disappearing. Indeed, much of the work of American anthropologists from Franz Boas and his students onward may be regarded as “salvage ethnography,” which quickly extended to other parts of the world. For example, this is true for Mexico, where all work—beginning with Manuel Gamio (1922) and Robert Red field (1930) and continuing to the most recent—is essentially salvage ethnography. This is in fact how we regard the work that we have been doing in Mexico for forty-eight years. Indeed, such has been the cultural loss in Tlaxcala that, during the past five years, we have been consulted by individuals and families from the more secularized communities on such matters as how to conduct a traditional wedding and what are the rites that accompany some of the more unusual compadrazgo (ritual kinship) types. In a sense, all ethnography, by its very

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22

Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

nature of retrieving the knowledge of culture for the future, is salvage ethnography. But in the context of the “hot” (in the Lévi-Straussian sense), rapid context of change in the past century, salvage ethnography has acquired special meaning and urgency. The motivational characterization of American anthropology applies equally to the work of British and French functionalists. The work of Bronislaw Malinowski (1922) and A. R. Radcliffe-Brown (1933) was deeply concerned with ethnography, and the structural-functional approach of Radcliffe-Brown and his students is particularly relevant in assessing the descriptive integrational role of ethnography. But it had two quite different components: on the one hand, the ideographic end of extensive and in-depth description; on the other, the nomothetic aim of generalizing on a grand scale by the use of the comparative method. The former resulted in some of the best ethnographies in the anthropological literature, whereas the latter never materialized into Radcliffe-Brown’s much vaunted sociological laws. Indeed, as early as 1949, E.  E. Evans-Pritchard (1949) proclaimed that “anthropology is history or nothing.” The point is that regardless of what the motivation to do ethnography has been, its uses have an ideographic-diachronic as well as a nomothetic-synchronic aspect. The ideographic-diachronic aspect of ethnography is an end in itself, and from this standpoint the work of anthropologists is a kind of specialized history. But anthropology is also a science, and entails a nomothetic-synchronic aspect. Although hitherto anthropology has not generated sociological laws, it does have a significant generalizing, ethnologic component in which ethnography plays a determinant role. There are two considerations that justify a view of ethnography as the conceptual fulcrum of anthropology as a science. First is the synchronic testimony of organized bodies of sociocultural data for future testing, in the absence of adequate theories. This is the view of George Peter Murdock (1972), who, at the end of a lifetime of formulating and testing hypotheses on kinship and social structure, came to the conclusion that the main achievement that would survive the labor of twentieth-century anthro-

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Analytical Framework of the Study

23

pology is ethnography. This radical position, which may or may not be correct, has no bearing on this book. Second, although to some extent we share Murdock’s position and the view of those who maintain that anthropology has not managed to generate genuine theories, we do nonetheless maintain that ethnography has both an interpretative and an explanatory role to play, propositions that are explored in the following sections.

The Interpretative and Explanatory Dimensions of Ethnography Perhaps the best ethnographies in the anthropological literature are those written in the functionalist mode. The reason for this is that ethnography is fundamentally an exercise in descriptive integration, namely, the specification of a corpus of data whose parts are interrelated, so that when alterations occur in one sector of the whole other sectors are affected in discernible ways. This, of course, is the classical functionalist position, most clearly specified by Radcliffe-Brown (1952), and a permanent contribution to ethnography as probably the most efficient method to describe a sociocultural system. It entails functional explanation (how a system is put together), but it does not entail linear explanation (how something causes something else). Seven of the nine ethnographies we have written on central Mexico have been structured on this premise. From this standpoint, an ethnography is a synchronic construction, frozen in time, so to speak, whose component parts (subsystems) may be ascertained in relation to one another. It is a system that provides individual actors with rules of behavior and action, which anthropologists (consider Boster [1986]; Romney, Weller, and Bachelder [1986]) refer to as “cultural consensus,” which gives coherence to the system and characterizes it as a distinct and separate entity. But rules are broken, that is, the behavior and action specified by the rules confl ict with those of other parts of the system, and they have to be considered in order to give an account of the global system. From this standpoint, a descriptive ethnography is a state-

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24 Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

ment of cultural consensus: a general statement of the rules of behavior that “ought” to be followed for the system’s continuity, and a description of the system as a distinct entity, and how it is related to other systems. In other words, a descriptive ethnography is the synchronic equivalent of a history: a static account that does not account for how the system is dynamically organized, that is, how its various components are related to one another. Most ethnographies are of this type, and they constitute the basic blocks of data for the generalizations of ethnology. An analytical (or in-depth) ethnography, on the other hand, contains endogenous and exogenous dynamic mechanisms; that is, it transcends purely descriptive integration. In addition to accomplishing what a descriptive ethnography does, an analytical ethnography achieves the following ends: endogenously, it specifies both the relationship between the components of the sociocultural system and the links that obtain between them, and evaluates their significance in maintaining the system in a relative state of equilibrium (thereby suggesting likely avenues of change); exogenously, it specifies how the system came into being at a given point in time, the social and cultural forces that configure it, and how it is embodied in a wider spatial, social, and cultural world. In various combinations, these are the qualities that make Malinowski’s Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922), EvansPritchard’s Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande (1937), and Kluckhohn’s Navaho Witchcraft (1967) outstanding ethnographies.

The Uses of Ethnography and Its Role in Complementing and Interpreting Quantitative Data We have already addressed the main strictly descriptive significance of ethnography as preserving the configuration of culture. This is the equivalent of conservationists striving to ensure the survival of endangered animal and vegetable species. This is not directly relevant to our enterprise here, although as

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Analytical Framework of the Study

25

a historical fact, recording the inception and form of a case of native evangelism could be useful for a future investigation of evangelism in general. The analytical significance of ethnography, on the other hand, has two main aspects: complementing and interpreting data. While testing specific hypotheses may exclusively require quantitative data, the solution of most sociocultural problems requires complementation of the qualitative data of ethnography and various kinds of quantitative data. Sociological studies have suffered for lack of an ethnographic base, whereas anthropologists have often complemented quantitative data with the qualitative data of ethnography. Perhaps an example may elucidate the complementation. Ethnography in the urban environment (and in general when dealing with multivariant situations involving large numbers of people of different social and economic status, such as in studies of class stratification, class formation, and ethnicity) may be conceived as the “receptacle” in which quantitative data are interpreted. Following Warner (1956), this is the strategy we used in a study of social stratification and mobility in the CórdobaOrizaba region (Nutini 2005). After collecting a large corpus of quantitative data on the various components of class structure (race, ethnicity, the rural/urban cleavage, and several others), we found ourselves unable to interpret and assess many of the quantitative facts. But things became fully intelligible after we had completed five ethnographic sketches of the main putative (etic) classes of the region. We used the same strategy in the ethnographies of the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley, most successfully in the study of bloodsucking witchcraft (Nutini and Roberts 1993), in which fortyeight quantitatively investigated cases of infants being sucked by witches were interpreted and explained in the context of an indepth ethnography of anthropomorphic supernaturalism. The complementation of quantitative facts and ethnography is especially useful in the study of religion, because all forms of religious phenomena entail ideological interpretation of facts in the light of specific social, economic, and political contexts. This is particularly the case in the study of new religious

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26

Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

movements that must be assessed in the context of the religion from which people convert and the sociocultural conditions that configure the new faith. In the case of the present research, verbalized reasons for conversion, judgments on Catholicism, social and doctrinal appraisals of evangelism, and many other specific data can only be fully evaluated in the context of analytic ethnography. Thus, this book is built on an indepth knowledge of doctrinal and pragmatic Catholicism and quantitative knowledge of conversion to evangelism and local social and economic conditions.

What Constitutes an In-Depth Analytical Ethnography? How Will It Be Implemented? An analytical ethnography is a statement of cultural consensus of a social group plus the specifications of its various components, the bonds that link members to one another, and the interactive mechanisms that maintain the social group in a state of equilibrium (that is, as a viable social system). Moreover, an analytical ethnography entails an exogenous component that states how the social group originated. In other words, an analytical ethnography combines nomothetic-synchronic and ideographic-diachronic elements, and generates limited linear explanations, that is, it accounts for limited-range change. Analytical ethnography, to put it differently, is a necessary instrument in regional studies and in the study of problems that involve large, diversified numbers of people, as noted above. An analytical ethnography is a required base for studying the formation of religious movements in which a new spiritual being emerges out of an established religion. Concentrating on the main themes of this book, let us specify the steps that must be taken to generate an analytical ethnography. The cultural consensus of congregations must fi rst be ascertained. This operation is essentially an ideal description of congregations entailing all the rules and imperatives that configure it as a religious group. Second, the doctrinal, ritual-ceremonial, symbolic, and

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Analytical Framework of the Study

27

pragmatic organization of congregations must be placed in structural interaction, that is, the mechanisms that generate religious action must be ascertained as minutely as possible. This is the most crucial and difficult task to achieve in implementing the analytical ethnography as envisaged here. This is the diagnostic operation of an analytical ethnography that endows it with a dynamic endogenous and exogenous component. A couple of examples may illustrate this step. The doctrine of Amistad y Vida A.C. prescribes, say, that faith in Jesus Christ does not ensure salvation if it is not accompanied by good works and a righteous life. But due to Catholic enculturation since childhood, some newly converted Cristianos do not entirely adhere to this precept, and it becomes one of the most difficult beliefs to overcome. The point is that an analytical ethnography must provide an explanation when injunctions are not complied with; that is, it must specify the circumstances of transgression. La Luz del Mundo, unlike the majority of the native evangelist sects, is not egalitarian. Rather, it is centralized and significantly stratified: the ranks of the congregation, from the “apostle” (the head of the sect) and his immediate associates to local pastors and the rank-and-fi le congregants, are greatly differentiated and marked by behavioral differences. Since the Pentecostal sect, noted, at least in Mexico, for its egalitarianism, was the doctrinal model for this native evangelist sect, these organizational traits must be explained exogenously by delving into the short evolution of the sect, and specifying the internal and external variables that affected its development. The third step involves establishing the interaction between the ideal, prescriptive elements of the descriptive ethnography with the actual, operational principles of the analytical ethnography. This step provides the latter with as much explanatory power as it is possible to generate in the essentially descriptive operation that is ethnography. In other words, cultural consensus is specified as a set of imperatives that are transgressed in discernible ways and circumstances, resulting in the best possible description of a social group’s behavior and actions. There is a fourth step, if the ethnography is intended to

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complement quantitative data or serve as a receptacle for interpreting such data. This has not traditionally been the main role of ethnography, and there is much to be said about its interpretative role. The ethnography presented in this book will exemplify in detail our analytical stand and illustrate, step by step, what has so far been sketched abstractedly.

Cognitive Component: The Concept of Persona This completes the collective configuration of an analytical ethnography, which probably most good ethnographers intuitively know. However, there is a cognitive dimension that has generally been ignored—one that is particularly relevant to ethnographic studies of religion and religious movements. Let us develop it in some detail. Fundamentally, conversion to another religion means the acquisition or, if you will, the internalization of a new perspective of the supernatural, different from that of the religion from which individuals convert. We would like to call this transformation “the acquisition of a new religious ‘persona’” that changes the doctrinal and pragmatic configuration of worshiping the deity: greatly if the religions involved are unrelated (like a Christian converting to Buddhism), and significantly if the religions are related (like a Catholic converting to Protestantism). In the context of Mesoamerica (Mexico and Guatemala) and other ethnographically well-studied countries of Latin America, such as Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador, the notion of “persona” has been implicitly assumed in the passage from Indian to Mestizo status (the analogous equivalent of religious conversion). It was, however, a young Spanish anthropologist, Pedro Pitarch (2001), who explicitly called attention to its potential use in conceptualizing the social and cultural transformation that Indians have been undergoing since the Spanish Conquest. In the following paragraphs we adapt the concept for the study of conversion, which is at the heart of understanding evangelism.

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The concept of persona encompasses that ontological complex of symbols, latent and manifest beliefs, and ideological injunctions that the members of a religion, or more specifically, religious congregation, have epistemologically internalized. In other words, realization of the persona defi nes the religious experience of a social group, and the perception that its members have of the world around them, their relation to the supernatural, and the nature of the social order. The folk Catholic persona, for example, stipulates that God may most effectively be propitiated and entreated through the mediation of the saints (male and female, all advocations of the Virgin Mary, and the souls of the dead), which, together with three or four other symbolically and ideologically constructed doctrinal traits (primarily a covenant binding the entire congregation and supernatural personages [Catholic and pagan] that demands a large roster of expensive rituals and ceremonies, and a rather pronounced proclivity that values and morality are regulated not by religion but by the social structure in operation), determine the individual and collective praxis of folk Catholicism. This defi nition of folk Catholicism is what it ought to be, which is modified by time and circumstances, as evidenced by the fact that it has changed significantly since the Spanish Conquest. For example, when Catholicism was introduced in Mexico in the sixteenth century, it was more decentralized and egalitarian than it is today and it was also more concerned with the social welfare of congregations, due primarily to the kind of primitive Christianity advocated by the mendicant friars. That is, it was pragmatically more similar to today’s Protestant and native evangelism. In our estimation, the disappearance of these early traits of Catholicism is one of the main explanations of why so many people are converting to evangelism. This persona changes significantly upon conversion to evangelism. Doctrinally, the cult of the saints is given up, and this gives evangelism everywhere its most distinct and diagnostic characteristic. Pragmatically, however, some aspects of Catholic propitiation and entreaty survive, as the deity is approached

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30 Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

directly, and not that differently from the practice in Catholicism, particularly by the newest sects (those founded within the past generation): pilgrimages to several santuarios (places of worship) claiming manifestations of Jesus Christ and the Trinity are common (as a promise in exchange for a favor). In general the relationship to the Christian supernatural remains basically the same (that is, the deity is a source of favors, which are granted when properly propitiated and/or by the supplicant doing good works).1 The foregoing description of the native evangelist persona is an outline of its ontological component, or if you will, the pragmatic domains entailed by the new epistemological persona (perceptions, beliefs, and worldview) that comes into being upon conversion from Catholicism. This is the most difficult part of the analytical ethnography to generate, the reason being that it entails cognitive processes for which there are no tried methods to establish causal links between individual behavior and collective action. Nonetheless, approximations are possible: that is, individual beliefs and perceptions can be established as causing social action in specific domains. And this is the essence of understanding religious behavior; for example, individual rejection of Catholic beliefs and practices entails the praxis of native evangelism, which leads to the internalization of Protestant doctrine, though what is verbalized (rationalized) as the reason for conversion is the latter. The transformation of the persona, as people convert from Catholicism to native evangelism, may be regarded as a complex of categories and structural roles that change the perception of individuals, thereby affecting the global doctrinal discharge of the faith. An analytical ethnography in this case must capture this transformation to the fullest possible extent, and make it the central mechanism in understanding native evangelism, and to some extent explain how it functions. Culturally and structurally native evangelist congregations and Catholic parishes share the same social, economic, and environmental milieu, and the religious persona of the former is structured solely by new religious beliefs (a reaction to Cath-

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olic beliefs and practices unrelated to the shared environmental conditions), which when fully internalized, change not only the individual perception of the supernatural world but the entire cultural milieu of the congregation as well. To put it differently, the persona is the effect of religious factors but also the cause of a new cultural domain that comes into being, which leads native congregations to structure a different social, economic, and environmental milieu. To summarize, the concept of persona endows an analytical ethnography of a religious group with a psychological component; or, if you will, a recognition of the fact that ideational constructs cannot be understood, much less explained, in terms of social facts alone, as Durkheim has so well instilled in anthropologists and sociologists for most of the twentieth century. Many ethnographies of witchcraft and sorcery have a cognitive component, but this has rarely been the case in studies of religion.

The Epistemological Foundations of Ethnography Implicitly or explicitly, anthropologists have always made a distinction between “what is” and “what ought to be” in their conceptualization of sociocultural phenomena. The most common designations for these concepts have been respectively “structure” and “ideology” (they have also been referred to as “custom” and “values”). “Structure” encompasses what people “actually do” under specified conditions (that is, the rules, injunctions, imperatives, and commands to action that characterize their culture). While it is important to make this distinction, merely doing so does not advance the conceptual task of anthropology any more than distinguishing between infrastructure and superstructure by itself advances the scientific, explanatory goals of Marxism. Once it is accepted that sociocultural systems have rules, injunctions, and imperatives concerning behavior, it must also be acknowledged that these are frequently violated. In this view,

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an explanation of behavior consists of determining the relationship of efficacy obtaining between what people actually do and what they should do. In other words, explanations consist of the determination of how, when, why, and under what conditions rules, injunctions, and imperatives are adhered to or departed from by the actors of sociocultural systems. Unless such a relationship is posited between structure and ideology, the distinction between them is useless for explanatory purposes (as is the case, for example, with the residual conception of ideology in Marxism, and the notion of functionalism that ideology is part of structure). As a corollary, an adequate scientific explanation of a corpus of sociocultural phenomena can best be stated not in terms of either ideal or actual behavior by itself, but only in terms of a combination of the two. It is this conception of description and explanation in anthropological studies that has informed our work in Mexico for two generations. Although we have not managed to operationalize formally the relationship of efficacy obtaining between structure and ideology (the key component of the approach), we have been able to operationalize it informally to the extent of construing the ideological and the structural as impinging upon each other in defi nite ways and specific contexts. This operation is admittedly not entirely amenable to quantification, but it nonetheless allows for establishing the direction of causality, thereby transcending both the explanation of functionalism and the ideological framework of structuralism. Moreover, an understanding of the dynamic interaction of structure and ideology makes symbolic and ritual assignments easier, especially in religious studies. Symbolic and ritualistic behaviors are, after all, kinds of mediators and catalyzers between what people should do and what they actually do. The distinction between ideology and structure in turn entails two efficacious levels of analysis, elsewhere (Nutini 1988: 301–342) designated as the “ideological domain” and the “structural ideal domain.” In this book they should respectively be referred to as the “ideology” and the “belief system” of the native evangelist sects under consideration. Briefly, these

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are the two metalanguages (that is, levels of analysis) that are efficacious in explaining the structural discharge of a system: ideology is the more abstract, whereas the belief system is in direct relationship to actual behavior and action. In this conceptual scheme, the ideology has efficacy in the actual structural discharge of the circumscribed system that has been isolated. Unlike a teleological functional system or an idealized structural system, this construct in terms of two efficacious domains does facilitate the establishment of causality and explains the actual discharge of behavior and action. The reason for this is that the construct is not a closed system but is activated by variables external to the system itself. Thus, once a system has been isolated and bounded, whatever explanation may be forthcoming is determined by the external variables acting upon it. This approach has yielded significant results in our studies of ritual kinship, religion, and anthropomorphic supernaturalism in rural Tlaxcala. It is therefore worthwhile to ascertain what the ideological domain (the ideology) and the structural ideal domain (the belief system) consist of, ontologically and epistemologically, with reference to native evangelism. The ideology may be defi ned as encompassing the jural rules, moral constraints, imperatives to action, and value directives that underlie and shape the structural discharge at the level below that of a global sociocultural configuration. (In the present case it is that of the numerous sects that comprise native and Protestant evangelism in central Mexico.) These rules, constraints, imperatives, and directives (the ideational domain of a religious congregation), are not directly observable, nor are they deductible from the raw data of social and cultural experience. Rather, they constitute an ontological entity that is twice removed from observable phenomena. One can regard the ideological domain as a largely unconscious sociocultural sphere, and in this sense the term “ideational” is quite appropriate. The ideological domain is unconscious, not only in that the actors of a given system or subsystem are unaware of its tenets and efficacious properties, but also in that the anthropologist becomes acquainted with it after a prolonged period of time

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and analysis and following the assignment of functional interpretations to the structural domain. It is this interrelated epistemological and ontological complex that we will analyze as the ideology of the native evangelist congregations, well-delineated subsystems of the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley and the CórdobaOrizaba region. The belief system, on the other hand, stands below the ideological domain and immediately adjacent to the facts of social experience. The belief system, unlike the ideological aspect, is not composed of injunctions that take the form of rules and instructions, but its constituent elements comprise defi nite and specific directives that implicitly take the form of commands and prohibitions. In other words, the belief system is composed of directives (“second-level commands”) that are the efficacious result of the ideological domain in operation. The belief system, then, consists of the immediate pragmatic directives shaping the structural and functional discharge of a system or subsystem under consideration. These directives are conscious, well known to the system actors, and often verbalized in detail. To use a Lévi-Straussian analogy: the structural ideal domain stands to the facts of behavior and social experience, in the same relationship as mechanical models stand to statistical models (Nutini 1965). The directives (beliefs) of the structural ideal domain are statements elicited by anthropologists, on the basis of which the independently observed facts of behavior are interpreted and positioned. Anthropologists quite often stop at this second level of analysis, and what is regarded as ideology is little more than a generalized statement of the belief system of a particular sociocultural domain, objectivized as cultural consensus. What has passed for the ideology of folk religion in Mesoamerica, for example, is basically an abstracted statement of beliefs, distorted by undue emphasis on “orthodox” Catholic practice and often gauged and reexamined in relation to other beliefs, but not including those of witchcraft and sorcery. It is as if folk Catholicism has been studied in a synchronic vacuum, that is, independent of other belief systems that have shaped doctrinal Catholicism.

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Analytical ethnography, centered on the cognitive concept of persona, avoids this kind of reduction/reification, and, in the context of this book, it allows for a proper description and understanding of the processes involved in the conversion of Catholics to native evangelists. To put it differently, the changes of religious persona are focused on the beliefs and practices of Catholicism that are retained by native evangelism and their reinterpretation in the context of Protestant evangelism. In addition, the entire range of ideological and structural inputs (political, economic, social, ethnic) is analyzed co-variantly in order to determine religious reinterpretations and the formation of a new faith. Many ethnographies have been written on evangelism, but none from the standpoint proposed here.

Terminological Note on Evangelism, Concepts, and Units We are using the term “evangelism” (and “evangelist”) in the widest, most universal denotation of the term: a religious faith that actively, occasionally compulsively, goes into the world to preach and proselytize. When Jesus told his followers to spread the gospel, it became the defi ning characteristic of Christianity, and is also at the heart of Mohammedanism. From the very beginning it departed from Judaic exclusivity. Thus, Judaism remained an ethnic (folk) religion, whereas Christianity and Mohammedanism became world, imperial religions. By the end of the eighth century all Italic, Germanic, and Celtic peoples had become Christian, while four centuries after the foundation of Islam Mohammedanism had become the dominant religion from the Mediterranean to Southeast Asia. Again, with the expansion of Western European peoples throughout the world, most notably the Spaniards and the Portuguese, evangelism became of paramount importance. The case of the Spaniards is particularly illuminating. Since the discovery of the New World, the official Spanish policy had two main objectives: exploitation of the Indians and their conversion to Catholicism. By the end of the sixteenth century most of the aboriginal population had been converted to Catholi-

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cism, many of them albeit superficially, and the same happened in the Philippines, which was intimately tied administratively to the viceroyalty of New Spain. Beyond Europe, Latin America became, and still is, the most Catholic area of the world. In Europe itself, with the Reformation, which began in the early sixteenth century, Protestantism (as the reaction against the Church of Rome was known) became fragmented into socalled denominations (Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglicanism, Presbyterianism, Methodism, many varieties of Anabaptism, and several others) who were active evangelists. By the middle to late seventeenth century about half of the population of Europe had become Protestant. After more than a century of protracted confl ict (both military and theological), and after direct entailment by the bloody Thirty Years’ War, Catholics and Protestants realized that coexistence was the only solution. With occasional outbursts of violence, as witnessed in the Irish confl ict, the entente has worked until the present. The colonialism that came into being as a result of the expansion of Western European peoples, and the colonial system that the Northern European powers (mainly England and Holland, and, to a large extent, France) instituted, did not involve concerted, systematic evangelism, as practiced by the Spaniards, though undoubtedly some proselytizing went on. As a consequence, Anglo-Saxon evangelism, which this book is directly concerned with, came during the late phase of colonialism, and primarily exclusively from the United States and Britain. Throughout the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth century, Protestant denominations became actively engaged in evangelism, but so did, even more actively, the dozens of so-called sects, offshoots of mainstream Protestantism. In fact, Protestants of all kinds became the main purveyors of the Christian gospel, surpassing Catholicism and its predominant role during the early stages of colonialism. We hope to have made the case of etically using the concept of evangelism in its widest, most universal denotation, though students of religion, particularly in departments of religious studies, have used the concept emically and have made fi ne dis-

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tinctions among the many sects that made their appearance before the middle of the nineteenth century. This is a useful exercise, as the study of evangelism demands to distinguish the different sects and their doctrinal and pragmatic characteristics.

Denominations, Sects, and Their Definitional Attributes There is an extensive literature on the terminological designations that constitute the many kinds of Protestantism (Poewe 1994; Bowen 1996; Zapata Novoa 1990; Erdely 1997; Masferrer 1997a; Hochman 1997; Mullins 1991). There is no need to go over the same territory, and in the following remarks we shall confi ne ourselves only to what is necessary to put in perspective our own analysis of native evangelism. In the fi rst place, the distinction between denominations (which students of religion writing on Mexican Protestantism refer to as the “historical denominations” and Mexican scholars as “iglesias” [churches]) and sects is well agreed upon by most students of religion (see Poewe 1994), with the latter being regarded as offshoots of the former; some scholars, however, think that the term “sect” is derogatory and should not be used (see Zapata Novoa 1990). The term “sect” may have a derogatory connotation, but etymologically it is perfectly appropriate, and it has a tradition, going back to Max Weber, who distinguished between “church” (read “denomination”) and “sect” (Parsons 1968). An alternative term, “cult,” has been suggested (Stark and Bainbridge 1987), but in the light of recent developments in the United States (witness the episodes in Texas, San Diego, and Guyana), this term is even more inadequate. This is why we decided to stay with the traditional categories of “denomination” and “sect.” There is, however, one important aspect concerning sects— namely, that there are different kinds—that is very much pertinent to our endeavor here. We primarily have in mind the concept of “destructive sect.” This interest of religious scholars stems from the suicidal-sectarian occurrences that have taken

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place during the past three decades, namely, Jim Jones’s People’s Temple in Jonestown, Guyana (1978), David Koresh’s Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas (1993), Joseph Di Mambro’s Order of the Solar Temple in Switzerland and Canada (1994), Marshall Applewhite’s Heaven’s Gate in San Diego, California (1997), and a few others. This concept of “destructive sect” appropriately characterizes La Luz del Mundo, which, during the past two decades, had its leadership charged with child abuse, sexual abuse of women, and all sorts of malversations, as we have already noted. We are aware that scholars of religion have categorized denominations and sects according to doctrinal and organizational characteristics. For example, they make fi ne distinctions between Pentecostals, evangelicals, and charismatics; characterize sects according to doctrinal attributes and doctrinal proclivities; study the origin and formation of sects and cults; and so on. These, of course, are etically necessary for the comparative study of religion, but have no direct bearing upon the basically emic enterprise of this book: generating analytical ethnographies of two different sects. There are other aspects that must be considered, which students of religion (both anthropologists and sociologists and scholars from religious studies) have analyzed. We refer to aspects of evangelism that are directly relevant to native evangelism in central Mexico: the functions of evangelism that have been greatly instrumental in people’s reactions against Catholicism, including the role of women, abandoning deep-rooted practices such as drinking and infidelity (particularly concerning men), and configuring the local congregation as an integrated, active apostolic unit; the forms of conversion to evangelism, and the social, economic, and religious factors that lead to it; the affi nities of various forms of evangelism with certain aspects of folk Catholicism such as expelling evil spirits, supernatural healing, ecstatic release, and millenarian expectation; and so on. All these aspects of evangelism will be assessed and analyzed in the context of the analytical ethnographies.

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CHAPTER T WO

The Theology and Teleology of Amistad y Vida (Cristianos)

Foundation of Amistad y Vida A.C. Amistad y Vida (Cristianos) had its beginning in Mexico City. It was started in 1982 by the Presbyterian minister Robert Mayers, with the help of Mr. and Mrs. Pardillo; they formed the fi rst congregation, which quickly grew to more than two thousand members; by 2001, numbers had increased to more than four thousand. A second congregation was established in Puebla in 1986, and within four years five more came into being within the metropolitan area of the city, with a total membership of more than eight thousand. Missionaries from the city of Puebla congregation founded a third group of congregations in and about Xalapa (the capital of the state of Veracruz) in 1989, which now boasts three congregations having a total of thirty-five hundred members. Finally, missionaries from Xalapa founded a congregation in Córdoba in 1993, which was moved to the outskirts of Fortín in 2004 and now has more than one thousand congregants. During the past fi fteen years, Cristiano congregations have flourished in several regions of central Mexico and other parts of the country, but there are no reliable figures for its total membership; our educated guess is that Cristianos number between 100,000 to 120,000. The founder of the Fortín congregation is Jorge Bitar. He and his wife Susana were prominent leaders of Amistad y Vida

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A.C. (Asociación Civil, or Civil Association) in Xalapa. Aware of the strategic importance of Córdoba as an entry to southeastern Mexico, the Bitars moved to Córdoba to set up a new congregation. After they were in that city for eleven years it was decided to move the physical site of the congregation to Fortín and more spacious quarters. The congregation has become the regional center for seven groups of Cristianos that have mushroomed in the Córdoba-Orizaba region. The rapid expansion of Amistad y Vida in central Mexico led to the emergence of local leaders, around whom independent congregations were established. These leaders coalesced as the equivalent of pastors, although with deliberate intent to avoid hierarchy the congregation calls them oradores (prayer leaders). The position of orador is little more than that of a prayer coordinator of religious services and administrator of congregation affairs; male and female congregants can, and often do, function as oradores. From the very beginning Amistad y Vida elicited a favorable perception from the Catholic population at large. Cristianos were regarded as low-key, well behaved, respectful, and, unlike other evangelist sects, nonthreatening to Catholicism.1 What most impresses the prospective converts is the cheerful and relaxed religious approach of Cristianos, which has become well known; this may be the group’s most appealing feature for disaffected Catholics, particularly the young and early middleaged. Although Cristianos are committed to the spread of their variety of Christianity, the sect does not engage in proselytism in the conventional meaning of the term. Rather they do it by example, that is, word of mouth and doing community work that people may notice; in the city they do not go from door to door, and they do not venture into rural areas. In almost its entirety Cristianos are fairly affluent urbanites of the middle class and the upper layer of the lower-middle class; some are professionals (physicians, lawyers, engineers, accountants, and so on in the lower range of local prestige and success), and many adults have fi nished their high school education (preparatory). Thus Cristianos is an urban sect which appeals to peo-

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ple on purely religious grounds, and it does not entail the syndrome of “rationalization after the fact” (that is, adducing that converts had found the true faith, often masking social and material benefits as factors involved in their conversion), as they have a fairly secure social and economic position in society. These are the main factors and attitudes that have characterized Amistad y Vida in its twenty-two years of existence, which explains its appeal to dissatisfied Catholics.

Theological Configuration of Cristianos Let us fi rst consider the kind of religious group Amistad y Vida A.C. is. The name translates into English as “Friendship and Life Association,” but its members call themselves “Cristianos” (Christians), and they are known as such in central Mexico. Significantly, the original congregation of Amistad y Vida had the appearance of a group of dissident Catholics who formed a civic association, as the name indicates. According to oral tradition and the statutes of the Cristianos, this was the original intent of the founder, evidenced by his eschewing any religious title, such as pastor or minister. Moreover, the fluid, nonhierarchical organization of the congregation also prompts one to wonder whether Cristianos is a sect or simply a religious association. But we can say that Cristianos is a sect because it entails a religious creed, an ensemble of rituals and ceremonies, and a moral code of behavior. The beliefs and doctrines of Cristianos are simple and devoid of theological elaboration, designed basically for leading a Christian life based on the principles that all Christians follow, Protestant and Catholic, as derived from the Lord Jesus Christ and based on the New Testament. The Old Testament is, of course, implicitly accepted, but it plays an insignificant role in their religious praxis, which is centered in their fi rst commandment, as the most important in molding the life of the people and as a spring to action. Thus, it is the second commandment that specifies the behavior and action of the congregation

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and constitutes the practical orientation of the congregation. The third commandment of Amistad y Vida is Jesus’s injunction (Matthew 28:19) to go into the world and propagate His teachings and make disciples of all nations. But, as we shall analyze in detail in the conclusions, Cristianos do not proselytize in the conventional sense but by personal example and service to the community. This is the essentially pragmatic character of Amistad y Vida. The statement of purpose on the Amistad y Vida website makes this orientation clear: Dar a conocer a nuestra sociedad, independientemente de su credo religioso, el mensaje, la enseñanza y el pensamiento de Jesús de Nazareth para establecer una relación personal con Él y estudiar las Santas Escrituras como el medio para conseguir la unidad familiar, tan atacada por el divorcio, la pornografía, las drogas, la falta de comunicación, el alcoholísmo, etc.; y alcanzar la superación y éxito personales a través de la aplicación de los altos principios y valores morales y espirituales contenidos en la Biblia. To let our society know, regardless of religious creed, the message, teachings, and the thought of Jesus of Nazareth in order to establish a personal relationship with Him and study the Holy Scriptures as the means to achieving family unity, so much undermined by divorce, drugs, lack of communication, alcoholism, etc., in order to achieve personal improvement and success by commitment to the high principles and spiritual values that are found in the Bible.

This statement of purpose could have been made by any of the native and Protestant sects that we have investigated in central Mexico, as they all share some of the same basic beliefs for action. The difference, as we have ascertained, is that Cristianos more than any other sect faithfully live by these injunctions with cheerful devotion. As far as other aspects they share with most of the evangelist sects, Cristianos are Trinitarians, Anabaptists, and practice a mild version of glossolalia. In all other

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respects the beliefs and doctrines of Cristianos do not much diverge from the common denominator of evangelist sects.

Beliefs and Pragmatic Springs to Action Amistad y Vida is essentially a pragmatic religion, focused on personal realization and doing community service as the best way to achieve happiness and salvation by practicing the simple, uncomplicated principles of a kind of primitive interpretation of the New Testament. The beliefs, commands, and injunctions guiding Cristianos’ religion and pursuit of an ethical life may be summarized as follows: (1) Amistad y Vida does not expect perfection from its members, well aware that people are constantly confronting the problems and challenges of modern life, but recognizes that they can be helped by profound adoration of God. As a consequence of this practical, engaged view with the world, the religious services of Cristianos are punctuated with conferences on practical, contemporary matters, but based on fi rm biblical foundations, and encourage attendants (members and prospective members) to practice to the best of their ability what is preached. (2) All reunions and activities are designed to motivate congregants to consciously adopt Jesus Christ’s character through a personal relationship with God. Amistad y Vida aims to fashion mature disciples of Christ with a positive attitude toward facing the challenges and dangers of life, and at the same time hopefully influencing the world around them. (3) Cristianos aspire to have an impact in society by undertaking endeavors that would make a difference in the lives of individuals and families. For this purpose they organize family groups in private residences throughout the city, to attend to the spiritual and emotional needs of the needy in an ambiance of warmth and fraternity. (This is an activity that many congregants regularly undertake, and is one of the most visible and admired of Cristianos’ community services.) (4) Besides ministering to the soul and personal well-being

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of individuals, Cristianos are at all times conscious of serving the community’s material needs. Thus, Amistad y Vida has instituted an internal system of services that include social workers, teachers, musicians, and counselor-specialists to advise and enliven the life of each congregant; while externally they have organized teams of counselors to help the misguided and the unbelievers, but also to do charitable work in hospitals, jails, and orphanages. (5) To the general public, Amistad y Vida provides the opportunity for biblical studies that transcend the context of the New Testament, working to transform the educational level of individuals by presenting Jesus Christ as a model to emulate in leading a good and productive life. (In their visits to hospitals and jails, they emphasize social and material help so that, as several informants indicated, troubled individuals would hopefully join the sect for further transformation of their lives.) (6) Cristianos foster the creation of genuine fellowship (not the kind that most Mexican men practiced by drinking with friends and compadres and womanizing) based on love for one’s fellow humans in the activities of daily life. This means being courteous, honest in every activity, and always considerate of others, which they sincerely believe is the only way to get ahead and be happy. Extending this to all contexts of social and economic interaction, Cristianos are often admonished to behave toward others as they would to their own families. (7) Amistad y Vida is structured in such a way as to permit the development of the natural talent and skills of its members so they may lead an ethical life and also a prosperous one. (This double strategy embodies all of the above and, as the director of the Fortín congregation puts it, is the fundamental foundation and guide to action of their version of the Christian faith.) The foregoing guides to action and moral injunctions are, of course, an idealization, which we elicited from two directors and many congregants. The above goals unmistakably demonstrate the ideational-ideal (belief system) configuration of Amistad y Vida, but how do they translate into real behavior and action? In order to answer this question we must address

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the fact that, implicitly or explicitly, anthropologists have always made the distinction between “what is” and “what ought to be” in conceptualizing sociocultural phenomena. Before illustrating how this strategy applies to the case under consideration, its analytical bases must be specified. The following discussion is an exemplification of the approach to the study of evangelism as described in chapter 1. In order to make it more operational, it requires amplification, and unavoidably involves some repetition, which we will keep to a minimum. As mentioned in the prior chapter, the most common designations of these concepts in anthropological discourse have been, respectively, “structure” and “ideology” (they have also been referred to as “custom” and “values”). “Structure” encompasses what people “actually do” under specified conditions (that is, the rules, injunctions, imperatives, and commands to action that characterize a social group). While it is important to make the distinction, merely doing so does not necessarily complete the conceptual task of anthropology. It is the foregoing conception of the belief system of the cult of the dead that we wish to employ in analyzing and understanding the sects of Amistad y Vida and La Luz del Mundo. With few deviations, this is the primary approach that has informed our ethnography and ethnology in central Mexico.

The Ideology of Amistad y Vida We have so far established the belief system of Amistad y Vida and its directives to action. We must now specify the ideology of the sect, in order to explain, or at least understand, the actual behavior of Christians and, by extension, of the Cristianos and of La Luz del Mundo’s faithful. An account of an ideology can never be complete, not only because of the interlocking fluctuation of structure and ideology within any system, but more significantly because it is not always possible to determine how the ideology of a system is related to another proximate system. In any event, the following account represents the

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array of ideological domains of Amistad y Vida that we have isolated so far. These domains are not self-contained but rather are combinations of exclusive and inclusive elements with various ranges of effectiveness. The ideology of Amistad y Vida rests upon these fundamental premises in terms of relative inclusiveness from greater to lesser. (1) The doctrine, dogmas, and practices (rites, ceremonies, functions, and activities) of Amistad y Vida are supernaturally sanctioned by a “right” interpretation of the Bible, as the only way to achieve grace and lead a good Christian life.2 This fundamental axiom is, of course, shared by all evangelist sects, but in Amistad y Vida it is interpreted in a significantly different manner. Cristianos are the beneficiaries of what we would call a “laid-back” religious faith: it is not a fi re-and-brimstone religious orientation; that is, God does not punish transgressions with illness, misfortune, and accidents. Cristianos believe, simply, that a person’s life would be poorer and not as happy if she did not comply with the moral precepts of the faith. (Parenthetically, this is another factor that plays a role in conversion to Amistad y Vida, as expressed by many informants.) (2) Amistad y Vida is a happy religion; its sacred manifestation is extracting what is more optimistic and sunny from the original Christian synthesis, focused not so much in teleology but on how to be happy here and now. The fundamental assumption that binds Cristianos is a conception of the good, which an intellectually sophisticated member of the most intensely studied congregation expressed as follows: “Nosotros los Cristianos interpretamos el mensaje de nuestro Señor Jesucristo como una guia divina, llena de compasión y buena voluntad hacia el prójimo, que debemos llevar a cabo con alegría y sin reservas. Evidentemente, esta manera de comportarse tiene el objetivo de alcanzar la gloria eterna, pero sin perder nunca de vista que este fi n es el resultado de las buenas obras que hacemos en esta vida” (We Cristianos interpret the message of our Lord Jesus Christ as a divine guide, full of compassion and good will toward fellow humans, that we must undertake happily and without reserve. Evidently, this way of behaving has

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the objective to reach eternal glory, but without ever losing sight that this end is the result of the good works that we do in this life). (3) The manifold rites, ceremonies, and practices that Cristianos perform as a group have specific functions in facilitating the structural embodiment and actual discharge of every action of the congregation, ranging from singing/praying and episodes of glossolalia to generating cohesion among congregants and doing diverse good works in the community. (This ideological complex encapsulates the core praxis of Amistad y Vida as a religious group’s way to heaven). (4) Amistad y Vida makes allowances for human fallibility, but, as a corollary of (3), Cristianos are urged to practice what is preached to the best of their abilities and to be generous with their time, money, and talents to assist congregants and outsiders. (Operationally, this is the most effective inducement to keeping Cristianos close to their conception of the good and ethically alert and effective.) (5) The rites, ceremonies, functions, and activities of all components of Amistad y Vida, whether conducted in the temple or elsewhere in a public place, are equally important to successful compliance with the Cristianos’ moral order and the religious aims of the congregation. Not only are they the language for and the means of communicating with God, but their compliance also redounds in keeping the congregation integrated. (Notice how focused the ideology is on maintaining the congregation organically united endogenously and exogenously.) (6) As a corollary of (5), Amistad y Vida’s entire religious life is a bridging mechanism and a catalyst with two main functions: to facilitate interaction among congregants, and collectively to get close to the Lord Jesus Christ; and to create an organically united group, enabling them to undertake good works in the community. (7) The religious and social aims of Amistad y Vida are ultimately values in themselves, because, beyond the moral life Cristianos live by and the good works they do, it gratifies and gives them a measure of security not supplied by secular, exter-

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nal institutions. (This premise contains the ideological essence of the sect: leading an ethical Christian life happily and with a minimum of theological and teleological assumptions. This approach to religion, we intuit, is a major factor in attracting Catholics to Amistad y Vida—at least, those few who are willing to depart from the strong ritual and traditional bonds of Catholicism, which essentially precludes lower-class and peasant [Indian and Mestizo] populations, the quintessential practitioners of folk Catholicism.) These principles regulate the structural discharge of Amistad y Vida, and constitute the “integrative core” of Cristianos. They are a body of unconscious premises (never elicited verbally, and not directly deducible from the observation of behavior) that has efficacy over the undifferentiated integrative core of the congregation. However, each of the component parts of the core contains derivative injunctions. That is, while the seven premises apply with slight modifications (to fit particular domains of action) to, say, worshipping the Lord and doing good works, each of these domains develops a set of imperatives that regulate its own immediate environment. The derived ideology of Amistad y Vida encompasses the following imperatives, again in order of relative inclusiveness from greater to lesser. (I) Amistad y Vida is a necessary requirement for the wellbeing of Cristianos. The best way to lead a Christian life is to follow strictly and joyfully the directives specified by Amistad y Vida. The congregation provides the means to do so, but it is in the heart and soul of the individual faithful to communicate with the Lord; no half-measures would do to ensure that God bestows on individuals and the congregation the divine grace to lead a happy and content life. (Translation, as verbalized by several informants: “Our Lord rewards those who worship him with a pure and sincere heart, but also by opening our pockets to help fellow humans, as he taught his followers when he was on earth.”) (II) There are no intermediaries between God and individuals and groups; He can be reached directly and, through

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prayers and doing good, one can establish a close relationship with the deity. (This premise constitutes Cristianos’ rejection of the cult of the saints as practiced by Catholics. Other native and Protestant sects do the same, usually justifying the rejection by maintaining that there is nothing in the scriptures to warrant the cult of the dead. Cristianos, on the other hand, as being on the whole historically unconcerned, make the rejection axiomatic. The relationship with God is a good in itself, but those who honor Him devoutly are rewarded by his beneficence: protection against evildoers, avoidance of calamities, and in general success in whatever they undertake. Notice that this is a milder, less pragmatic version of the covenant that binds Catholics and the deity, which stipulates a strict quid pro quo between divine worship and divine rewards.) (III) Worshipping and achieving rapport with God does not require a complex calendar of celebration. The main traditional events of the yearly cycle (Christmas, Epiphany, Holy Week, the Day of the Dead, and other less important occasions) must be remembered, with the exception of the Day of the Dead, as landmarks of our Lord’s sojourn on earth, but need not be celebrated with a great outpouring of elaborate, expensive rituals and ceremonials. (Inevitably, however, during these traditional celebrations Cristianos are at their best behavior with one another, and more generous than usual in their good deeds for the community.) (IV) As important as it is to attend the weekly collective services in the house of worship, Cristianos must honor and venerate Him in the privacy of their homes, and carry on a dialogue with Him individually, not necessarily praying, but generating a closeness to the Lord in their innermost selves. This is of the utmost importance in being a good Christian, for one must be prepared to fight temptation at all times. (Cristianos are not obsessed with evil and sin; quite to the contrary, they are relaxed dogmatically and practically. But they are constantly concerned with doing good, as the way to salvation and being a good person. Their worldview is centered on this premise, which states that by doing good they are doing well with the Lord.)

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50 Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

(V) Thus, there are two main components in the cult of Amistad y Vida: the public/collective, which takes place in the temple, and the private/individual, which is personal and takes place mostly in the household. The services in the temple have the latent function of facilitating social interaction among congregants, whereas their manifest function is to organize the internal and external services and charitable works of the congregation. The private/individual component revolves mostly around decisions concerning the contributions in kind, cash, and services that individuals and the entire family are willing and able to contribute to specific good works selected by the collective will of the congregation. (VI) The worship of the deity in the temple and in the privacy of the household goes hand in hand with the pragmatic concerns of doing charitable works. The more-or-less structured worship of the deity (of our Lord Jesus Christ, as invariably referred to by congregants) always takes place in the temple during Sunday services. Individuals give verbal testimony of their faith and of what good they have done, and during this part of the service individuals may occasionally engage in mild episodes of glossolalia. In private worship the family prays and sings the glory of the Lord, and discusses how they can best achieve closer and more meaningful rapport with Him. (VII) The periodic reunions of Cristianos outside the temple, in private homes and public venues (theaters and auditoriums), are important events that complement their public and private worship of the deity. The leadership urges congregants to attend as often as their private commitments permit. Again, these reunions involve worship and pragmatic aspects: while there will be some singing, prayers, and testimonials, these are accompanied by discussions of future events and charity works. An important addition is low-key proselytizing, for some of these reunions are addressed to invited and uninvited guests, who are always cordially welcomed; this, as we have indicated, is the most effective means of attracting converts. Finally, the seven premises (1–7) that defi ne Amistad y Vida as a native evangelist sect are translated into specific directives

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of behavior. The five most expressive, and always in the congregants’ consciousness, are the following. (a) Perform all required rites, ceremonies, functions, and activities to the Lord Jesus Christ, and discharge all social, religious, and economic obligations to congregants and fellow humans (prójimo), in order to live in peace with one’s self, God, and the community at large. (b) Comply with all prescriptions in honoring, worshiping, and propitiating God, and when you entreat Him do it according to what Amistad y Vida prescribes: humbly, with an open heart, and not expecting too much. (c) Give to your neighbors generously, for you will receive in equal measure from the Lord and from them. Do not skimp or try to cut corners in discharging your obligations, for you will be treated the same. (d) Do not approach the Lord lightly; pray and treat Him as the most important part of your life. And, above all, remember and honor Him with joy and devotion as often as possible. (e) Discharge all your obligations to the Lord with joy, devotion, and to the best of your abilities, because you will ultimately be judged on the basis of how well you have done so. (This directive for behavior and action is the most inclusive and encompassing, for it includes complying with all the good works that congregants do individually and collectively, which is the best way to please the Lord.) Thus, the ideology of Amistad y Vida has been expressed here in three levels of analysis: seven axiomatic principles (domains) (1–7) that defi ne the religiosity of Amistad y Vida; seven derived imperatives to action (I–VII); and five immediate imperatives for behavior. These three levels constitute an efficacious complex that regulates the discharge of the cult of Amistad y Vida. It should be reiterated that this body of “categorical imperatives” is not part of observable behavior or of the corpus of data obtained from informants. These categorical imperatives are in a sense a model (or to put it differently, the semantic components of a theory) of Amistad y Vida.

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The conscious belief system of the ideology (theology, teleology, values, and worldview) of Amistad y Vida was presented fi rst, as befits an ethnographic description. It comprises the directives for behavior closest to the observable or explicitly articulated facts of religious experience. Although beliefs are not direct injunctions or imperatives, their semantic component does have the form of “thou shall” and “thou shall not” commands. In our conceptual scheme, they have two main functions: they are immediately efficacious in molding behavior to the traditional patterns entailed by the commands; and the subdomains over which efficacy became identifiable, self-contained spheres of action, in turn reinforce traditional patterns of behavior and action. Beliefs are always conscious, and most of them are elicited verbally from informants, although occasionally they may be derived from particular bundles of behavior. In summary, a general statement of the belief complex of a properly bounded system or subsystem constitutes the immediate ideal (what ought to be) sprung to action, which makes this concept, when properly operationalized, a theoretical term. It would be next to impossible to give a complete account of the beliefs of even a well-bounded system. The account of Amistad y Vida’s belief system given above (1–7) is as complete as is possible at present, given the standard data-gathering methods employed by most anthropologists. While ideological injunctions and imperatives can be roughly ranked by degree of inclusiveness and degree of efficacy, beliefs cannot. They can, however, be partly ordered in terms of specific contexts and bundles of parts. Furthermore, they can be scaled in terms of strength and intensity of the implied command, that is, in terms of the efficacy of compliance with what the belief stipulates. The elicitation of the belief system of Amistad y Vida, as we have already noted, was greatly facilitated by its official statement of purpose, which was confi rmed by individual (leaders and rank-and-fi le) informants, indicating a close correlation. Moreover, each of the seven belief statements contains clearly specified subdomains of realization. Let us take belief (4). It in-

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cludes several subdomains specifying services that congregants have to do internally and externally. Thus the degree of compliance of each subdomain is determined either by elicitation from informants or by direct observation of behavior. Of all the Protestant and native evangelical sects that we have encountered in central Mexico, Amistad y Vida is the most intrinsically appealing to the middle classes and the bestremunerated members of the working class. Members of this sector of society are affluent enough to afford the amenities that are taken for granted in modern industrial countries (a car, decent housing, and a rather extensive array of instruments and appliances), that is, people with disposable incomes of more than six thousand pesos (nearly six hundred dollars) a month. In other words, these are families who can appreciate the practical orientation of Cristianos, and a religious sect not obfuscated by complicated theological and teleological dogma, but who at the same time are desirous of guidance in their lives— of a religion that is simple to follow and devoid of dogmatic directives. Amistad y Vida has a religious orientation that spurns an elaborate complex of rites and ceremonies and self-involvement and adopts an outward vision of salvation, and shows members how to lead a moral and happy life by doing good works and helping others who have less than they do. This is the opinion we have elicited from Catholics in good standing who regard Cristianos as practicing the essence of Christianity. Indeed, some of them confessed that they would convert to Amistad y Vida if they had the courage to defy social prejudices and transcend Catholicism, which most people practice because of tradition, but with little conviction. We cannot resist the temptation to express a personal opinion: if there were any societies without religion or some belief in the supernatural, one would wish them to preach and practice what Amistad y Vida does: generosity, selflessness, and happiness.

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CHAPTER THREE

Cristianos: The Structure and Material Organization of the Congregation

Like its teleology and theology, the formal organization of the cult of Amistad y Vida is quite streamlined; the most structured rites and ceremonies take place during the weekly Sunday services. But there is also a large ritual and ceremonial complex that goes on informally, sometimes in private homes, but more often and elaborately in public venues. These involve, as we have indicated, prospective converts, either guests of congregants or town people who attend out of curiosity, wanting to know more about what Cristianos do and their approach to religion. This is the latent mode of proselytizing, but the manifest purpose of the public events of Cristianos, which may take place two or three times a month, is to spread their conception of Christianity as a way of life. Cristianos are more interested in demonstrating to the community that religion should be a happy and enriching experience than in making converts per se. This goal, they strongly assert, does not need either an elaborate theology or an expensive cult, and must be taught by example.

Services and Events in the Celebration of the Yearly Cycle Cristianos have continued the celebration of the most important Catholic events of the yearly cycle, Easter, All Saints’ Day

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and All Souls’ Day, and Christmas, but less important events such as Epiphany, Corpus Christi, and Pentecost are not celebrated, although references to them are made during the weekly services when they take place. The weekly services have pretty much the same regularity throughout the year; the only changes in the rituals and ceremonials are those that characterize the celebration of the events that have been retained from Catholicism. On these special occasions, the director or any inspired congregant may deliver a sermon relevant to the special event. Being touched by the Holy Spirit, as the faithful put it, may occur at any time, and the individual so favored must share his or her experience with the congregation. There is no strictly established liturgy in the Sunday weekly assembly; rather, the service is a free-flowing meeting combining Bible reading and textual explanation, discussion of a previously chosen topic (such as family values, organization of the household, the socialization of children, sexuality, drug use, alcoholism, family life, the problems of adolescents, courting before marriage, and so on), singing, emotionally voiced praises and exaltations of the Lord, and personal testimonials about “miracles” attributed to the Holy Spirit or some positive change in a congregant’s life. The service, which lasts about two hours, usually from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., does have a certain order of presentation. It begins with singing and praising the Lord, followed by testimonials, then Bible reading, topical discussions, and ends with singing and testimonial demonstrations of faith. The service is conducted in an ambiance of manifest joy, intimacy, and exhilaration. Everyone is allowed to speak, praise the Lord, give testimony, and express opinions, and ask questions.1 The observer gets the distinct impression of an integrated congregation, one that is socially and religiously highly motivated and democratically organized. Just as important to the mostly religious Sunday service are the meetings in private homes and the public events that take place in various venues of Córdoba, Orizaba, and Fortín. The former are internal reunions organized by congregants, usually in the homes of the more affluent members of the congrega-

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tion. Attendance ranges from twenty to as many as fi fty or sixty congregants. These internal reunions are generally organized around topics agreed upon beforehand, and they take place two or three times a month in the early evening. There is a small religious component, such as praying or singing, but most of the duration of the meetings, which may last for three or four hours, is dedicated to the discussion of topics of a special social or practical nature. These are detailed elaborations of the themes mentioned above, conducted by individual congregants who usually have some expertise on the subject. The latter type of event takes place in public venues, mostly theaters, hospitals, hospices, and jails but occasionally in public squares and sport facilities; they occur at least once a month; and they are open to the general public, except when they take place in restricted locales such as jails and hospitals. Meetings in private homes are announced three or four weeks in advance, during the Sunday service. Congregants are urged to attend, but attendance varies because of work commitments and other imponderables; nonetheless the meetings are well attended, with a mean average of thirty men and women. Food, provided by attendants, is served, and it is not unusual for wine or beer, in moderation, also to be served, but not hard liquor.2 These reunions are not occasions for merrymaking but rather serious business in which many topics are discussed by a physician, lawyer, social worker, nurse, or any other congregant with expertise on the topic at hand. While the discussant leads the assembly in an orderly fashion, there are many questions and answers, and often small groups of six or seven break up to discuss specific items, reporting back to the entire assembly before it breaks up. The discussants (a better term would be “moderators”) are almost always professionals, and they function as both instructors and discussion leaders. A couple of examples should clarify what transpires at the meetings. On one occasion the subject was sexuality, and the moderator was a physician (an internist, to be more precise). He began by lecturing to an audience of about fi fty men and women, as well as a few adolescents (who are allowed and sometimes en-

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couraged to attend), on their sexual education; he was advising parents on how and when to have these discussions with their children. He began with a short but rather well-done exposition on the physiology of sex, followed by what we thought was an enlightened presentation. He counseled parents not to demonize sex, but to instill in adolescents the importance of practicing it responsibly and safely, and there were none of the usual religious admonitions against premarital sex. The talk, which lasted for more than an hour, was followed by many questions and answers, and much discussion among the participants. We could hardly believe that such an event was taking place in a small, provincial Mexican city. It brought to mind British philosopher Bertrand Russell, who, in the mid-1940s, was deported from the United States for allegedly corrupting the youth with his views on education and the teaching of sex. To hear his views being expressed by an evangelist sect was nothing less than astonishing. During another home meeting the theme was family values and the organization of the household. This time the moderator was an experienced social worker from Córdoba, and the audience numbered about forty men and women. Again, she began with an extended presentation of about an hour; later on we found out this was the standard operational procedure for home meetings. She stressed the importance of coordinating the economic resources of the household, parents together making social and economic decisions, making their offspring participants in all household activities, and never contradicting each other in raising their children, and she gave several specific guidelines for running an orderly household. Again, we were highly impressed; no professional family counselor in the United States would have done any better. The public events are also arranged three or four weeks in advance; in fact a congregation committee in charge of organizing them meets periodically to schedule them. There are two kinds of public events: restricted ones, which take place in hospitals, hospices, and jails; and those open to anyone who may wish to attend. In the case of the fi rst, presents are brought to

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the inmates, and quite often the visiting group, composed of a dozen or so men and women, puts on some kind of entertainment such as singing (not necessarily religious) or telling stories (if they are addressing children).3 Quite often the authorities of these facilities ask Cristianos to come and perform, a director of a city hospital told us, as it enlivens the days of the mostly destitute patients in the wards. On the other hand, open events in venues, mostly in theaters and other public spaces, are essentially performances to spread the word of God as believed and faithfully practiced by Cristianos. All these activities appeal to the middle sectors of provincial Mexican society, but these efforts have not translated into a stronger inclination to convert to Amistad y Vida, except by more adventurous Catholics who are not afraid to offend kinsmen and friends. But we think that this attitude could change rapidly and that many more Catholics could take the step and convert to Amistad y Vida. In this respect Cristianos represent to the Church the most serious threat of all evangelist sects.

Glossolalia, Hysteria, or What? Except for what we are about to relate, in our years of research in central Mexico among native and Protestant sects, which included attending hundreds of services, we have never witnessed a case of glossolalia, as described in the literature, particularly among Pentecostals (Bourguignon 1970; Zapata Novoa 1990). In July 2003, during a Sunday service for one of the congregations in the Córdoba-Orizaba region, we observed a woman touched by the Holy Spirit evince what may have been a case of glossolalia. Totally unexpectedly in the middle of the service, when the director was addressing the congregation, a middleaged, well-dressed woman burst out in incomprehensible loud cries; nobody seemed to be startled and rather quickly attendants made a circle around her, and a woman cradled her in her arms. The woman continued emitting loud cries, babbling, shaking, swaying, and gesticulating. It seems to us that she was

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.

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in a kinesthetic state of hallucination. She seemed to be totally disassociated from the reality around her, but in this “cognitive” state she vocalized syllables without pausing, in a stream of unconnected sounds without apparent articulation. The episode went on for about ten minutes, until the woman fell into a quiet sleep punctuated by feeble contortions. Two men gently picked her up and carried her into the back of the temple and the proceedings continued as if nothing had happened, but the assembly manifested a state of more than the usual happiness and exaltation in the singing that put an end to the service.4 This type of episode does not take place very often (maybe ten or twelve times a year), but when it does it is a source of great excitement and happiness for the congregation. It appears, though, that in the privacy of the home it takes place more often, and the experience is occasionally shared with the congregation during the Sunday service. Speaking in tongues is the physical manifestation of the Holy Spirit, and Cristianos regard these occasions as an indication that the Holy Spirit is still looking favorably upon them and leading them on the path of righteousness. Beyond what it may signify for the individual blessed with speaking in tongues, for the congregation the event is a rite of intensification, so to speak, of the belief in the Holy Spirit as a validation of their central doctrine that one achieves salvation by doing good works. For Pentecostals and other evangelist sects, glossolalia has been reported in the literature (Bourguignon 1971; Goodman 1972) as an altered state of consciousness. It is a complex phenomenon with a variety of functions and manifestations. Glossolalia is regarded as a gift of the Holy Spirit that is accessible to those who have repented (that is, converted to Pentecostalism or to any other evangelist sect that believes in Pentecost). The Holy Spirit descends upon the convert at the time of baptism, but it can also be induced by any faithful individual in good standing. Speaking in tongues is often explained as the Holy Spirit temporarily inhabiting an individual’s body and, speaking through him or her, revealing the word of the Lord, occasionally to convey a message or prophecy. For Cristianos, how-

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ever, glossolalia means exclusively that the Holy Spirit is with them, guiding them, and directing them to do good works. At the time we witnessed this episode we were not sure whether it was glossolalia or simply a case of hysteria provoked by the ambiance generated by the director’s preaching and the unusually exuberant praise of the Lord. When we read Goodman’s (1972: 74–75) account of glossolalia in Yucatán, however, we recognized the similarities between what she describes and what we had witnessed, making us realize it must have been a case of speaking in tongues. We are now certain that Cristianos practice a mild glossolalia that has one main function, as indicated above. Its physical manifestation follows the general pattern exhibited by the phenomenon as it has been reported for Mexico and many other parts of the world: it is an altered state of consciousness; it dissociates the individual from his or her natural surroundings; and it occurs more often with women than men. The differences from full-blown glossolalia are also apparent: among Cristianos it is not associated with conversion, it does not convey prophecies or messages, and it cannot be induced. We did not investigate the nature and form of glossolalia as it takes place in the privacy of the household, nor what it means religiously and psychologically to individuals. But we are certain of what it signifies for the congregation. Fundamentally, glossolalia reinforces and intensifies Cristianos’ conception of the Holy Spirit as the closest and most direct link to the deity, and the belief that without Its (the Holy Spirit is conceived as the neuter third of the Trinity) guidance humans would be lost in the earthly world of existence. Thus glossolalia is a group (the congregation) and not an individual phenomenon, which is borne out by the fact that it cannot be induced and does not take place very often. This view of glossolalia makes sense sociologically, for Amistad y Vida is as reasonably logical and naturalistic as one would expect to encounter in an evangelist sect. Moreover, Cristianos are a significantly more educated group than all sects that we have encountered, and while they embrace a conception of glossolalia as a collective manifestation of the Holy Spirit and as a reinforcing and intensifying mech-

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anism, they do not feel comfortable with vulgarizing it, not wishing to appear like “those superstitious sects” that practice glossolalia indiscriminately.5 In conclusion, glossolalia, as a residual aspect of Amistad y Vida, may be regarded as an eschatological ritual mechanism that has much less to do with eternal life than with how to lead a good, moral, and productive life. Their de-emphasis of glossolalia is one more indication that the religious orientation of Cristianos is closer to Judaism than to Christianity, particularly that of evangelism. But as to the source of this trait, we are totally in the dark.

Social and Kinship Aspects of the Congregation Let us indicate at the outset that Amistad y Vida has retained many more Catholic social and kinship traits than all other native and Protestant evangelist traits in central Mexico. The organization of the nuclear and extended family is the same among all the evangelist sects, except perhaps Cristianos. The incidence of the extended family is less than among Catholics of the same social stratum (see Nutini 2005). Cristianos on the whole are comparably more affluent than Catholics of the same social position, and this is the reason the extended family unit occurs with less frequency.6 The ideal is neolocality right after marriage, as parents encourage their offspring to be self-reliant and to marry after they have established a degree of economic independence (from their parents). Within the nuclear family offspring are taught to participate and express themselves freely, to interact with adults, and to not be afraid to express their opinions. Independence and initiative are encouraged, and whenever parents give them an order, they try to explain the reason for it; parents avoid being bossy or abusive, and their children return the courtesy by being respectful and not excessively demanding. Parents, whenever possible, make decisions concerning the running of the household and its fi nances in consultation with their adoles-

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cent children, and this produces the proper ambiance for a harmoniously run family, which among Cristianos is a highly regarded value. The kinship system is bilateral but with a patrilineal bias, which, with slight variations, is the same in the Mexican stratification system, from top to bottom. There are no functional kin units beyond the nuclear family, but there is a loosely organized nonlocalized kindred centered on the patriline, modified, as is the case in the urban context, by dispersion, localization, individual family wealth, and family prestige.7 The nonlocalized kindred, for Catholics and Cristianos, is structured as follows. It is not an organic unit, but it has several traits that qualify it as a functional unit: a fairly fi xed membership of nuclear families that may stay the same for as long as two generations; membership usually ranges from ten to twelve nuclear families; the core is composed of two or three of the more affluent or prominent nuclear families. These families often arrange and coordinate the activities of the kindred: a set of events and occasions when most members of the kindred get together to celebrate, included in the yearly cycle (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, occasionally the Day of the Dead) and the life cycle (birthdays, christenings, marriages, wakes and burials, celebrations of a girl’s fi fteenth birthday, ritual kinship celebrations). All these events and occasions involve the consumption of food and drink; nuclear families and individuals know exactly what is expected of them, what to contribute if the event or occasion requires it, and how to participate. Thus, the urban kindred in central Mexico is not the same as the folk kindred, but approaches it as an organic unit. Moreover, the Cristianos’ kindred system is more effectively organized than its Catholic counterpart, given the high value the former place on the family. Cristianos are not at all rigid about celebrating the events and occasions of the yearly and life cycle, as well as any other impromptu occasions. In fact, quite to the contrary, a joie de vivre characterizes all social and religious celebrations; they eat heartily, drink moderately, dance, and are never constrained in

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expressing themselves verbally and bodily. Aggressive and belligerent behavior is frowned upon in public gatherings, and there is always someone who takes it upon himself or herself to reprimand the offender. Moderation characterizes all reunions of Cristianos, except worshiping the Lord during the Sunday service, when the singing and swaying may reach a high degree of frenzy. In fact, of all the urban or folk groups that we have studied in central Mexico, Cristianos are the most considerate and well behaved. Cristianos celebrate the most important secular state events, namely, Independence Day, May 5, and November 20 (anniversary of the fi rst uprising against the dictatorship of Porfi rio Díaz, which initiated the Revolution of 1910), but they are not particularly nationalistic. They strongly support the separation of church and state, are not involved in local or national politics, and as far as we are aware, they do not run for office. However, they are socially conscious, and, in the context of the much greater political freedom that came into being after the demise of PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) six years ago, they are among the fi rst to demonstrate as a group against any high-handedness of the local (city, state) parties in power (PRI, PAN [Partido de Acción Nacional], PRD [Partido de la Revolución Democrática]). We consider now some of the salient social institutions in the life of Cristianos. Compadrazgo (ritual kinship) is as important as among Catholics in the mid-sector of society, and it normally includes seven sacramental and nonsacramental types: baptism (when a person joins the sect), marriage, and burial; graduation (primary and secondary school, high school, technical school, university degree), celebration of a girl’s fi fteenth birthday, blessing of a new house, and setting the foundations of a house. The bonds of compadrazgo are strong, and it rivals kinship as a social support group among Cristianos. Compadres (ritual sponsors) are preferably chosen from among members of the congregation, but it is fairly common to choose Catholics. In fact, compadrazgo among Cristianos is the same as among Catholics, except that among the latter it has more types, and

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these mostly of a religious nature concerning aspects of Catholicism that Cristianos give up upon conversion. Courtship leading to marriage is relaxed, and young adults are allowed a significant amount of freedom. There is none of the exaggerated parental control that characterizes Mexican provincial society. From adolescence Cristiano boys and girls are taught to be responsible and to be worthy of their parents’ trust. Following an engagement, marriage usually takes place after a period of a year to a year and a half. The religious marriage always takes place at the end of the Sunday service, after the couple has been married civilly by a justice of the peace at the local city hall. The wedding celebration takes place in the house of the bride and is usually attended by many paternal and maternal kin, congregants, neighbors, and friends. The director of the congregation is always invited, for it is an important part of the ritual celebration for him to wish the newlyweds a happy and successful marriage, as well as to admonish them that the best way to achieve these ends is to live by the precepts of Amistad y Vida. Cristianos celebrate the silver wedding anniversary, but the congregations in central Mexico are so new that no one has yet celebrated a golden wedding anniversary, as very few congregants are over seventy, given that practically all the earliest converts were young adults. Very few have died and been buried with the benefit of a compadrazgo relationship. Cristianos also celebrate a girl’s fi fteenth birthday, which, next to marriage, is the most elaborate occasion in the life cycle. In addition, Cristianos are fond of inviting each other to dinner, lunch, and breakfast, and do not pass up the opportunity to celebrate when something happy or pleasant happens to them. As one Catholic informant puts it, “Son más fiesteros que nosotros” (they are more fond of celebrating than we are). Kinship behavior among Cristianos, at all levels of realization, is as egalitarian and democratic as it is possible to obtain in a group that includes adults, children, and young adults needing guidance. (As in the majority of kinship systems throughout the world, kinship behavior is largely determined or condi-

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tioned by family and household organization, which we have already mentioned [see above]). However, kinship behavior is not as patterned and exacting as behavior within the family and the household, given that the former’s sphere of realization entails larger conglomerates of people, mostly the nonresidential extended family or “minimal localized lineage,” as Robichaux (1995) calls it.8 Nonetheless, kinship behavior generally resembles the configuration of behavior described above, involving persuasion rather than intimidation. The elders are careful to teach the young how to behave toward every category of kin in the nonresidential extended family (minimal localized lineage), which is the only effective kin group beyond the extended family. This principle produces members who come to regard every member of the nonresidential extended family as having the same worth—which accounts for the egalitarian nature of the congregation. (Probably in the whole of rural and urban Mexico, in the context of the modernization that has been going on during the past fi fty years, as the importance of kinship diminishes, it is being replaced by compadrazgo as the key institution generating social and economic resources. Nevertheless, kinship remains more important.) The relationship between husband and wife is warm and affectionate, and there is a great deal of understanding and cooperation between them. Husbands help their wives with household chores such as cleaning and caring for the children. In return, wives try to please husbands by cooking dishes they like and having their clothes clean and pressed. Relations between parents and children vary, of course, but on the whole they are loving and respectful. This is especially true in the father-child relationship, particularly when the children are young. The father pampers his children to the point of allowing them to do as much as they please; he never scolds them, and he is constantly giving them presents. There is a slight change when girls reach the age of puberty and boys begin to contribute to running the household, that is, between ages thirteen and fi fteen. The father assumes more responsibility in raising the children, he often plays with them when he is home, and he

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66 Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

shows a real interest in taking care of them whenever he has the time. Mother-child relations, on the other hand, are less close, but always respectful. This is reversed at the onset of puberty, when the father becomes the focus of fi lial obedience, and the mother, so to speak, becomes the proverbial consenting uncle. Sibling relations are characterized by closeness and cooperation. The boys help each other with chores, loan each other toys, and support each other when the occasion requires it. On the other hand, the relationship among girls is the only dissonant one of the entire dyadic spectrum of the nuclear family: it is occasionally marred by disputes over the distribution of chores, perceived favoritism on the part of parents, or jealousy over each other’s possessions. The institutional discharge of kinship behavior in the loosely organized kindred is an extension of the foregoing dyadic patterns, but a few remarks are in order. First, the proverbial antagonism and tension between mother-in-law and daughterin-law (so prevalent in many societies worldwide, and quite common in folk and urban environments in Mexico) is absent in the kinship system of Amistad y Vida, in part because neolocality is the rule, but mostly because of the Cristianos’ insistence on creating harmony in all domains of institutional interaction. Second, individual and group (events and occasions) interactions among kin are always warm, helpful, and polite; the more affluent and/or prominent nuclear families are never condescending to members of less fortunate families; on the contrary, they do their best to make things comfortable for everybody. Third, the interactions of young, middle-aged, and old male and female kin are proper, harmonious, and respectful of age differences: children and young adults are deferential to their elders, never using the familiar tu but the appropriate kin term; elders, in turn, treat them like adults, do not patronize them, and always try to be helpful; everybody tries to remember everyone’s birthday, and there is a constant flow of presents. Epitomizing this already old-fashioned kinship behavior in traditional provincial Mexican society is the fact that children and young adults still kiss the hand of padrinos (godparents) upon

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meeting them.9 In conclusion, in a simplified form, but operationally in the same fashion, the kinship system of the Cristianos functions basically the same as the kinship system of the folk peoples in the Córdoba-Orizaba region, a rather surprising fact that requires explanation.

Perceptions of Cristianos as a Group and Prospects for the Future Cristianos, without a doubt, are perceived by progressive Catholics with a significant degree of admiration and, as we have noted, as doing excellent good works in the community. They are not viewed so by all other native and Protestant sects, however, who consider them to have retained too many Catholic traits to be regarded as Protestants. At the same time, these other sects are envious of the success and panache with which Cristianos go about doing good works in the community. Let us expand these two points, because we believe they are important for the future of Amistad y Vida. Interaction with Catholics is good, cordial, and respectful. Cristianos and Catholics have a fairly active social life, and there don’t seem to be any bad ostensible or latent feelings among them; in the workplace it would be difficult to distinguish Cristianos from Catholics. There is a tacit understanding among them that religion should not be discussed, and certainly that they should not try to convert each other. It should be noted, however, that the reticence of progressive Catholics to converting to Amistad y Vida is waning, and increasingly members are overcoming social prejudices and converting. This is a unique situation within the solid middle class, particularly because of the Cristianos’ low-key proselytizing, and it bodes well for the future growth of Amistad y Vida. This (potential) ambiance of conversion underlain by the strong appeal of Cristianos’ proselytizing by doing good works is not present in the context of conversion of, say, Pentecostals, Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses, which rely on aggressive door-to-door proselytism.

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Despite the overtures of Cristianos toward all Protestant sects, such as invitations to conferences and good-work events, there is a latent antagonism of the latter toward the former. It is not overtly expressed in verbal communication or in print, but lies close to the surface. There are, of course, some irreconcilable doctrinal and practical differences, but there is more to it, namely, the middle-class and solid working-class position of Cristianos, which is resented by other evangelist sects. This situation, by the way, obtains also among most evangelist sects in central Mexico, and in our estimation is the most serious obstacle to the evangelists’ presenting a united front against occasional Catholic intransigence, which has been attempted twice during the past ten years. This drive toward defensive evangelical ecumenism has been a goal of Pentecostals, but nothing has concretely been achieved, and probably nothing will until class membership ceases to be a factor. While they will occasionally recruit middle-class individuals, Protestant evangelist sects convert most successfully among the urban lower-middle class, working poor, and rural folk peoples (and as far as we are aware, they have never made a concerted effort to convert among the solid middle class and above). Amistad y Vida, by contrast, appeals mostly to the middle sector of urban society, as this group is perceived by them as structurally and expressively similar to middle- and upper-middleclass Catholics. Again, as far as we know, Cristianos have not proselytized among upper-middle-class people, but if they were to do so, we think they would be significantly successful. The only way to shed some light onto this rather peculiar situation is to delve, albeit briefly, into the relationship between class, mobility, and conversion to evangelism. The main fundamental difference that stands in the way of more progressive Catholics converting to Amistad y Vida is the cult of the saints. Like all true Protestants, Cristianos are adamantly against the conception of the saints as intermediaries between humans and the deity: one must strive to reach God (in Trinitarian form) directly, and establish a personal relationship without any intervention from saints or priests. In all re-

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gions of central Mexico, regardless of class position and of having been thoroughly enculturated since childhood, Catholics are reticent to give up the cult of the dead, which they consider as the essence of being Catholic. Solid middle-class, uppermiddle-class, and elite plutocrat Catholics are unwilling to give up the saints, but when they occasionally do convert, they do this strictly on religious grounds, as economic and material considerations are irrelevant. Lower-middle-class and workingclass urbanites, and rural folk (mostly Mestizo, and some Indians), when they convert, do so originally for economic and material reasons; these are later rationalized on religious grounds, as a claim to having found a “true” faith.10 Be that as it may, the matter requires more discussion, and we shall return to it in our conclusions. Cristianos may be right when they say that, of all the evangelist sects, theirs is the most effective method of evangelization: by word of mouth. They preach in both regular Sunday services and their periodic conferences and reunions. Unlike most evangelist sects, they do not engage in house-to-house proselytizing, which they consider invasive and in bad taste, nor do they distribute literature, but they provide it when people ask for it. This is another practice that endears Cristianos to the Catholic population, at least to the middle and upper sectors. One of their most effective methods of recruiting converts is by organizing periodic conferences and musical events for young women and men. On these occasions the best speakers in the congregation take the opportunity to engage in some low-key exposition of the best points of becoming a member of Amistad y Vida. Moreover, Cristianos also reach potential converts with regional radio spots suggesting that listeners come to the Sunday service to fi nd out the details of leading a Christian life. These manifold forms of conversion are effective, and their variegated appeal has unquestionably contributed to the growth and visibility of Amistad y Vida in the course of less than a generation. The most important factor of the sect’s success, however, is that it has recaptured and infused traditional meaning into a

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few of the most central teachings of Christianity—those that Catholics and Protestants accept as guiding their moral and spiritual life—but does not require compliance with its implicitly entailed injunctions. Take, for example, Jesus’s most fundamental directive, as recounted in the Gospel of Saint John, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” According to the ethos of Cristianos, this is an empty precept if it is not embodied in good deeds. With remarkable similarity, more than a dozen new converts, men and women in their mid-twenties, explained the process of becoming Cristianos as follows: Mi vida religiosa era rutinaria, sin sentido de lo que significa ser Católico: ir a la iglesia, oír misa todos los domingos, confesarme y comulgar dos o tres veces por año, celebrar los días de guardar, y rezar a Dios y los santos de vez en cuando para no caer en la tentación de cometer pecado mortal e irme al infierno. Nada tenía que ver con lo que predicaba el cura en sus sermones dominicales, que Dios es amor, caridad, y que siempre velaba por mi bienestar. Se me hacia todo muy fácil, sin tener que hacer nada por nadie, y no me convencia que con solo observar ciertas convenciones mi recompensa sería la gloria eterna. Todo cambio radicalmente después de dos meses de ir a los servicios dominicales de Amistad y Vida. Me di cuenta que nada se obtiene sin hacer algo por el prójimo, y que los Cristianos estaban en lo cierto de como llegar al cielo. My religious life was routine, without a sense of what it meant to be a Catholic: go to church, hear Mass on Sunday, confess and take communion two or three times a year, observe the high holidays, and pray to God and the saints once in a while so as not to fall into temptation of committing a mortal sin and go to hell. None of this had to do with what the priest preached in Sunday sermons, that God is love, charity, and he always looked after my well-being. It all seemed too easy, doing nothing for anyone, and I was not convinced that by just complying with certain conventions my reward would be eternal glory. Everything changed radically after two months of

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attending Amistad y Vida’s Sunday services. I realized that nothing is achieved without doing something for your fellow humans, and that Cristianos were right about how to go to heaven.

This is a well-reasoned statement by a group of young, disillusioned provincial Catholics converting to Amistad y Vida. It explicitly highlights the reasons for conversion, and implicitly suggests the attraction of a new faith that is not that different from what they are leaving behind. In other words, this gives a new twist to the “born again” syndrome, with the difference that a sort of acculturative change obtains in the process of conversion, namely, a significant residue of Catholic practices and basic Protestant beliefs. This circumstantial condition characterizes the peculiar position of Cristianos: they are admired by Catholics and increasing numbers are converting, whereas they are distrusted by Protestant evangelists, who do not consider them as part of the evangelical fold. However, more significant than the doctrinal reinterpretations that invariably accompany the transformation of a folk into a universal religion are the organizational changes that come with it. This is precisely what happened to Christianity, originally a dissenting sect of Judaism, upon becoming an imperial religion around the end of the fourth century. The Church Fathers, from Saint Paul to Saint Augustine, must have realized that if Jesus’s idea of spreading His word and establishing a Universal Church were brought to fruition, it would require that the simple organization of independent communities be replaced by centralization, the creation of a hierarchy from priest to bishop, and the standardization of rites and ceremonies. We may fi nally ask: what is the fundamental premise that underlies Amistad y Vida’s conception of Christianity? It is the belief that Jesus Christ did not come into the world as a redeemer and founder of a new religion, but to restore the relationship between people and the deity and to harmonize interaction among peoples. This notion of the role of Jesus is as old as Christianity itself, and it has been resurrected several times

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72 Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

during the past two thousand years.11 Ideationally this feature of Amistad y Vida is its most significant asset as a sect, one that could successfully challenge Catholicism if it manages to become a mainstream denomination. This is a big if, and we would not be amiss to explore the matter in some detail. The all-encompassing question that we wish to address is: can the ideational content and ethos of a folk religious tradition survive the transformation to a well-organized, universal religion? The folk roots of Christianity did not survive well its transformation to an imperial religion. To be sure, the basic teachings of Jesus remained rather intact as reinterpreted by the Church Fathers, the gatekeepers of the new orthodoxy, but were somewhat robbed of their immediacy and emotional content. Primitive Christianity came to an end, in the sense that the local congregations diminished in self-determination, particularly in initiating better accommodations to cope with their own social and economic predicaments. It is no wonder that throughout the Middle Ages and the modern period (especially in the context of the expansion of Western European peoples throughout the world), the idea of religious reformers returning to some form of primitive Christianity has surfaced many times. It was invariably suppressed, not necessarily as being heretical, but as inimical to the monolithic centralization and control of the Church. (The best examples of this kind of revitalization are the efforts of some of the Mendicant friars in Mesoamerica and South America in the sixteenth century. Particularly noteworthy examples are the Dominican Bartolomé de Las Casas, whose defense of the Indians included independent religious congregations, and the accomplishments of the Franciscan Vasco de Quiroga in Michoacán, Mexico. Vasco de Quiroga’s undertaking was a utopian experiment in organizing the Tarascan Indians, teaching them how to become self-sufficient and religiously self-governing. These and other similar experiments failed because transforming Indian communities, as religious congregations, according to a primitive Christian model, brought them into confl ict with the monopoly of the Church, to say nothing of confl icting with the Spanish colonists’ exploitation of the Indians.)

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This is also true of the great schisms that Christianity has undergone. Take, for example the Protestant Reformation, which in our conception must be regarded originally as a sect that broke away from Catholicism. But its status as a sect did not last long. In less than three generations, the various forms of Protestantism had become churches in their own right, acquiring an organization similar to Catholicism, and any elements of original Christian congregations were gone. (This is an example of the time-honored strategy that one must become like one’s opponents in order to fight them successfully— a slightly different variant of the popular adage “if you can’t lick them, join them.”) Returning to Amistad y Vida, were the sect to evolve into a major religious movement in Mexico, by becoming structured like a mainstream denomination, Cristianos’ folk roots would be lost through the acquisition of a complex organization, namely, a hierarchical leadership, a more aggressive proselytism, and several features that inevitably accompany the transformation. We do not think that Amistad y Vida will take this route; it will remain a sect, and likely disappear as a distinct faith. This seems to be the fate of countless revivalist movements in the evolution of Christianity, as few manage to survive the transition to denominational status.

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CHAPTER FOUR

La Luz del Mundo: Theology, Teleology, and Ideology

Historical Antecedents La Luz del Mundo (LLDM) was founded in 1926 by Eusebio Joaquín González in the city of Monterrey, Nuevo León. Eusebio Joaquín was born in Colotlán, Jalisco, and fought in the early stages of the Revolution of 1910. According to the official history of the sect, he was baptized by Saulo and Silas, two converts to a Pentecostal sect founded in the city of Chihuahua by Carmen Valenzuela when she returned from Los Angeles, California, after conversion to Pentecostalism. Saulo and Silas became very influential in the new religious movement, and entitled themselves “prophets.” Eusebio Joaquín was baptized in 1925 with the name of Abraham, and worked for Saulo and Silas for nearly a year. Then, according to his followers, Eusebio Joaquín received his “calling” at dawn on April 6, 1926, when he heard God tell him, “Here is a man whose name will be Aarón.” The clamor made him tremble, and, being very disturbed by this, he awakened his wife, who said she had heard nothing. Eusebio Joaquín went back to sleep, and a thundering celestial vision told him, “Your name will be Aarón.” He saw a hand with the index fi nger pointing at him. With a great splash of brilliance, the celestial vision told him again, “Your name will be Aarón, and your blessed name will be known and famous throughout the world” (Amatulli Valente 1989:7– 8).

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75

Driven by his visions, Eusebio Joaquín decided to found his own group in the city of Monterrey. Unable to attract followers, he went to Guadalajara, Jalisco, where his proselytizing activities soon were successful. At the beginning, he joined the Baptist Church and then the Congregational Church, but, dissatisfied with their teachings and approaches to evangelism, he then established his own sect. And so LLDM came into being. After he had acquired a significant number of followers, Eusebio Joaquín realized that he had not been properly baptized by Saulo and Silas, who had done so in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but not in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. On July 18, 1927, he baptized himself by total immersion and took the name of Aarón, as henceforth he was referred to by his followers. This became the required manner and formula of baptism for converts and those born in the faith. The name of the sect became the Church of the Living God, Foundation, and Support of the Truth (La Iglesia del Dios Vivo Columna y Apoyo de la Verdad), La Luz del Mundo (as stated in Matthew 5:14), abbreviated to La Luz del Mundo. This evokes the restoration of the primitive, original Christian Church (Amatulli Valente 1989:8–10). After occupying various places of worship between 1927 and 1939, LLDM constructed a rather large building, which became its headquarters, establishing the physical presence of the sect. In 1953 thirty-five acres of land were acquired on the (then) outskirts of Guadalajara, which Brother Aarón named “La Hermosa Provincia” (the beautiful province). Brother Aarón died there in 1964, and his son Samuel Joaquín succeeded him as the head and apostle of the sect. Five years later Samuel Joaquín dedicated a monumental structure that the brethren boasted to be the largest place of worship in Christendom, which it might be, having a central nave of ninety-five by sixty-five meters and a capacity for more than ten thousand worshippers. In the beginning the membership of LLDM increased slowly, but by the late 1950s growth was more rapid, fi rst in the state of Jalisco, and then throughout Mexico. By the late

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1970s there were congregations throughout Central and South America, and more recently the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, and Europe. According to the sect’s authorities, the membership of LLDM was more than two million. In the year 2005 the sect claimed a membership of more than two and a half million. Independent sources indicate that these figures are highly exaggerated (Elio Masferrer, personal communication), and that LLDM membership in Mexico is closer to four hundred thousand members, distributed in some 350 congregations, with perhaps another five hundred thousand members in the above-mentioned nations.

Theological Dogmas and Beliefs The initial model of LLDM was Pentecostalism. The fi rst question that comes to mind is, what has the former retained from the latter? First, it has retained Trinitarianism, anabaptism, and millenarianism, but with modifications. LLDM (hereafter, its members will be referred to as “Mundists”) puts a greater emphasis on the cult of Jesus Christ; God the Father is rather latently present in the praxis of the sect. Baptism is by total immersion, performed at the time of conversion for adults and at the age of fi fteen for those born in the faith. Second, Mundists do not believe in original sin: humans are born good, and of their own volition usher sin and death, both physical and spiritual, into the world. “Salvation,” then, is a return to Christ by following the precepts of the sect, modified in the context of LLDM by unquestioningly accepting the teachings of Brothers Aarón and Samuel. Third, Mundists believe in glossolalia and regard this physical event as the action of the Holy Spirit, which was originally experienced on the day of Pentecost, as stated in the Acts of the Apostles. The Holy Spirit, however, may occasionally manifest itself by particular individuals’ speaking in tongues, usually in the most solemn events of the Mundists’ yearly cycle. Fourth, they maintain that the Holy Spirit has the power of healing and, by the laying on of hands, cures the sick,

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but only when the person is in good standing with the sect; that is, following strictly the dictates of the apostle, contributing to the spread of the sect (being good proselytizers), and paying the diezmo (tithe). Fifth, Mundists believe that when the millennium comes, they, led by Brothers Aarón and Samuel, will occupy a privileged position at the feet of God. But millenarianism is rather implicit, and not much touted. There are, however, many beliefs and dogmas of LLDM that have issued directly from Brothers Aarón and Samuel, two of them constituting the most outstanding spiritual and organizational elements of the sect, namely, the inordinate glorification of the founder and his son, and a stratified organization. With respect to the former, local congregations led by minister-pastors are constantly urging congregants to honor Brothers Aarón and Samuel in the most extravagant fashion, referring to them as “heroes,” “liberators,” “apostles,” “sent by God,” “elected by God,” “elected before being born,” “anointed by God,” “apostles of Jesus Christ,” and “ultimate spiritual guides.” This kind of personality cult is always present among congregants and manifests itself most expressively in the various ritual and ceremonial events of the sect’s cult. This trait, as far as we are aware, seems to be the exception among native and Protestant evangelist sects. Unlike the Pentecostal sect, LLDM is highly stratified. However, as one goes down from the apostle to the rank-andfi le congregant, the stratification of the sect’s religious, social, and economic organization diminishes. Thus, while under the strict control of the minister-pastor, Mundists are not significantly different from the largely egalitarian native and Protestant sects present in the area, and the overall ambiance of the congregation is rather egalitarian. The organization of the congregation will be discussed in chapter 5. The theology and teleology of LLDM are sparse and not well laid out, and many of the beliefs and dogmas lend themselves to local (congregation) interpretations and variant elaborations. In addition to the main theological elements common to all native and Protestant sects (as specified in the introduc-

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tion), Brother Aarón established several theological procedures (embedded in specific rites and ceremonies) and dogmas, which have been upheld and expanded by his son Samuel. (1) There are two different natures and persons in Jesus Christ (this is a modification of the old Monophysitist heresy). According to Brother Aarón, Jesus is not God, but a man and nothing more; only Christ is God. When Christ inhabited the body of Jesus, a new being arose: Jesucristo.1 Thus the trinity is simplified, as the divinity of the son is denied, and the Holy Spirit is enhanced in the ritual and ceremonial life of congregants. (2) Brother Aarón, as a prophet and the blessed envoy of God, is the direct link to the deity, and he and his successors should be followed and obeyed as divinely inspired. This is the dogma that supports the exaltation of the founder and his son, and determines the central organizational framework of the sect’s congregations. It is as if Brother Aarón had taken as a model Mohammed’s relationship to Allah, which is also the foundation that imprints LLDM as a virtual theocracy, as it has been characterized by several Mexican students of religion (Masferrer 1997a). (3) Brother Aarón instituted the “Santa Cena” (lit. the “holy supper”; originally, the last supper of Christ and his disciples before Christ was apprehended) as the central ritual-ceremonial event of LLDM. It is held annually on August 14 in the monumental temple of the Hermosa Provincia, the headquarters of LLDM in Guadalajara.2 The Santa Cena is not just a celebratory ritual to commemorate the founding of the sect, but also a very important economic event: the collection of the tithe and an opportunity to present the apostle with special offerings (cash, cars, and other worldly goods). (4) Brother Aarón and his successor, brother Samuel, were sent and anointed by the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation, as a consequence, is impossible if Mundists do not give complete allegiance to the apostles. This dogma reinforces the virtual worship of the head of the sect and its hierarchical structure. (5) Baptism (Anabaptism) is more than the rite of admission

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into a sect or church; it was, and still is, the traditional rite of passage since the initiation of Christianity. Brother Aarón explicitly intended this event to be an affi rmation of allegiance to him and an entailed obligation to pay the tithe. Indeed, there is no other possible explanation, for well-informed sources claim that brother Samuel and his inner circle do not spare pressures and threats to exploit the faithful to enrich themselves. As stated above, LLDM shares all other theological beliefs and dogmas, with modification, with the native and Protestant sects present in central Mexico. It would not be productive to go over this well-known aspect of evangelism, but a few examples will make things more explicit. First, marriage is mandatory for the leadership, from minister-pastors up to the head of the sect. Brother Aarón believed that all the original apostles were married, as was Jesus himself, and so should be those who help him lead the faithful, as would befit a new anointed envoy of the Lord. Second, like all native and Protestant evangelist sects, LLDM maintains that they are the only true Christians. But this claim of exclusivity is carried to the extreme of asserting that the founder was the only human to have been ordered by God to return Christianity to its original form, as Jesus had ordained. This, of course, is the cornerstone of the theological organization of the sect, which mandates the exaltation of Brothers Aarón and Samuel and makes LLDM a virtual theocracy. Third, proselytism and the missionary zeal of LLDM often transcend the boundaries of most evangelist sects, and lead to aggressiveness and to physical exclusivity. The notion that Brother Aarón had to buy land to establish a congregation and sell it to the faithful has been severely criticized (Amatulli Valente 1989) as another ploy to exploit them economically. Finally, the teleology of LLDM is even poorer. It denies the existence of purgatory (a belief shared by most Protestant sects and denominations), and affi rms a kind of celestial kingdom in which the faithful of the sect occupy a place of privilege at the feet of the Lord God. Brother Aarón and his son, Samuel, never specified a theological and teleological body of dogma for

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LLDM. In the hierarchical and authoritarian organization of the sect this is not necessary, since everything of dogmatic significance and pragmatic value emanated from the founder and his son, which is the ultimate dogma. The following analysis is underlain by the analytical framework discussed in chapter 1. The only difference is that it was very difficult to elicit information from minister-pastors and the faithful of LLDM, and consequently we are not able to undertake a detailed analysis of the ideology and belief system as we did for Amistad y Vida. But the principles and the logic of analysis are the same.

The Ideology of LLDM and Its Consequences The worldview of LLDM, fashioned by the ideology imprinted on the sect by its founder, comprises a closed system of beliefs and practices. It is basically a theocracy, geared to the exploitation of the faithful under strict social control. But what are the benefits for the rank-and-fi le congregants, and what is the appeal of the sect? It cannot be denied that it has been successful in converting considerable numbers of disenchanted Catholics searching for a new religious experience. In the following paragraphs we shall try to explain this rather puzzling phenomenon. LLDM demonstrates a high degree of exclusivity, and by this we mean they have an inordinate conception of themselves as a chosen people. From top to bottom, this is inculcated in children born in the sect and adult converts—the top being viewed as the position of Aarón and his son, Samuel, as the anointed by God. The faithful are at all times indoctrinated to exalt and revere them as living links to the original Son of God, Jesus on Earth. This is a powerful reinforcer that they are the chosen people within the Christian flock; this assertion does not sit well with other evangelist sects and elicits contempt and derision from Catholics. Be this as it may, this view of their position in the scheme of Christianity makes LLDM the most integrated, but at the same time one of the most fanatical, of all native and Protestant evangelist sects.

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From the beginning of LLDM, Brother Aarón sought connections with the political establishment (PRI) to strengthen and consolidate the position of the sect. This nationalistic— one could say patriotic—stance has certainly paid off, as evidenced by the reluctance of the Department of Religious Affairs of the Ministry of the Interior (Gobernación) to prosecute the leadership of the sect in the scandals of sexual abuse (as we shall discuss in chapter 5). These scandals were exposed by the daily press and social scientist researchers (see Masferrer 1997b; Escalante 1997), despite the outcries of evangelist sects and pressure from the Catholic hierarchy.3 This strategy continued with Brother Samuel, and today he counts several important PRI politicians among his supporters. As far as we are aware, this extreme, pragmatic form of nationalism is unique among native and Protestant evangelist sects in Mexico. Despite the original hierarchical imprint of Brother Aarón, the sect becomes less stratified and more egalitarian as it expands from the Hermosa Provincia (the see of the sect) to its regional and local congregations. This is accompanied by a decrease in economic exploitation and sexual abuse of the faithful. One of the main objectives of our research on the Fortín congregation was to determine if the corruption, which purportedly has been rampant at the see, takes place locally or among the three other congregations in the region. We did not uncover any of the abuses that, as amply reported by the daily press, have plagued the see since the foundation of the sect: sexual abuse of children and adult men and women, economic exploitation of congregations (speculation involving the land surrounding the temples, plots of which are sold to congregants), and solicitation of presents in cash and goods (expensive cars, jewelry, fancy electronic items) for the top members of the hierarchy residing in the Hermosa Provincia.4 In addition to the religious comfort that all native and Protestant sects promise—and to a large extent deliver—LLDM pledges economic benefits. Is this a reality or another ploy for exploitation? It is difficult to answer this question categorically, for again it depends on whether one is looking at the Hermosa Provincia or at individual congregations. At the see,

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it has been established without reasonable doubt that the apostle and those immediately next to him enrich themselves and have a privileged existence; this has been the locus of the scandals that have plagued the sect and have been extensively and duly exposed. The situation around individual congregations is quite another matter. Our research on the Fortín congregation, two congregations in Córdoba and Orizaba, and one in Tlaxcala indicates that considerable economic benefits are enjoyed by the rank and fi le. They tithe, but beyond this economic burden (perceived as a tribute that produces local benefits), congregants are not in any way exploited by the local leadership, which by itself is an economic gain. (Parenthetically, this gravamen is probably less taxing than the outlays of cash, goods, and services that Catholic parishioners, at least in rural communities, spend in celebrating the cult of the saints throughout the year. In this particular case, we have not investigated the economics of the mayordomía system and the cost of subsidizing the local religious government, an onerous folk institution, but we know that it is an important ingredient in the process of secularization that often culminates in conversion to evangelism.) The site of the temple and surrounding property where most families have their houses represents a significant economic benefit; the house sites are sold to members at cutrate prices, and this constitutes the most significant and tangible benefit to congregants. And last, but not least, the mutual assistance that characterizes the organization of the congregation provides the faithful with the kind of socioeconomic security net that, as far as we are aware, is not present in any other sect and results in the lowest—virtually nonexistent—rate of reconversion to Catholicism among all the sects. In conclusion, local congregations of LLDM are the recipients of benefits that native and Protestant sects do not provide, and this is the main reason peasants and working-class people join them. The puritanical outward trappings imposed on the rank and fi le of the sect’s congregations by Brother Aarón, particularly on women (long skirts, no jewelry, segregation in religious services, and strict subservience to men), are highly incongruent

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with the rampant sexual abuse and luxurious standard of living at the top of the sect’s hierarchy. What does this indicate? This can be answered simply enough by asserting that this is a case of “Do as I say, not as I do,” as dictated by means of the hierarchical control that from its foundation has been the most salient trait of the sect’s organization. However, there is more to this simplistic explanation. Fundamentally, we believe that destructive sects are fashioned by the personalities of their founders, who in turn were shaped by specific circumstances in their early lives, or by psychological traumas suffered in childhood.5 That LLDM may be considered a destructive sect in the context of the Hermosa Provincia but not in local congregations is the result of two factors. First is the simple fact that in this stratified and highly centralized organization, members of a small nonproductive elite leadership (the apostle in the Hermosa Provincia and his immediate associates, his incondicionales, those unconditionally attached to him) lead a life of comfort and luxury at the expense of the overwhelming majority of producers (the rank-and-fi le faithful in local congregations).6 The leadership of LLDM is very small, comprising probably less than 2 percent of the total membership of the sect, and can therefore engage in an extravagant lifestyle and still be able to do some good at the congregational level. Regarding the second factor—and on this point we have to be brief—the personality and social history of the founder are relevant to many of the beliefs and practices that complement what he took from Pentecostalism and other Protestant sects. We are not practitioners of psychohistory, which, to say the least, is a precarious method for assigning diachronic causality. But we fi nd ourselves unable to adduce a better explanation for this difference between center and periphery that so blatantly characterizes LLDM. The Hermosa Provincia is under the immediate and overwhelming control of its fi rst, powerful charismatic leader, Brother Aarón, who was able to pass on to his son, Samuel, the full array of an abusive and exploitative apparatus. Samuel, of course, was an able and willing heir and has unabashedly per-

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petuated his father’s destructive organization of the sect. This explanation assumes that from the start, Brother Aarón conceived LLDM with this dichotomy in mind, which specifically entails that the exploitation of the rank and fi le in the congregations was made possible by instituting the tithing and fostering the expectation that they are getting back benefits from an exalted, all-powerful leader. This in our estimation is the ideological constituent that makes exploitation seem painless. But we don’t know, nor would we wish to conjecture, about the psychological and social antecedents that molded the personality of the founder and that were instrumental in fashioning the destructive features of LLDM. Finally, at the local, congregational level, minister-pastors are instructed (by the Hermosa Provincia) to instill in the faithful an attitude of veneration, close to adoration, of Brothers Aarón and Samuel. This hard-line indoctrination goes on persistently from the pulpit as well as in the daily activities of the congregation, resulting in a glorification of the apostles that sounds almost pagan. Brother Aarón is referred to as “God’s chosen,” therefore requiring absolute obedience (his son Samuel is equally conceived) not only by the rank-and-fi le faithful, but by the members of the hierarchy (“bishops,” deacons, minister-pastors), and above all by the incondicionales: “our unforgettable hero, who liberated us from the chains of dogma and tradition through his example of love and truth”; “our apostle who made us see the light by instituting the only true way to worship God.” Brother Samuel is referred to as “elected by God to replace his father before he was born”; “anointed by God”; “God’s envoy, who, with his presence, united us into an indivisible group”; “apostle of Jesus Christ, whom people follow everywhere enthusiastically and without reserve”; “greatest [máximo] spiritual guide whose mere presence makes people convert to La Luz del Mundo” (Amatulli Valente 1989:15–18). This extraordinary conception of religious leaders, with its servile attitude, is regarded by Catholics and evangelists alike as risible and not worthy of being taken seriously. This personality cult, together with the sexual and economic exploita-

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tion that accompanies it, is what has led several students of religious cults, as we have already indicated, to classify LLDM as a destructive sect. Nonetheless, we did not encounter a single Mundist who questioned the cult of the apostles, complained about tithing, or did not absolutely believe everything taught about the apostles’ nearly divine conception. Moreover, LLDM elicits favorable recognition from fair-minded Catholic laymen, who do not know or do not care about the exploitation or abuses of the leadership in the Hermosa Provincia; they attend only to the good works the congregation does locally. From this standpoint, LLDM is the most sui generis of all the evangelist sects in Mexico. We do not have fi rsthand knowledge of the Hermosa Provincia as a congregation, how it is organized for the economic exploitation of the faithful, the details of the alleged sexual abuse by Brother Samuel and his incondicionales, and in general its ritual and ceremonial life. We shall therefore concentrate on the Fortín congregation in particular and the other congregations of LLDM in the CórdobaOrizaba region and Tlaxcala in general.

Values and Worldview as Springs to Action All evangelist congregations provide a community ambiance that is absent in Catholic parishes, which we have construed as one of the most common reasons for conversion to evangelism. This aspect of LLDM congregations is even more accentuated than those of all native and Protestant evangelists we have been studying during the past fi fteen years, with the possible exception of Cristianos. The main reason for this characterization is the close proximity in which the majority of the faithful live in congregations of LLDM. But there is an added aspect that plays an important role: namely, the strong belief that they are different from all other evangelist sects, that they are literally the modern chosen people. Mundists, of course, acknowledge that they share many beliefs and practices with other evangelists, but are thoroughly convinced that they alone are the re-

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positories of Christian virtues and the true interpreters of the word of God, the only evangelists who understand the teachings of the Bible. This fanatical religious conception of themselves is the source of their extreme exclusivity; it redounds in rather hermetic congregational self-absorption and disregard for exogenous religious and social interests and commitments. The typical congregation is analogous to a centripetal, closed-corporate folk community, as it has been described in the ethnographic literature of Mesoamerica (Cámara Barbachano 1952:87), which stands largely isolated from the region and remains inwardly traditional. In the remainder of this section we examine the worldview and values of LLDM and how they shape specific aspects of congregations. The exclusivity and endogeny of congregations is most diagnostically exhibited in the explicitly stated belief that the primary responsibility of the faithful is to the congregation and its well-being. Thus, contact with the outside is kept to a minimum, and the social life of the people is centered entirely around the temple and among congregants. They proselytize, of course, but this is done by a rather small group, no more than fi fteen or so, of “missionaries,” who go out two or three times a week to visit the countryside and the poorer sections of the cities, where they most commonly recruit converts. Mundists do not engage in community service, nor do they engage in exogenous activities of any kind that would benefit the community or countryside where the congregations are located. They are criticized by native and Protestant evangelist congregations who usually do community service; in fact, this lack of interest in anything beyond the confi nes of the congregation does not endear them to the evangelical community, of which most members are reluctant to accord LLDM full recognition as one of their own. Rather surprisingly, there is more suspicion and apprehension about LLDM from evangelist sects than from Catholic parishes: the former because they think the sect gives evangelism a bad name; the latter because they

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think Mundists are so outlandish that they should not be taken seriously. Probably the most positive aspect of LLDM congregations is the strongly held belief in self-help and support for individual members. The corporate nature of the group is best exemplified by the assistance that both the congregation as a whole and individuals provide to each other when need arises. This includes donating cash when individuals are sick and need money for medicine (the Holy Spirit may make itself present and thereby cure people, but Mundists do not wait for this to happen; they actively seek biomedical solutions when a person is seriously ill). Unlike many evangelist and fundamentalist sects, Mundists exhibit significant rationality in dealing with health problems. As the minister-pastor of the Fortín congregation puts it, adducing the old Spanish saying, “A Dios rogando pero con el mazo dando” (God helps those who help themselves).7 Social and religious ayuda (institutionalized expected aid) is also present in local congregations, in the form of contributions in kind and cash for the celebrations of the life cycle (baptism, marriage, death, and burial) and the yearly cycle (the rites and ceremonies that accompany the Santa Cena, organization of social activities in the congregation center, discharge of special occasions such as celebration of the apostles’ birthdays, their deaths, catechist reunions, and so on). All these occasions involve the preparation and consumption of food and, at some of them, mild merrymaking. They are also quite institutionalized; most congregants participate, and know exactly how to behave and what to contribute. In fact, these are the main forms of endogenous entertainment, which are conducted in an ambiance of moderation and propriety, another manifestation of the puritanism that pervades the public behavior of the congregation. The similarities between the Cristianos and LLDM in these respects are quite close, and may be explained by the organization of the household and the presence of the nonresidential extended family (Nutini 1968) or by the minimal localized lineage (Robichaux 1995). It will therefore be

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useful to describe in some detail the patterns of kinship behavior of the extended family of LLDM, which with slight modifications is the same as that of Cristianos.

Kinship Behavior in the Extended Family and in the Nonresidential Extended Family Given the individual and generational hierarchical structure of LLDM (and this is the main area in which the sect differs from Cristianos), the best way to understand the behavioral organization of the domestic extended family—and by extension that of the nonresidential extended family—is by fi rst specifying the dyadic patterns that obtain within the former unit. The father–married son relationship is typified by deference, formality, and subordination to the father. As long as the son resides patrilocally, the father exercises strict control and demands obedience, but is always willing to give social and economic help. A married son considers his father the symbol of authority within the household. When the father becomes too authoritarian, the son temporizes with him. This, however, does not happen often, as fathers invariably desire to keep their married sons in the household as long as possible, and they realize that the more liberty the sons are allowed in making their own decisions, the longer they will stay. Usually, the father– married son relationship is one of respect and mutual formality; it is seldom demonstrative, and rather distant and aloof. This extreme respect and veneration for one’s father, and in general for the hierarchical principle of authority, is grounded on the religious conception of the apostles and founder as “fathers” of the sect. The father–unmarried son and father–unmarried daughter relationships consist of strict subordination to the father. This severe control, mostly over daughters, sometimes leads to early marriage. Worthy of notice, however, is that after daughters leave the household to get married, a warm and understanding relationship develops between father and daughter. In

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their recurrent visits to the parental household, daughters are glad to see their fathers, and they ask for advice about marital problems. Fathers watch over their daughters’ well-being; if a daughter is not being treated properly, the father talks to the heads of his daughter’s new household to remedy the situation. Unmarried sons resent their father’s control over their earnings, and try to stay away from the household as much as they can. When they get married, however, sons realize that the extended family household provides a convenient place to leave their wives in safety if they engage in labor migration away from the congregation. Regardless of occupation, however, recently married young men see the advantage of residing patrilocally until they can stand on their own economically and build their own houses, which is seldom before six or seven years after marriage. Between the age of about fi fteen and the time of marriage is perhaps the most difficult period in the life of males in LLDM and Cristianos congregations, as it is difficult for them to accept their father’s control and surveillance. These strained relationships between fathers and young unmarried sons cause significant anxiety within the extended family and are the cause of considerable discord. It is not until they are married that young men come to accept their father’s authority and control and make the proper behavioral adjustments. The relationship of fathers to their sons’ children is somewhat uncertain. As heads of households, fathers are the sole individuals in the extended family who have the right to discipline the children of their sons, and thus they must often be very fi rm with the young children of the household. On the other hand, in their roles as grandfathers they indulge the children and constantly give them small presents. Favoritism toward a grandchild is a common source of confl ict, and daughters-in-law quite often react violently if their children are not favored. On the whole, the grandfather role predominates, and the relationship between a father and his sons’ children is warmly reciprocal. Relationships between fathers-in-law and daughters-in-law

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are rather limited in scope. The father has little to do with his sons’ wives; it is the father’s wife who usually deals with them. As head of the household, however, he does exercise a degree of supervision and control over his daughters-in-law and demands obedience; relations are not cordial, but rather characterized by tension and antagonism. The situation remains the same after component nuclear families separate and establish independent households nearby, for the father-in-law insists on retaining control over his daughters-in-law. The relationship between married sons is one of the stabilizing factors within the extended family. Paradoxically, the relations between married sons are not close or even cordial, but as long as they live in the paternal family household, a tacit agreement on economic and social cooperation holds them together and smoothes out any serious difficulties. However, disagreements sometimes occur, due largely to the father’s favoritism toward one of the sons, usually concerning the allocation of the household resources. When this takes place, and a married son feels that his rights have been infringed upon, the rupture is invariably fi nal. He usually opts to live in the house of a patrilaterally related kinsman, if he hasn’t the means to build his own separate house. In general, however, as long as the relationships between married sons are “normal,” they stabilize social relations within the extended family household. Sons are very close to their mothers and serve as intermediaries between their wives and try to smooth out the always-tense relations between a mother-in-law and her daughters-in-law. The relationship between brothers-in-law and daughters-inlaw within the extended family household is one of mutual understanding, respect, and some cordiality. The relationship of married sons to their unmarried brothers and sisters is close, and married sons always intercede on their behalf, often give them pocket money, and in general treat them with a good deal of warmth. In turn, unmarried sons and daughters cooperate with their brothers’ wives by helping them with chores, and also by taking their side, at least sub rosa, in disputes with their mother. By behaving warmly toward in-marrying women, the

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unmarried men and women of the extended family household also contribute to smoothing out social relations within it. The wife of the head of the extended family household shares some of the respect and deference due to her husband, but her role within the household is not nearly as important as his. The older she is, the less she participates in the internal affairs of the household. Until the age of sixty-five or so, however, she is in charge of managing the household and making sure that her daughters-in-law do their share of the work in addition to running their own nuclear families. The wife of the head of the household does not do much work, especially when she has two or more daughters-in-law to do it for her. The daughters-in-law take turns cooking for her and her husband and for the unmarried children, cleaning the house, making tortillas, washing, mending, and so on. Her job is that of supervisor. But she will do some housework when she has many unmarried children still living in the house and but one daughter-in-law. The daughters-in-law resent this situation, which is the source of endless confl ict. The situation is also aggravated by disputes among themselves, due to favoritism of the motherin-law toward one or the other of them. Now let us turn to the nonresidential extended family, or localized minimal lineage. As we have indicated, this is the most common kin group in folk communities in central Mexico. We have regarded both rural and urban congregations of Amistad y Vida and LLDM as folk communities, one of the characteristic attributes of which is patrineolocality (the rule that specifies that after marriage the couple must reside in the house of the groom, usually for five to seven years). Except in the congregations we studied, patrineolocality is also the source of the deep antagonism and tension that in most instances characterize the relationship between mother-in-law and daughters-inlaw, which persists until after the daughters-in-law and their husbands establish independent residences. The most important source of ill feelings is usually the fact that the motherin-law believes that she is entitled to order her daughters-inlaw around, and to exact unconditional obedience from them.

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Daughters-in-law do not take this kind of treatment lightly, and they lose no chance to antagonize their mother-in-law. They do not greet her in the morning, they do not comply with her commands, and they are disrespectful. The mother-in-law retaliates by complaining about them to her husband and sons. This puts the sons in a very difficult position, as they must be loyal to their wives as well as to their mothers. Invariably they play the role of mediators between wife and mother, thus making family relations a little more bearable. Relations between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law may reach a point where the husband has no alternative but to leave the parental family household and go to live in the house of a patrilaterally related kinsman’s household, or sometimes leave the community altogether. Even after the nuclear family has set up an independent household, relations between mother-in-law and daughters-inlaw continue to be strained, as the mother-in-law retains some control over her daughters-in-law. Of the several dozen cases of patrineolocality in the contexts of the extended family and nonresidential extended family that we have investigated in central Mexico, only Amistad y Vida and LLDM do not exhibit the proverbial antagonism between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. On the contrary, the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is amicable, occasionally quite close, and in no way contributes to the dysfunctionality of the extended family and nonresidential extended family. We may explain this deviation by adducing two reasons. On the one hand, the congregations are small communities, seldom more than five hundred people, with ten to twelve nonresidential extended families in the congregation. It would be structurally very difficult to allow such a disruptive relationship to endure. On the other hand, the religious orientation of both sects emphasizes cooperation and amicable behavior among congregants and has been instrumental in transforming the formerly antagonistic relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Within the extended family household the relationships among daughters-in-law are not always harmonious, but the

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situation is held in check by their husbands, who act as mediators and try to ameliorate the cold and strained relations among daughters-in-law. Daughters-in-law avoid each other as much as they can, but this is seldom possible, especially in extended families with a single expense budget, where there is only one kitchen in the household. In the case of households with separate budgets, each component nuclear family manages its own income and has a separate kitchen, and daughters-inlaw can successfully keep out of each other’s way. Other sources of confl ict are competition for the favors of unmarried brothers and sisters, preferences shown by the mother-in-law, or interference with their children and fights among them. Here again, the husbands play the role of mediator. As we have pointed out, the mother-son relationship is the warmest and strongest in the kinship system of folk people. The mother always takes the side of her sons in their disputes with their father, and in return she expects them to side with her in her disputes with their wives. This puts married sons in an uncomfortable position; their loyalties are divided between their mother and their wives, and the mother resents this because she expects absolute loyalty. However, the mutual devotion between mother and sons is not really disrupted by the fact that sometimes sons side with their wives; and their mother is always the fi rst person they turn to in trouble. The mother–unmarried sons and mother–unmarried daughters relationship is close and affectionate. The mother watches over her daughters and advises them, and not infrequently covers up the daughters’ love affairs and escapades. She intercedes for her sons when they have done wrong, gives them pocket money when they need it, and often pampers them to the annoyance of her husband. She resents it when her unmarried children show the slightest inclination to side with her daughters-in-law, as she expects them to be unfl inchingly loyal to her. She seldom detects such inclinations, however, because unmarried sons and daughters make every effort to conceal the fact that they may be siding with their sisters-in-law. The education and general position of the children of the

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component nuclear families are two other significant aspects of the extended family. The education of the children is to a considerable degree the task of the nuclear family, and mothers do not permit members of other nuclear families within the extended family to interfere with the education and disciplining of their children. Only the head of the extended family household is permitted to discipline his grandchildren, and not even his wife is allowed to interfere with them. She cannot even ask her grandchildren to do errands without the consent of their mothers. Nevertheless her constant insistence on trying to order them around is the most frequent source of discord in the household. Interference in connection with the affairs of their children leads to violent fights among daughters-in-law. By contrast, the unmarried children of the head of the extended family get along harmoniously with their sisters-in-law and secretly take their side in disputes with their own mother. Extended families with a single expense budget are more integrated than extended families with separate budgets, largely for economic reasons, but typologically they must be considered similar; there are not enough important differences to postulate separate categories. While it is possible to analyze the residential extended family in terms of component nuclear families, it is preferable to delineate the total structural relations of the whole in terms of interpersonal relations among the total number of individuals composing it, as we have done here, in order to show more clearly that the extended family is the primary determinant of kinship behavior. With respect to the nonresidential extended family, there are too many relationships to allow us to analyze it dyadically, as we have done above for the domestic extended family. Rather, the analysis must be presented in terms of an organic, functional whole that extends dyadic relationships to apply to the entire unit. But before we do so, it is necessary to describe the overall kinship variables that underlie the entire kinship system of central Mexico’s folk communities, of which LLDM and Amistad y Vida are part. First, patrilateral bias entails that most social and economic

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relations of young men and women are contracted with individuals patrilaterally related. This means primarily that in time of need and stress, both in the process of separating from the extended family and subsequently in establishing their own independent households, married couples rely most often on the husband’s kin. On occasions such as securing a house site, loans for furnishing the house, and social support for multiple occasions in the life cycle, the individual fi rst circle of support is the nonresidential extended family, which, although not necessarily a permanent unit, nonetheless acquires significant organic importance. Second, the nonresidential extended family within the congregation has strong social, economic, and religious functions. If there is something that differentiates LLDM and Amistad y Vida congregations from Catholic parishes in central Mexico it is that the concept of ayuda is more accentuated and consistent in the former. This feature of these two evangelist sects accounts significantly for their rapid growth and their appeal to several sectors of the stratification system: in the case of LLDM, to name the most outstanding, the sect appeals to the urban poor by providing a measure of economic security, as well as psychological support for the upwardly mobile lowermiddle and working classes; among Cristianos, ayuda in multiple forms appeals to individuals who are in transition from rural to urban environments, as it assists them in their adaptation to the city. Moreover, economic ayuda is always forthcoming in connection with the life cycle and related social aspects. There are many occasions, from birth to death, when individual couples need mostly economic support. In this regard LLDM and Amistad y Vida realize the functions of the extended family and nonresidential extended family to the utmost.

La Luz del Mundo Exclusively: Concluding Remark The most positive aspect of LLDM congregations is the pervasive atmosphere of help and cooperation. When congregants

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have personal problems, they can always go to the ministerpastor or any other member of the local hierarchy for comfort. Quite often the minister-pastor asks individuals and families to provide the necessary means to alleviate the suffering of those dealing with anything from mental conditions (depression, apathy, lack of initiative, inability to deal with personal and family problems, and the like) to debilitating physical syndromes. We witnessed one case in which the adults of two families took turns staying with a widow whose husband had died in an accident. She had gone into a state of complete disarray that prevented her from taking care of her four small children. We were told repeatedly by informants that this kind of assistance was quite common in the normal life of the congregation. One can hardly conceive this happening in the impersonal ambiance of a Catholic parish, nor would we expect to see a priest taking personal responsibility for a parishioner in need. This is highly constructive behavior that an impartial assessment of LLDM must balance against the destructive behavior that takes place at the see. In addition, certain customs instituted by the apostles—and now part of the ideology and praxis of the sect everywhere—detract from the constructive configuration of local congregations. The most salient of these are the following: puritanism (which we have already mentioned); opposition to birth control, abortion, and “tampering with God’s designs”; homophobia; and misogyny. Let us fi rst consider the effects of puritanism on the religious and social life of the congregation. Prescribing the dress, adornments, and general personal appearance of women is an evident form of control that keeps them in subordinate positions within the congregation; it is an overt form of machismo, meant to keep women under men’s domination. This central aspect of LLDM emanates directly from Brother Aarón’s conception of womanhood, which was taken on by his son Samuel and given an even more repressive form (Amatulli Valente 1989).8 Several incondicionales women have “escaped” from the Hermosa Provincia, despite the coercion and use of force

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exerted on them to remain. Surprisingly, in the congregations we have investigated women unanimously state that they are happy in their subordinate position. They accept it as the will of the apostle Aarón. When asked about the abuses of women in the Hermosa Provincia, they answered that it is not true, that it is a charge concocted by Catholics and other enemies of LLDM. More significantly, the puritanical conceptions of womanhood pervading in the congregation keep women segregated from men and unable to occupy positions of responsibility in the congregation. This is done in some cases covertly, as when women are required to sit separately from men in the temple, but most of the time openly; when citing biblical authority, women are told they cannot occupy positions of authority and leadership, as ordained in the New Testament. The outsider quickly becomes aware that the congregation is palpably male dominated, that women seldom are independent agents, and that there is a subtle ambiance of nothing happening without men’s consent. One gets the eerie notion that all is well, that everybody is happy, and that everything functions smoothly. Such is the power of suggestion of a charismatic religious leader and the sustained process of enculturation of women by men! We fi nd no other explanation for this unusual situation. As an extension of the foregoing point, at all levels LLDM is opposed to contraception, abortion, any form of birth control, and any action considered as tampering with God’s design and order of the universe. More destructively, there is an everpresent veneer of misogyny that goes far beyond traditional Mexican machismo.9 It is never explicitly stated, but implicitly women are regarded as objects that must be guided by men and at all times kept under control. Thus, women are not allowed positions of prestige in the congregation, and cannot be bishops, deacons, or minister-pastors; when they occasionally serve in some organizing capacity, such as leading a prayer session or imparting catechism to children, they are carefully supervised. We fi nd this to be the most destructive aspect of LLDM at the

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local level. To reiterate, women passively accept this subordination to men as the inevitable nature of things ordained by the apostle, to whom they owe absolute obedience. To conclude, LLDM at the level of the congregation, despite a few glaring destructive elements, has become an attractive alternative for dissatisfied Catholics, as evidenced by the rapid growth of the sect and the favorable perception that it elicits in some circles of the Catholic population. The success of LLDM demonstrates that, despite the after-the-fact rationalizations that invariably accompany conversion to evangelism (namely, the assertion that individuals convert because they have found the true and only version of Christianity), people leave the Church for economic, social, and psychological reasons that the present state of Catholicism has done nothing to solve. We shall return to this problem in chapter 6.

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CHAPTER FIVE

La Luz del Mundo: Structure and Ritual-Ceremonial Organization of the Congregation

In this chapter we analyze the organization of the cult of La Luz del Mundo (LLDM), its ritualism and ceremonialism, the process of evangelist enculturation, and the life of the congregation as molded by the beliefs and dogmas of the sect. The scandals and controversies that have plagued LLDM, especially during the past decade, are well known in Mexico to scholars and the general public, but we do not think this is the case with students of religion elsewhere. Thus, we conclude the chapter with a description and analysis of LLDM as a destructive sect, aiming to clarify what this concept means and how it affects the nature and perception of evangelism.

The Syntagmatic Structure of the Cult LLDM does not have an elaborate syntagmatic unfolding of celebrations in the yearly cycle. Unlike most Protestant evangelist sects and historical denominations, LLDM does not formally celebrate the traditional events of the yearly Christian cycle, with Catholicism’s being the most numerous and complex (and their celebration constituting one of the most important elements of being a Christian in good standing with the Church). Epiphany, Corpus Christi, Easter, All Saints and All Souls, Christmas, and other lesser events are remembered, but do not entail specific celebratory rites and ceremonies. The

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same applies to the daily and weekly events that take place in the temple. They lack the regularity of execution that characterizes the services of Protestant sects, such as the Pentecostals and Jehovah’s Witnesses. The main weekly service (dominical), the rough equivalent of the Catholic Mass, has a certain sequence of components, but it varies from one week to another. To a large extent, it is an impromptu gathering, the only constant of which is the glorification of the prophets; that is, it is explicitly designed as the most potent enculturating occasion of the cult of Aarón and Samuel. Let us begin with the latter and elaborate on these two aspects of the cult. The dominical takes place on Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to noon. It is always well attended and may occasionally draw the entire congregation. It is conducted by either the ministerpastor or one of his assistants. There is, however, a daily service called La Oración (the supplication or entreaty) that takes place Monday through Saturday at 9:00 a.m. and at 6:00 p.m., which usually draws from twenty to fi fty people, including children; it lasts for about forty-five minutes and is conducted by one of the deacons. In addition, the children attend catechism once or twice a week, usually on Wednesday or Friday; this is led by volunteers, men or women, and the class may last as long as an hour. The dominical begins with the reconciliación, a communal prayer of thanks to the Lord, with the attendants on their knees, followed by silent prayers that last for several minutes. Then the attendants stand and ask the officiant to praise the Glory of the Lord, which he does like a litany, with audience as a chorus. This is followed by reading a chapter of the Bible, germane to the sermon of the week, given by the ministerpastor, which may last for half an hour or more. There is more chanting from an extensive hymnary, published by La Luz del Mundo Press and of standard use in all congregations. (The hymnary consists of psalm-like songs, which combine Biblical themes with explicit or implicit references to the life and deeds of the apostles, lauding them as the founders and perpetuators of all that is good in the congregation.) This part of the liturgy

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is punctuated by the somewhat hysterical shouts and cries of attendants, invoking the apostles by name, with women being the most vocal. The service concludes with an elaborate prayer for the apostle Samuel and his family and less elaborate ones for the various members of the hierarchy at the see. The preaching in all these religious services (always conducted in the temple, a large and rather impressive structure) is much concerned with instruction on leading a good life according to LLDM morality, which consists mostly of being close to God, being helpful to fellow congregants, and, not least, remembering the apostles in their prayers; also, but with little insistence, there is preaching against drinking, smoking, and maltreatment of women, concerns highly emphasized by all other native and Protestant evangelist sects. An emphasis on education and on personal and household hygiene complements the temple-centered preaching and activities of the congregation. Literacy is a main concern, and if new converts cannot read and write, they are immediately assigned someone to teach them. There is a significant concern with personal appearance and with keeping one’s house and its vicinity clean and tidy, and the minister-pastor or his assistants do not hesitate to counsel or admonish congregants from the pulpit during the dominical when they are remiss. As a congregation, LLDM exhibits a pronounced concern to present a proper public image as a model for emulation, which is one of the main concerns of the weekly services. The yearly cycle, on the other hand, consists mostly of the repetition of the dominical, with slight variations in ritual. The main events of the Christian yearly cycle mentioned above are perfunctorily remembered, but nothing specifically marks their celebration. In fact, of all the native and Protestant evangelist sects in central Mexico, LLDM is the most devoid of formal ritual and ceremonial elaborations. The discharge of the cult aspects, by contrast, is the most spontaneous; namely, congregants may participate in the services whenever they are inspired to speak out, or as they put it, whenever the Holy Spirit moves them (“cuando el Espíritu Santo se hace presente en ellos”).

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This invariably takes place once or twice during the dominicales, when men and women may verbally testify as to the goodness of God in solving their problems, keeping them from falling into temptation, steering them on the right path, frequently crediting the prophets for the good things they experience, and thanking them for it. These testimonies are sometimes accompanied by loud crying and shouts, which are echoed by the congregation. According to several minister-pastors and many congregants, glossolalia sometimes accompanies the individual manifestation of the Holy Spirit. These testimonials are the closest to speaking in tongues that we and our assistants observed the dozens of times we attended religious services in seven congregations of LLDM in the Córdoba-Orizaba region and Tlaxcala. We have no reason to doubt what we were told, but we cannot vouch for the classic trancelike and hysterical behavior that accompanies glossolalia, as reported elsewhere. The LLDM celebrates only two events throughout the year: the birthday of Brother Aarón (the Santa Cena) and the day of his death. The dates of these celebrations fall, respectively, on August 14 and June 9. Evidently by agreement, after the death of Brother Aarón his son, Samuel, instituted these two celebrations, which became the equivalent of Christmas and Easter in mainstream Christianity. They are celebrated with a great array of rites and ceremonies, as if to compensate for the poverty of the yearly cycle. It should be noted that the fourteenth of every month is also regarded as part of the yearly cycle. When the fourteenth falls on Sunday it is considered most auspicious, and the dominical is celebrated with greater pomp, including the mañanitas (the singing of the traditional Mexican birthday song) for Brother Aarón at dawn in front of the temple. The Santa Cena takes place in the Hermosa Provincia and lasts three hours, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. It takes place on the same date and at the same time in all congregations of LLDM in Mexico and abroad. It is the most solemn occasion of the cult, and its central theme is literally the adoration of the apostles, particularly the son. We witnessed the Santa Cena three times in different congregations, in Fortín, Orizaba, and

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Tlaxcala, and the celebration’s sequence of ritual segments was exactly the same at all sites. It was a highly emotional ceremony, but little more than an extended version of the dominical, devoid of any original ritual elaboration; even the services of the most ritually poor evangelist sects exhibit more original complexity. The celebration is centered on the apostles, and the demonstrations of the weekly service are carried to a paroxysm of expression. There is much crying, weeping, singing, and the exaltation of the apostles reaches an epitome of verbalization. The adoration of God is secondary, as the apostles are credited with the faithful having found and learned to get close to Him. The experienced researcher of Protestant and Catholic manifestations of Christianity cannot help wondering how this egomaniacal sect came into being, but there is no doubt that Brother Aarón originally formulated the cult that his son has exaggerated to peerless perfection. For the Santa Cena, the officiating minister-pastor wears a white suit, which is the only time through the year he does so, and this becomes the equivalent of the vestment worn by priests and some pastors of historical denominations. He begins the service by telling the congregation that the Santa Cena is taking place in the Hermosa Provincia; he then pointedly explains that the service is in honor of the apostle Samuel, the beloved son of the apostle Aarón, exhorting them to pray for him and to wish him happiness, good health, and a long life. Then he launches into a long string of exalting epithets of the apostle (referring to him as “savior,” “anointed of the Lord,” “the hope of mankind,” “beloved leader,” “liberator,” and so on), the central message being that without him LLDM would cease to exist and all the spiritual and material well-being that the congregation has achieved would no longer be forthcoming. This segment, continuing with the analogy of the Catholic Mass, on which the Santa Cena is evidently modeled, may be called the introitus and lasts for about forty-five minutes. Then comes the antiphonal, or gloria, a long singing of psalms, taken from the Bible but also composed by the faithful of the Hermosa Provincia. Pieces composed by the faithful

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combine biblical psalms with exaltation of the apostle Samuel. The following is a typical one: Es Israel un ejército imponente, todos formados como listos a luchar, / se ven ondear las banderas muy en alto, y en medio el pueblo sagrado, / está el que Dios ha levantado, un gran apóstol del señor. Israel [the congregation] is a majestic army, and the ranks ready to fight, / all the flags waving high, and amid the sacred people, / stands the anointed of God, a great apostle [Samuel] of the Lord.

Many psalms are sung, and this goes on for about an hour. (Parenthetically, all the singing during the services in many congregations is a capella, including that by organized choirs, but apparently the Hermosa Provincia has an excellent organ which lends luster to musical aspects of services at the see. Occasionally, local choirs are an integral part of the services; they lead the singing, which is echoed by the attendants.) The sermon comes next; it is always delivered by the ministerpastor and is punctuated by admonitions to the congregation about being faithful to the beliefs and practices of the sect as laid out by the apostles. The sermon is usually an appropriate selection from the gospels that underlies the themes that the minister-pastor desires to convey to the congregation on this most solemn occasion of the yearly cycle. The content of the sermon may range from the significance of the sect’s teachings to the role of faith in the apostles for salvation, and from some crucial aspect of the history of LLDM to why it has expanded as the only true version of Christianity because of the vision and goodness of the apostles. The sermon may go on for as long as an hour, but usually lasts about forty-five minutes. The fi nal part of the Santa Cena lasts for about half an hour. It is basically a eulogy to the apostle Aarón, but also an exhortation to the congregation on the importance of the apos-

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tle Samuel for the growth and prosperity of the sect. Again, Aarón is remembered not only as the founder of LLDM but as the fountain of wisdom and love and everything good, whereas people offer their good wishes to Samuel for a long life and continuing leadership. The minister-pastor moderates the proceeding, but anyone, man or woman, is allowed to speak, to express their thoughts on the apostles and on what they mean for each individual and the congregation. Personal testimonials abound, and there is much crying and many expressions of joy by the congregants at belonging to LLDM. The Santa Cena, in short, is the embodiment of the cult of personality that fundamentally characterizes the top leadership of a destructive sect.

Social and Kinship Environment of the Congregation Pragmatically, the congregation may be considered as an extended kinship system from the standpoint of the social, religious, and economic life of congregants. What do we mean by this? Essentially, the patterns of interaction are those associated with a community that considers itself more related by kinship than as a settlement. The nuclear and extended family households composing congregations do not, of course, consider themselves descendants from a common ancestral couple, but they do function as a deme (Murdock 1949:63): they reside mostly in a circumscribed area, worship in common, and exhibit patterns of cooperation and exchange among congregants similar to those of an organic group. In fact, this amounts to a defi nition of the congregation, which makes LLDM a unique case among native and Protestant evangelist sects. The minister-pastor of a Zongolica rural congregation, in a very isolated mountain area some twenty-five miles from the city of Orizaba, told us that residential patterns afforded more protection against the occasional violence the congregants are subjected to by local Indian and Mestizo Catholics. This does not take place

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in urban environments, where entente has been reached with Catholics, and interfaith relations have not yet developed into open confrontation.1 The economy and material culture of LLDM varies greatly. At the Hermosa Provincia, congregants include working-class people but also a significant number of lawyers, accountants, engineers, and other practitioners of the liberal professions. This is the rule among the apostle’s male incondicionales; they constitute the leadership core of the sect, and are not so much religious as economic advisors in charge of managing and investing the considerable wealth of the sect. Their homes are well appointed, and their lifestyle is comparable to the affluent Mexican upper-middle class, including access to travel and the best that money can buy for personal gratification; they are a truly privileged group. In the urban congregations, the leadership, almost always of lower-middle-class status, has a comfortable middle-class lifestyle; the rank-and-fi le faithful, invariably of working- and lower-middle-class status, have a living standard better than that of the average working-class residents of the cities or towns where they are located. In rural congregations, the status of the leadership is the same as in urban congregations, while the rank-and-fi le faithful are Mestizo campesinos (peasants owning parcels of land of less than two to five hectares in size), a few working-class daily laborers migrating to nearby cities, and a sprinkle of pequeños propietarios (small landowners, with parcels of land as large as 12 hectares).2 There is, of course, a significant degree of variation. For example, in the lowlands and midlands there are no Indian Mundists, whereas in the highlands a considerable number of Indians are members of local congregations.3 Moreover, LLDM congregations flourish most successfully in small towns close to larger industrial cities, such as in the Córdoba-Orizaba region, the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley, and the Valley of Mexico. One thing is certain everywhere: Mundists are economically better off than the general population of the regions where the congregations are located. Another significant aspect of LLDM congregations is their

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political awareness and strong support of the party in power. The sect was founded two years after the PRI came to power, and from the very beginning Brother Aarón cultivated relations with its leadership, a policy continued by Brother Samuel. As we have indicated, this strategy has served LLDM well through the difficult times the sect has experienced in the past decade. When the PAN came to power in 2000, the leadership did not waste any time in cultivating the PRI’s successors, apparently to good purpose. The leadership from top to bottom encourages the rank and fi le to vote in local and national elections, and to cultivate an image of patriotism and support of the party in power. Encouraging people to vote and be patriotic is selfserving, but at least the former fosters the good citizenship that Mexicans most certainly are in need of. This is also a trait that evangelist sects do not in any way encourage, and that the Jehovah’s Witnesses impede. The incidence of extended family households in these congregations is higher than that of the general urban population of central Mexico. In the Fortín congregation, they comprise about 15 percent, compared, for example, to less than 8 percent in the city of Orizaba. Quite often, the extended household is composed of unrelated nuclear families, which is the result of new-convert couples living with those who proselytized them (a common pattern of conversion among Mundists), sometimes for as many as two years, until they can get on their feet economically to establish a neolocal residence. The general population is aware of this initial help—as we elicited from several Catholic working-class informants—which is probably an inducement in the process of conversion. Kinship behavior is largely determined by the image of the all-powerful and knowing “father” projected by the apostle, which colors every action of the faithful. Thus, age, sex, hierarchy, and respect for authority regulate all interactions in the congregation. In the domain of kinship, women must be subservient to men, children must be extremely respectful and obey their parents without question, and congregants must trust, be attentive, and never question the judgments of

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the minister-pastor. In contrast, all five minister-pastors with whom we became acquainted behave like the proverbial benevolent uncle rather than the wrathful, domineering father. This is perhaps the main factor in why local congregations are harmonious, well administered, and de facto fairly egalitarian.4 Although entertainment in the general, conventional sense (dancing, going to the movies, watching television) is not a significant part of the daily life of congregants, visiting among families and gathering socially at home are important practices frequently encouraged by the leadership of the congregation. Families often get together for the consumption of food, drop into each other’s houses unannounced, and frequently organize more elaborate affairs where all congregants are welcome. In fact, the social life of congregants takes place mostly in private homes, and everybody knows they are welcome without being invited. Despite the strict subordination of women, husbands at home treat their wives kindly and do not interfere with their administration of the household. Most marriages are close and affectionate, and apparently there is none of the physical and psychological abuse all too common among the population at large. Children are under the strict control of parents, and enculturated from an early age to obey and respect them. Regarding issues around dating, friendship, jobs, and many other activities outside the congregation, they seldom make decisions without consulting their parents. Until they marry, girls (who are encouraged to marry as late as twenty-five or twenty-six) are watched carefully, and parents discourage their offspring from marrying exogamously, but they relent when there is a distinct possibility that the prospective spouse’s family may be converted.5 Young men are also encouraged to marry late, and it is not uncommon that they do not until the age of twentynine or thirty. These patterns of late marriage are peculiar to LLDM congregations, whose leaders insist that a person should be mature and economically solvent, an economic state quite at variance with that of the region’s population. This state of affairs continues into adulthood, when married men and women

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continue to consult their parents for many of the decisions they have to make in their new role as parents. Despite the destructive aspects mentioned above, the family lives, overall interactions, and personal behaviors among Mundists are better than those we have observed among lower- and working-class populations in central Mexico, a fact which again is considered worthy of admiration by unbiased Catholic observers. Mundists celebrate birthdays, their children’s graduations, and occasionally special secular occasions such as Independence Day and the Fifth of May; such events invariably take place in one of the houses of groups of families that acknowledge ties of several years’ standing. These groups of families, usually composed of nine to fi fteen households, are, so to speak, the loose units that constitute the entire community: they include both nuclear and extended families that are unrelated and related by bilateral kinship ties; these groups may be functionally defi ned as nonlocalized extended families. There are a considerable number of households, perhaps as high as 25 percent, who do not reside on the land owned by the congregation where the temple is constructed. They are nonetheless an intrinsic part of nonresidential extended families, but the social gatherings and celebrations must take place in a household within the area of the temple; in the case of Fortín, there is an extension of seven blocks in the outskirts of the city. In rural congregations, the temple lands are much larger and invariably all congregants reside there. Courtship, with the consent of the parents of the young man and woman, is short-lived and closely supervised, and almost invariably leads to marriage, which is the most meaningful event in the life cycle. The religious ceremony takes place at the end of a dominical, on a date chosen by the parents of the bride and groom in agreement with the minister-pastor. After the civil wedding is performed by a justice of the peace (presidente municipal), the celebration takes place in the house of the groom’s parents. It is the most elaborate social event in the life cycle of Mundists, but it lacks the ritual elaboration that characterizes the traditional Mexican wedding. The only thing

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worth noticing is the admonition of the minister-pastor to the couple to honor the apostle, remember him in their prayers, and live according to his precepts. As one can see, the process of enculturation of the faithful is endless. Kinship behavior beyond the nuclear family is another salient aspect. Two levels of realization may be distinguished: the nonresidential extended family (see below) and the congregation as a whole. Within the nonresidential extended family, men are very close to one another, and any action group of a social and religious nature that may temporarily be formed is recruited from within it, such as the teams that proselytize in workingclass neighborhoods and in the countryside. Within the congregation as a whole, except for religious occasions, men do not come together often, but they know that were they to have a need at any time, any member of the congregation would be willing and ready to help. Women, on the other hand, form attachments within both the nonresidential extended family and the congregation at large, and the strongest are with women not related by kinship. Groups of four or five get together to knit, gossip, and exchange ideas. Such planned gatherings are quite commonly long lived, and, irrespective of what they do, they are basically self-support groups to which women turn for comfort and to discuss problems. Another institution absent in LLDM is compadrazgo. One minister-pastor pointedly said that “nuestra religión no malgasta ni tiempo ni dinero en inconsecuencias como el compadrazgo” (our religion squanders neither time nor money on frivolities like compadrazgo). He went on to say that the congregation provides all the spiritual and social support that any individual may need.6 This trait of LLDM was instituted by the apostle Samuel when he succeeded his father; compadrazgo was described to us as a distraction from the adoration of God and diminishing the economic contribution of the faithful to the maintenance of the see. To us, this prohibition is another explicit subterfuge by Samuel to enrich his coffers; a Catholic informant, otherwise sympathetic to what the congregation does locally for its members, referred to it as “un negocio redondo

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para Samuel” (Samuel’s sure and profitable business). Moreover, it appears that the apostle does not permit the faithful to engage in relationships that would lessen their complete dedication to his personality cult. Local congregants, given their strong endogeny, do not need compadrazgo relationships as a means of building social and economic networks; the close-knit structure of the congregation more than compensates for the absence of compadrazgo. The vast differences in LLDM between center (La Hermosa Provincia) and periphery (the hundreds of congregations throughout Mexico) is a unique phenomenon in Mexican religion, but not so in the United States, where the case of the Father Divine sect immediately comes to mind, and more recently that of televangelist Jim Bakker. This is the reason LLDM has attracted so much attention among the country’s overwhelmingly Catholic population, despite the fact that Mexicans are aware of the sexual abuses and pedophilia perpetrated by priests.7

The Study of Religious Sects in Mexico In 1997 almost an entire issue of the Mexican journal Revista Académica para el Estudio de las Religiones was dedicated to LLDM. It does not deal with the congregations of LLDM, as we have done in this book; rather, it is concerned exclusively with the see. From a sociological, anthropological, and psychoanalytical standpoint, and with the inclusion of testimonials of former members of LLDM, the authors of this publication analyze and describe what transpires at the Hermosa Provincia and among the leadership of the sect, including an array of sexual and fi nancial abuses and malversation of tithing, as well as discussions of the defi nition of “sect” and “religion” and what constitutes a “destructive sect.” This important publication, the fi rst of its kind in Mexico, owes much to anthropologist Elio Masferrer. It deserves a close examination, which we undertake in this section for the bene-

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fit of English-reading students of religious studies, particularly evangelism and fundamentalism. Other publications on the same subject will be mentioned as well. The Revista Académica para el Estudio de las Religiones is published by the Centro para el Estudio Científico de las Religiones (Center for the Scientific Study of Religions), a nonprofit association of professional students of religion (anthropologists, sociologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, journalists, and others) whose purpose is to spread knowledge of religion, especially regarding sects that appeared in the course of the twentieth century. The journal aims to make available to the reader theoretical, methodological, and empirical resources for understanding contemporary religious diversity, adequately differentiating among available religious options, and studying the organizational dynamics of religious institutions. These are laudable aims, and as far as we are aware, there is no journal in the United States in which a comparable array of scholars addresses these scientific and practical problems. In “Sectas destructivas: Defi niciones y metodología de análisis” (“Destructive Sects: Defi nitions and Methodological Analysis”), Jorge Erdely discusses several cases of religious terrorism during the past generation, and ably and rather exhaustively defi nes the concept of “sect” (and, by extension, “destructive sect”), as distinct from “religion.” Erdely views the differences from several standpoints: sociological, psychological (and psychiatric), theological, linguistic, historical, medical, philosophical, and scientific. Analytically, he discusses the criteria for these defi nitions, indicating the congruent factors and their adequacy for the study of sectarian movements. This is a very useful exposition on several aspects of recent sectarian movements, and, as far as we know, the fi rst of its kind in Mexico. The article by Elio Masferrer, “Iglesias y nuevos movimientos religiosos: Un esfuerzo por aclarar la confusión” (“Churches and New Religious Movements: An Endeavor to Clarify Existing Confusion”), very ably describes and analyzes a number of terminological issues concerning the churches and sects that proselytize in Mexico today. But his article is much more than

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that. He etically discusses various defi nitions of “church” and “sect” that have been proposed by Mexican and foreign scholars; he assesses their interrelationship, and emically endeavors to come up with a scientific defi nition of “sect.” Moreover, he classifies the origin and derivation of new religious movements (NRMs) and indicates some of their characteristic traits. These are laudable aims that are critical for the scientific study of religion, which in Mexico is still in its infancy. Masferrer pointedly asserts that people do not usually know about theology and teleology, and they convert to another religion or sect because its ritualism and ceremonialism appeal to them and for what it has to offer socially and economically (Masferrer 1997a). This is an insight fully corroborated by our research on evangelism in central Mexico. “Milagro, misterio y autoridad: El triángulo de adoctrinamiento sectario” (“Miracle, Mystery, and Authority: The Triangle of Sectarian Indoctrination”) by John Hochman is an attempt to explain the rise of new sects and their origins. He analyzes their constitution, emphasizing their negative attributes and oftentimes harmful aspects, listing the most deleterious components, such as authoritarianism, exploitation of the faithful, claiming messianic origins, psychological pressure to keep individuals from defecting, and so on. Using the example of Jim Jones’s People’s Temple, he analyzes the relationship among miracle, mystery, and authority, and how they reinforce each other. Although he does not use the term, what Hochman actually does is present a description of a destructive sect, and we can see the striking parallels between Jim Jones and the apostle Aarón. From this standpoint, the Hermosa Provincia of LLDM is clearly a destructive sect; that is, despite the good work of its peripheral congregations, the economic abuses perpetrated by the see and the complete subordination of women are traits that by Hochman’s defi nition make this overall a destructive sect. “Un estudio psicoanalítico sobre la relación líder-feligresía en la iglesia ‘La Luz del Mundo’” (“A Psychoanalytic Study of the Leader-Faithful Relationship in the Church of La Luz del

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Mundo”), by César Mascareñas de los Santos and Jorge Mascareñas Ruiz, is on a topic that implicitly underlies our analysis of the relationship of the apostles Aarón and Samuel. This is a mode of analysis that we did not attempt to undertake because it lies beyond our area of expertise. Although we have some doubts about its explanatory efficacy, we concede that it might be possible to gain an understanding of a sect like LLDM by examining the personality and behavior of its founder and present leader. With an extensive array of observed and written evidence, the authors of the article present a plausible picture of the modal personality of Brother Samuel and its malignant consequences for the organization of the see in particular and the life of the congregation in general. (We read this article after we had completed writing most of the present book, and we were pleasantly surprised that our analysis of the apostle Samuel from the standpoint of congregations comes to essentially the same conclusions, although our study does not entail any psychological sophistication but is an extrapolation from social factors. The picture this article paints is in fact even bleaker than what we have to say about him.) The authors analyze indepth the personality of Brother Samuel and what he has done, and continues to do, in shaping the organization of LLDM and conditioning the life of the faithful. The authors describe and analyze Samuel as suffering from narcisismo maligno (malignant narcissism), trastorno delirante paranoide (paranoid delirious derangement), and even delirio de grandeza (delusions of grandeur), and discuss how these combined psychotic traits affect and mold the congregation, fostering a perception of Brother Samuel that amounts to deification. They call this syndrome trastorno psicótico compartido (shared psychotic derangement), and it accounts for the sexual (at the see) and economic abuses (in all congregations) such as justifying sexual intercourse with young women and men (as when he tells a boy of fi fteen, “Yo soy como los ángeles que no tienen sexo, puedo disfrutar de un hombre o una mujer sin cometer pecado” [“I am sexless like the angels, I can enjoy a man or a woman without sinning”]) and demanding tithing and encouraging pres-

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ents from the faithful in all congregations. This is indeed “un negocio redondo” for Brother Samuel. Paloma Escalante’s article “El abuso sexual y el uso simbólico del concepto religioso del padre” (“Sexual Abuse and the Symbolic Use of the Religious Concept of Father”) is a sequel to the one above. Escalante focuses on the sexual abuse that goes on at the Hermosa Provincia but does not, as we have indicated, take place at the local congregation level—at least not in the areas of central Mexico covered in this book. Her article deals with the sexual abuse of children in general, including by Catholic priests, but what is relevant for the present book is what she says about LLDM, which is based on her discussions with six former members of the sect who were abused by Brother Samuel when they were from thirteen to eighteen years old. A most perverse rationale he gave for raping a thirteenyear-old girl was to tell her that she should offer her virginity to the Varón de Dios (man of God) as the most valuable thing she had; and besides, he argued, the rape would help him to get rid of a terrible headache. Escalante complements the previous article by detailing additional “justifications” for the abhorrent behavior that goes on at the Hermosa Provincia. The issue of the journal concludes with two documentary articles: interviews with three sexually abused former members of LLDM, and a 1997 public declaration by Brother Samuel. These pieces are not directly relevant to our study of LLDM, but the public statement by Brother Samuel is pertinent to the following section. Media reporting, including dailies, weeklies, and television, has served to inform the general public about the abuses that are committed by the apostle Samuel and his immediate collaborators; these on the whole corroborate the articles in the 1997 issue of Revista Académica para el Estudio de las Religiones. Brother Samuel’s public stand is a cynical denial of the charges of sexual and economic abuses leveled against him by independent investigators and the media. He portrays himself as an honest, dedicated evangelist whose only aim is the welfare of his flock.

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Evidence Regarding the Leadership at the Hermosa Provincia and Its Inception and Development From the very beginning of the sect, the charismatic Brother Aarón and his immediate associates have been a center of attention for their unorthodox evangelism. The succession of Samuel was marred by controversy, and even insiders question its legitimacy. But nothing provoked the interest of the general public until allegations against the apostle Samuel began to appear in mid-1995. Elio Masferrer, in an article entitled “Los destellos de La Luz: Crónica de una polémica inedita en nuestro país” (“The Sparklings of La Luz: Chronicle of an Unpublished Debate in Our Country”), also published in the issue of the journal under consideration, provides an excellent account of what transpires at the see. That article—together with those glossed in the foregoing section, and a few other sources—provides the materials on which the following discussion is based. Early in 1994, the Hermosa Provincia came under the scrutiny of Masferrer and a group of anthropologists during an invited visit to the LLDM see. They were interested in some of the unusual aspects of the sect, such as the puritanical dress of its women (long skirts, no makeup, no jewelry), which greatly contrasted with the expensive attire and gold jewelry of the pastors. They were also startled by the exaggerated membership figures that were given: five million for Mexico and foreign countries. In an interview, a former representative (diputado) of the district where the Hermosa Provincia is located stated that “aparentemente son muy puritanos y probablemente lo sean, pero no tanto, a veces sus líderes les plantean a sus feligresas que el Espíritu Santo les ha revelado que tienen que acostarse con ellas y hay presiones. Han habido denuncias por abusos y violaciones sexuales” (apparently they are very puritanical, and maybe they are, but not so much. Sometimes the leaders tell women congregants that the Holy Spirit has revealed to them that they must go to bed with them, often under pressure. There have been legal charges of sexual abuses and rape). From then on, the see of LLDM became a focus of interest

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of researchers and journalists. The evidence on the deleterious practices in the Hermosa Provincia began to mount and expanded to Brother Aarón himself, indicating that from the beginning, even beyond sexual misconduct, the sect had been imprinted with its most questionable practices: extreme control of the faithful, exaltation of the apostles, malversation of the tithe, potential for inciting suicide, and so on. Indeed, it was these practices, as quoted above, that led Erdely to regard LLDM as a destructive sect. At this point, television joined the controversy, and several programs on TV Azteca, one of the main networks in Mexico, reported on the most sensational accusation against LLDM, namely, that it was potentially a suicidal sect. LLDM protested vehemently, and the controversy heated up and acquired political overtones. The Departamento de Investigaciones Sobre Abusos Religiosos (Investigative Department of Religious Misconduct) of the federal government did not want to intervene, and another television network defended LLDM against the charges that had been leveled against it. Partisans of the sect tried, unsuccessfully, to lobby among leading intellectuals and academics, alleging that its detractors were unfairly imputing unfounded charges. As a result of all this, LLDM suffered a devastating blow at the top of the sect, but not necessarily at the congregational level, as our field research in central Mexico clearly indicates. The reason for this discrepancy, as Masferrer suggested, may be the great control that LLDM exerts over the faithful, such as strictly regulating what newspapers they can read and television programs they can watch. However, there is more than this reason: without direct experience regarding the desecrations of the leaders at the see, and an honestly led investigation by minister-pastors free of personal abuses, it would be difficult for local congregants to believe the stories of despicable deeds perpetrated by the apostle and his incondicionales. Be that as it may, as the exposure of the sect proceeded, the investigative emphasis shifted from accusations of potential suicidal tendencies to the sexual abuses of women and children, as formerly abused individuals related in detail their experiences with the apos-

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tle Samuel and other members of the hierarchy. This caused a greater shock among the general public, and most evangelist sects began to distance themselves from LLDM by saying that the sect was neither Christian nor evangelist. Furthermore, the affair acquired political overtones. The media criticized the ruling party (PRI) for taking a lenient stance and not prosecuting LLDM. Some journalists, given the new freedom of the press inaugurated by the Zedillo administration, severely censured the PRI for its connection to LLDM, and a few academics asked the House of Representatives to impeach a deputy who had close ties with Brother Samuel. The LLDM affair caused the general Mexican population to reflect seriously about the relationship between church (sect) and state, and reminded them of the necessity of keeping close supervision over religious groups to prevent abuses and actual infringements of human rights. Since colonial times, Mexicans have been aware of individual cases of sexual abuse of children and adults by clerics, but never until this had they encountered a situation of collective abuse. As far as we are aware, the LLDM affair was the fi rst such case exposed and scrutinized by the Mexican media in the best fashion of investigative reporting. This is a good example of how in recent times Mexico has been evolving toward civil responsibility and political awareness. We do not know whether there have been—or are—abuses of any kind by other sects and churches now active in Mexico. We have never been involved in applied anthropology (including sociology, psychology, and psychiatry) because we believe that those who engage in applied social science must have political clout in order to be effective. In the present case we have been proven wrong, and Masferrer and his associates must be commended for having galvanized public opinion to create religious awareness and political conscientization. The foregoing reconstruction and exposition of the LLDM scandal also benefited by the work of Amatulli Valente (1989, 1999), Meyer (1976), Marzal (1988), and De la Torre (1995). From different standpoints, these scholars have contributed to

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our understanding of the curious phenomenon that this sect is, and of how the religious landscape of Mexico has changed during the second half of the last century. Indeed, all investigators cited in this section have been instrumental in undertaking an intensely focused task, the likes of which have not usually been undertaken in the United States, by either the media or the scholarly community.8 We do not know whether the abuses committed by the leadership of LLDM will come to an end, but the exposure of the sect is a warning to all evangelist sects operating in Mexico that from now on the federal government will be much more likely to deal promptly with irregularities reported by the media and private investigators, including incidents of coercive methods of proselytism and pressure on members to stay in a sect. Despite the scandal, the incident has put in perspective the relationship of religion and the state, and has alerted the public to the subtle but real dangers that occasionally affect the practices of sects and mainstream religions, including the overwhelmingly predominant Catholic Church.

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CHAPTER SIX

The Process of Conversion: Antecedent Factors and Results

A great deal has been written about Catholics converting to Protestant evangelism in most Latin American countries: the early work of Willems (1967), Lalive D’Spinay (1969), Boff (1982), and Bastián (1983); the more recent work of Annis (1987), Paloma (1989), Martin (1990), Stoll (1990), and Bowen (1996); and the work on Mexico beginning with Rivera (1961), followed by the work of Bridges (1973), Gaxiola (1984), Garma Navarro (1987), De los Reyes (1990), López Cortés (1990), Zapata Novoa (1990), and many others. These sources discuss explicitly and implicitly, and occasionally analyze in-depth, the causes and forms of conversion. It is not our intention here to review the literature, but rather to analyze the religious, social, and economic variables that have been identified by students of conversion and determine their efficacy and results. Also, we analyze the Catholic reaction and what the Church has done to counter evangelist proselytism. Thus this chapter addresses the following topics: (1) the social and cultural variables of conversion and their interrelationship; (2) economic factors as incentives for conversion; (3) the religious context of conversion and ex post facto rationalization; (4) the social and religious consequences of religious pluralism; (5) local and diocesan Catholic reactions, and reconversion to Catholicism. Conversion and the nature of native and Protestant evange-

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lism differ in the urban and rural environments; the social contexts vary greatly in the city and the countryside, especially in regions where an Indian/Mestizo dichotomy obtains (see Nutini and Isaac 1974:373–396). This is certainly so in central Mexico, and it is probably true in Mesoamerica as a whole. In assessing the form and configuration of the process of conversion, one must specify the local, regional conditions before undertaking this task; otherwise incorrect inferences may ensue concerning the groups most likely to convert. In the following sections we endeavor to pay careful attention to this predicament, as we analyze the process of conversion of Amistad y Vida and La Luz del Mundo in particular, and of native and Protestant sects in general.

Social and Cultural Variables and Their Synergetic Effects Social and economic variables are at the heart of conversion to evangelism in most regions of all Latin American countries, and in our opinion this accounts for the phenomenal growth of evangelism during the past two generations. In fact, as early as 1990 there were no countries in the Western Hemisphere where evangelism had not penetrated. The success of evangelism during the past generation is such that in Guatemala nearly 40 percent of the population has been converted, whereas in Chile nearly 20 percent have, and in at least another four countries, including Mexico, it has surpassed 10 percent.1 Specifically, how do social and economic factors affect the process of conversion? Syntagmatically economic factors come fi rst, that is, they guide the fi rst steps toward conversion, but the situation is, of course, more complex. On the one hand, class and ethnic affi liations determine the susceptibility of individuals and groups to conversion. It should be emphasized that while proselytizers present the desirability of conversion in explicitly religious terms, they also imply the practical reasons why Catholics should convert. The techniques of conversion vary from sect to sect, but, with few exceptions, in most

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of the literature and in what we have observed in central Mexico they exhibit a high degree of similarity. All native and Protestant sects that we have investigated, except Amistad y Vida, stress Catholic misinterpretations of the Gospels, the unnecessary expenditure of resources on the cult of the saints, which they consider idolatry, and the lack of concern of the Church for the welfare of the congregation. We were able to establish that at this stage of the process of conversion, what impresses individuals and groups the most is the economic aspect—relief from the expenses of the cult of the saints—underlain by the doctrinal belief that there is no need of intermediaries to communicate with the deity. This applies only to folk people (Indian and rural Mestizo), however, for in the urban setting the mayordomía (stewardship) system, which is the most expensive component of the cult of the saints, largely disappears. In the urban context, the main factor in conversion is social dissatisfaction with the organization of the Catholic parish, but combined with a degree of economic dissatisfaction: the priest’s lack of interest in the welfare of individual parishioners, his failure to generate cohesion, and the occasionally onerous expenses in the celebration of the yearly life cycle (baptisms, weddings, the celebration of special masses throughout the year, and so on).2 Setting aside the rural, folk context, how does the process of conversion proceed in the urban context, and what is the synergetic effect of the variables involved? It is significantly more complex as it involves more factors in the interaction between proselytizers and prospective converts. Economic motivation is less significant, but social factors are more numerous and must be specified in order to understand their conjoined effect. Moreover, social factors are based on religious considerations, which makes it more difficult to assess their effect. The most often, almost universally, cited social factor is the role of women in conversion. They are usually the fi rst in the family to convert, and they are influential in recruiting the husband and other related kin. In their conversion technique some sects, notably Pentecostals and Seventh-Day Adventists, stress women’s potential as organizers and future proselytizers. Most

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other sects are more toned down, but implicit in their conversion method is always the insinuation that conversion means liberation from the husband’s domination. Time and again “improvement of women’s status” was expressed in the questionnaires administered to diverse rural and urban populations, and we think that it is more common than is reported in the literature. Several factors are exclusively focused on in potential converts, as conditioned by existential problems and personal crises: alcoholism, individual and family crises, and serious social, psychological, and fi nancial disruptions, which make people vulnerable and predisposed to convert, as they feel Catholicism has let them down in helping to better their existence. This contextual frame is no doubt a matter of perception, with respect both to what Catholicism can do for individuals in trouble and to what they expect from a new faith. The reinforcing effect of these perceptions is perhaps the strongest in the process of conversion, as intensely verbalized in in-depth interviews. Another social factor is the organization of the congregation; potential converts can observe directly or are told about it by acquaintances or friends already in the sect. This is also a significant pragmatic incentive, which comes after the foregoing personal factors. To put it differently, these factors tip the balance toward conversion; the most visible attractions that individuals ponder are the cohesion of the congregation, social and economic benefits, and psychological support. Let us make clear that “psychological support” is an abstraction elicited from what informants expressed in their answers to specific questions. An example will make this clear. One informant, an unusually well educated electrician in his mid-forties, gave the following answer to the question “Cuál fué la razón inmediata por que se volvió Pentecostal?” (What was the immediate reason you converted to Pentecostalism?): Cuando pensé por primera vez en dejar la religión en que nací estaba en un gran crisis personal, mi esposa habia fallecido repentinamente y los doctores nunca supieron la causa de su

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124 Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

muerte. Me sentía completamente solo y sin saber qué hacer; el párroco y mis amigos me decían que nadie sabe los designios del Señor y que hay que aceptar lo que nos envia. No podía aceptar esto y en mi desesperación hablé con un conocido Pentecostal que por meses había tratado de convertirme. Me invitó a su templo, y después de tres visitas me di cuenta que quizá siendo uno de ellos podría encontrar algunas respuestas. No encontré ninguna acerca de porqué mi esposa murió tan joven, tenía veintisiete años, pero encontré algo mejor: una nueva religión en que los feligreses estaban muy unidos, se ayudaban los unos a los otros, y donde siempre había alguien a quien recurrir cuando se tenian problemas personales y que prestaban ayuda de todo tipo. Esto sucedió hace doce años, y nunca me he arrepentido de haberme convertido. When I thought for the fi rst time about leaving the religion into which I was born I was in a serious personal crisis: my wife had suddenly died and the doctors never knew the cause of her death. I felt completely alone and without knowing what to do; the parish priest and my friends told me that no one knows the Lord’s designs and that we must accept what He sends us. I could not accept this and in desperation I talked to a Pentecostal acquaintance who for months had tried to convert me. He invited me to his temple, and after three visits I realized that perhaps if I were one of them I would be able to get some answers. I did not get any about why my wife had died so young, she was twenty-seven years old, but I found something better: a new religion in which the faithful constituted a united body, helped each other in many ways, and there was always someone to approach when one had personal problems and who lent a hand whenever it was needed. This happened twelve years ago, and I have never regretted having converted.

This is one of many similar attestations that we elicited from a wide range of men and women informants, and we chose it because it gives an account of the initial context of conversion and the immediate factors that precipitated conversion. It is a

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rather well thought-out, poignantly expressed statement that encompasses two important points regarding the process of conversion: the sequence of pragmatic factors that precede conversion, and the fact that conversion is never of the Paul-onthe-road-to-Damascus type. Rather, the process is quite drawn out, as it takes many months, even years, for an individual to make a fi rm commitment to a sect. The process is longer for Protestant than for native sects. For the former, converts to Pentecostalism take the shortest time, while converts to Mormonism take the longest. For native sects, the process of conversion both to Amistad y Vida and La Luz del Mundo is fast, and it seldom takes individuals more than two or three months to make a fi rm commitment after being exposed to the doctrines of the sects. Why this is so, we were not able to determine for certain, but we intuit that it has to do with the lowkeyed proselytism of Amistad y Vida and the aggressive touting of practical advantages of La Luz del Mundo. As mentioned above, one of the most widely acclaimed aspects of evangelism has been the role women play in the process of conversion. Not only are they often the fi rst in a group to convert, but they also become, particularly right after conversion, active proselytizers. This may be true, but how it is realized varies significantly depending on several factors: doctrinal and pragmatic organization of the sect, class and ethnicity, industrial-agricultural organization of the region, and degree of modernization. In the case of Amistad y Vida and La Luz del Mundo, for example, the role of women is very different: women in Amistad y Vida play as active a role as men in the process of proselytizing, given the egalitarian status of the sexes. Quite the opposite is the case for women in La Luz del Mundo: they occupy a subordinate place and do not participate in the sect’s door-to-door aggressive proselytism. Regarding the four main Protestant evangelist sects, women play an active role in proselytism among Pentecostals and Jehovah’s Witnesses but a minimal role among Seventh-Day Adventists, and do not participate at all among Mormons. At the other side of this equation, what are women presented

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with, and what specifically leads them to convert? This facet of conversion takes several forms, and the general rule is that the more aggressive the proselytizing, the more the women are told about the advantages of converting. Thus, Amistad y Vida proselytizers do not tell women anything about the goodness of the sect, whereas La Luz del Mundo proselytizers bombard women with promises about how they will be protected from domineering or drunken husbands. (This turns out to be untrue, as we were able to elicit from two women of the very few who quit the sect; they stated that when they married after conversion, members of Luz del Mundo were more controlling than Catholic husbands.) From the standpoint of the proselytized, once prospective candidates show an inclination to leave Catholicism, women are impressed by the promise of a more secure existence, fuller control of their social and economic lives, and freedom from drunken and abusive husbands and fathers. By the time women make a fi rm commitment to convert, they have been thoroughly indoctrinated. As we have noted, the length of the conversion process varies, but what transpires throughout is quite standardized. Proselytizers visit prospective converts at least once every two weeks; they are invited to the temple services and are encouraged to spread the word among their kin, particularly males. The majority of potential converts do try to convert their kin, to make it easier for them to take the fi nal drastic step. Quite often the end result is the conversion of three or four kin, commonly husbands, parents, siblings, and occasionally cousins. Pentecostals and Jehovah’s Witnesses are the most successful at this strategy of conversion. Conversion is never achieved without opposition from kinsmen, compadres, neighbors, and friends, who try to prevent it by any means possible: social and psychological blackmail, branding them as traitors to the religion of their forebears, pointing out that they will be discriminated against by everybody, and so on. In practically all cases the pressure does not do any good, for by the time individuals join an evangelist sect, they have been so completely indoctrinated by the new faith that it practically amounts to a mild case of brainwashing. This

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attitude is expressed quite explicitly by one informant, a thirtyfive-year-old, fairly well-educated secretary, who reverted to Catholicism after being a Pentecostal for more than ten years: Desde la primera vez que una pareja de Pentecostales vinieron a mi casa a hablarme de su religión, y en muchas visitas después, me daban innumerables razones sobre las ventajas de que me convirtiera. Insistían que los Católicos eran idólatras, que mal interpretaban la Biblia, que los sacerdotes no eran necesarios para comunicarse con Dios y que explotaban a los feligreses; además ponderaban los beneficios prácticos de su religión que me permitiría vivir mejor y adorar a Dios con amor y tranquilidad. Las pláticas que tenía con ellos eran tan vívidas y convincentes y fervorosas que me convencieron totalmente que en menos de tres meses me convertí. Estoy segura de que todavía sería Pentecostal si no me hubiera enamorado de un hombre Católico, que para casarme tuve que volver a la religión en que nací. Since the fi rst time that a couple of Pentecostals came to my house to tell me about their religion, and in many subsequent visits, they gave me innumerable reasons on the advantages of why I should convert. They insisted that Catholics were idolaters, that they misinterpreted the Bible, that priests were not necessary to communicate with God and they exploited the faithful; and they pondered the practical benefits of their religion that would allow me to live better and worship God with love and peace of mind. The talks I had with them were so vivid and convincing and fervent that they entirely convinced me and in three months I converted. I am sure that I would still be a Pentecostal had I not fallen in love with a Catholic, and in order to marry him I had to return to my native religion.

Drinking and womanizing are dependent variables in the process of conversion, that is, they are the main practical factors that influence women to join an evangelist sect. Drinking and womanizing are much more common in urban than rural

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environments, and the reasons are clear: in the latter, more traditional communities, social control is stricter, and there are fewer opportunities for men to misbehave. In the secular urban environment, the opportunities are greater and there are no effective mechanisms of social control for preventing men from drinking and womanizing. As a result, the rate of women’s conversion is more than twice as high in urban as in rural environments, and we intuit that this may be true everywhere in Latin America. The process in both environments, however, is pretty much the same: in the case of married women, they convert fi rst and then try to convert their husbands; in the case of single women under the authority of parents, they suffer abuse from drunken fathers, they convert, but do not try to convert others. By contrast, in rural communities the majority of women who convert do so for psychological reasons and due to personal crises, as we discuss below. Moreover, the process of conversion due to drinking and abuse is shorter than for any other reason, particularly for single women, as they want to get away as quickly as possible from fathers, which means they have to leave the household of orientation and attach themselves to a household of the sect to which they are converting. In the case of married women, quite often they manage to convince their husbands to convert, as well as married and unmarried children. In the case of single women this does not obtain, because upon conversion they are lost to their households of orientation. These variants of women’s conversion are among the most effective of the extensive array of proselytizing techniques, but they are also the most intrusive, in that they involve many visits to prospective households. Catholic priests warn the faithful to resist house-to-house proselytizing by not allowing such people into their homes. This countermeasure is seldom effective, for sectarian proselytizers are careful to target households in which they know there are potential converts; and once they have been admitted for the fi rst time, they realize they can return any time they wish. The social and physical organization of evangelist congregations is another important factor in the process of conversion.

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Once a prospective convert has shown an interest in the doctrines of a sect, proselytizers invite him or her to visit the temple and other facilities of the congregation. On these visits the prospective convert has the opportunity to size up the situation, and, needless to say, he or she is bombarded with information from a committee of congregants chosen for the occasion. More significantly, the prospective convert is shown the physical facilities of the congregation and what it has to offer in terms of social support, and the committee does its best to impress the candidate with the religious reasons why he or she should convert. This is the most decisive step in the process of conversion; two or three more visits to the congregation and the candidate is ready to make his commitment to join a sect. We should reiterate that although there are variations in the sequence and content of this process, there is a remarkable degree of similarity among the sects. Finally, what is the reaction of the convert’s kin, compadres, friends, and neighbors? They are, of course, outraged, but as we have indicated, there is little they can do about it. In the case of women, the pressure is mostly social and psychological (they are told that they can no longer count on support and that, in fact, they are no longer part of their group), whereas the pressure on men is material and economic (they are told that they are no longer welcome in the household and neighborhood, and threatened with eviction and disinheritance). Conversion is always more traumatic for men, particularly single men, than for women. Married women generally convert with the support of their husbands, as it is understood that he will eventually convert himself, whereas single women, once they have made up their minds to convert, simply pack up and leave. Single men, by contrast, have a hard time leaving the household of orientation, for they are young and have not yet socially and economically made a life for themselves, and they are more susceptible to being influenced; that is why few men between ages eighteen and twenty-five convert. Often, the priest and prominent members of the parish are asked to intervene. It usually does not do any good, for at the end of the process of conversion candidates have irrevocably made up their minds.

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There are a significant number of Catholics, it should be emphasized, who convert on their own, without the benefit of the foregoing process of proselytism. These are basically of two types: individuals undergoing a social or psychological crisis, and those who have personally become dissatisfied with some aspects of Catholicism. Individuals of the fi rst type, in their efforts to alleviate their unhappiness, turn to a sect that they personally know something about or have been told about by friends, thereby initiating the process of conversion. Individuals of the second type are the most discriminating; for a variety of motives (as we detail below), they are no longer happy with the religion they grew up with, learn about the various evangelist sects, and make up their minds to convert.

Religious Variables and Considerations in the Process of Conversion and Success of Evangelism It is not our intention to slight the religious reasons for conversion. However, no matter how much evangelist sects may provide in terms of social, material, and psychological help, what they offer spiritually is the ultimate factor in explaining why there is a small degree of reversion to Catholicism. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze in-depth the core religious faith on which the sects’ proselytism is founded, and which some individuals learn about independently. This section addresses the basic tenets of evangelism that all Protestant and native sects share vis-à-vis Catholicism, a similarity that is emphasized in the process of conversion and fundamentally structures the new religious persona. We aim to establish the reasons for the appeal and success of evangelism among significantly diverse Catholic populations spanning a wide ethnic and class spectrum. Doctrinal and Social Considerations Underlying the Appeal of Evangelism The best way to approach this problem is to explain the attraction of evangelism to potentially disenchanted Catholics desir-

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ous of some form of religious change. To put it differently, what is it that evangelism has that is lacking in twentieth-century Catholicism? And what is the doctrinal and practical appeal of the former that is lacking in the latter among particular sectors of the Mexican body politic? (We are assuming that the appeal of evangelism in Mexico is part of a general phenomenon that has been affecting Latin American countries for most of the twentieth century. Thus, with modifications, what we say for central Mexico likely applies to many Latin American countries.) (1) Given the increasing modernization that central Mexico has been steadily undergoing since the Mexican Revolution of 1910, and the secularizing trends that set in right after World War II, it is clear that Protestant evangelism struck a chord with many people. Evangelists realized that these changes represented a window of opportunity to proselytize with greater vigor among the most deprived sectors of the population. In short, Protestant individualism speaks to the soul of individuals and groups yearning for a better and less costly religious life engendered by a modern secular world. Salvation is rendered as something individual, no longer a matter of visiting the ritual space as in folk Catholicism, which is burdened by so much ceremonialism. In an evangelical conversion experience, one is required to make a statement of faith with oneself. As individuals move from identity with the community and begin to craft a place for themselves, Protestantism not only offers but demands a ritual identity which is personal, individual, and unique. One is no longer necessarily tied to a community or place of origin, nor hindered by collective constraints, and thus one can more easily succeed in the secular world. This is the overarching attraction of Protestant and native evangelism, which in various forms and degrees colors all other appeals to potential converts, as specified below, and constitutes the central theme of their proselytizing strategy. Given this basic premise, our research clearly demonstrated that the most likely candidates for conversion to evangelism are individuals who, dissatisfied with their religious, social, and economic lives, no longer believe that traditional Catholicism can do much to enhance their personal aspirations.

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(2) Protestants assert the priesthood of all believers, and therefore allow for a modicum of space for women to escape the oppressive ambiance of a traditional male-dominated hierarchy. Evangelism asserts that procreation and motherhood are not the main road to salvation; as Christ spoke to Mary Magdalene, so too all women have access to the saving knowledge of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, regardless of sex, all the faithful are equally capable of experiencing the fullness of life of the Spirit as witnessed in the Bible and in the early Christian communities. Particularly when religion moves out and away from an ordained clergy, and once the clergy-laity distinctions become minute or nonexistent, then women feel freer to express themselves in the ambiance of a ritual context. The attraction of Protestant and native evangelism, moreover, extends beyond the religious domain. In this new social setting women can be more vocal in expressing discontent about how they are treated by husbands, fathers, and males in general, thereby defending themselves more effectively from all kinds of abuses and humiliations. Thus, the role of women in conversion is crucial, and the foregoing doctrinal-ideological context underlies the process of conversion and the organization of Amistad y Vida and La Luz del Mundo, and of the Protestant evangelist sects we have investigated in central Mexico (which we shall analyze in a forthcoming book). Moreover, the same pretty much obtains in most of the cases in the literature with which we are acquainted. (3) Tied to a traditional hierarchical understanding of the world and one’s place in it, Catholicism often does not directly address the plight of the disadvantaged. Catholicism organizes the life of its followers, giving meaning to chaos through elaborate rituals and feast days, and does explain and implement morality through strict Church hierarchy. However, it has a hard time competing with the more pragmatic (capitalist worldview, in the classic Weberian mold) claims of Protestantism that Christians can realize their vocation wherever they are, no matter what they do or how they make a living. Once life becomes more transient and more urban-oriented and mer-

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cantile, Catholicism loses some of its power to organize and routinize since the focus of existence is no longer exclusively centered on the community. Evangelism, lacking that hierarchy and structure of ritualism and ceremonialism, asserts that every day is God’s day, thereby liberating the individual to serve God while pursuing his or her own self-interests. It is difficult to say how widespread this doctrinal aspect of evangelism is, but our research in central Mexico indicates that it plays a significant role in conversion, particularly among individuals from rural folk communities who have contact with the outside world or are at the bottom of the economic scale. In urban environments it affects mostly the more socially upwardly mobile and more economically aspiring members of the working classes. (4) The secularization, accompanied by a significant degree of naturalization in experiencing the world, that central Mexico has undergone during the last one hundred years has differentially affected the religion of the various sectors of society. Having largely outgrown the burdensome ritualism and ceremonialism of folk religion, the discontented searching for alternative religious expression in the educated middle and upper classes have personally made Catholicism a kind of philosophy of life; they do not leave the Church, and perfunctorily perform what is ritually and ceremonially minimally required of them. The great majority of Mexicans, on the other hand—including the urban working classes and a diversified range of rural and small-town Mestizo and Indian communities—are practitioners of folk Catholicism in varying degrees. The dissatisfied among them, mostly because of the costly social and economic discharge of the ritual and ceremonialism of folk Catholicism, may opt for another religious faith that is not permeated with the supernatural personages (the entire ensemble of the cult of the saints), history, and tradition which bear heavily on believers. Evangelism offers something concrete in the immediacy of the moment: grace fi nds you where you are; you can be redeemed, irrespective of history and tradition. Evangelism is not concerned with a pantheon of saints and the “cloud of witnesses”; rather it asserts that God confers grace upon in-

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dividuals in the here and now. Faith and being a moral person are no longer about emulating dead white Europeans; rather it is about asserting who you are in a new ritual space that celebrates your active participation. We found that this personalized view of religion is attractive to the following categories of rural folk communities: upwardly mobile individuals and families who no longer want to siphon resources into the costly cargo system, and individuals who are on the fringes of the community’s socioreligious mainstream. In the cities, according to what we observed and elicited from informants in Fortín and Córdoba, the most likely converts are individuals socially and personally discontented or no longer confident that Catholicism can offer anything concrete for leading a full religious life. Extrapolating to the wider context, the second part of this generalization probably applies everywhere in Latin America, but the fi rst applies only to countries with large Indian populations (Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia), where folk Catholicism is still widely in place. (5) The central role of preaching in Protestantism, particularly among evangelists, is another significant attraction. Because preaching is the “essential salvific,” healing core of an evangelist service, congregants are presumably more actively engaged in hearing and responding to God’s word. This consists of far more than blind participation in the rituals of confession and absolution, or accepting a eucharistic meal without cognizance of what is transpiring; rather the impetus and focus is on the work of the individual in receiving God’s word as preached. Such a focus on the individual’s heart tears away at the supernatural, ethereal elements of the Mass, offers immediacy, and places responsibility for beliefs on the participants, rather than the efforts of the clergy. Going to church is no longer a passive experience; rather, it is active, vocal, and participatory. In the social sphere, if you see the light to be a better person, to change your destructive ways (quit drinking, be a more responsible family person), evangelism asserts that you can do it with faith in God and staunch determination. In the institutional, therapeutic sense, evangelism works like Alcoholics Anonymous; it gives people who want to change the support to

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do so.3 This doctrinal stance is, of course, an idealization, but all sects try to live up to it, and unquestionably Amistad y Vida comes closest to its full realization. Of the Protestant evangelist sects, Pentecostals adhere closest to the ideal, whereas the other three main sects present in central Mexico (Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventist, and Mormon) are too idiosyncratic to adhere faithfully to this aspect of evangelism. (6) Perhaps the main reason prompting the Church to change the language of the Mass from Latin to the vernacular in the mid-1960s was to make this central rite of Catholicism more accessible and intelligible to the laity. In an unsystematic survey we conducted shortly afterward, the change was initially received with mixed feelings. Among folk people and the superordinate sector of society, the most conservative sectors of Mexico, the almost unanimous reaction was negative; the most common expression of disapproval was that the Mass “se había acorrientado” (had been vulgarized). In the middle and lower strata of society, on the other hand, the change was welcomed as promoting better understanding of the doctrinal meaning of the Mass. Most people in these diversified strata feel that the Church did not go far enough, despite further changes in the Mass such as laypersons reading the Gospel in the course of officiation. Catholicism, and particularly the Mass, is perceived by many people as being too metaphorical, mystical, and distant for individuals wanting a more direct experience of the divine. Protestant evangelism, lacking these characteristics, may appeal to significant numbers of this population, making them ripe for conversion. This aspect of evangelism is widespread in Mexico and other Latin American countries, especially those with large Indian populations. Thus, in urban environments, evangelism’s directness and simplicity of realization have found willing members among the less educated who have to a significant extent outgrown folk traditionalism. (7) When Protestantism claims its place in the world as the “faithful remnant,” it taps into whatever mistrust, anger, and disillusionment Catholics may have toward the Church. Whatever hypocrisy—in economic inequality, virtue, or chastity— exists in Catholicism is highlighted by evangelism through

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its presumed message of spiritual simplicity: one can worship anywhere (there is no need for ornate churches and cathedrals); God meets you where you are (ordination assures neither one’s salvation nor one’s virtue); sanctifying sacraments does not make one right with God (faith and faith alone does). For many folk traditionalists and the resentful urban poor, becoming evangelists is a statement of protest, of rebelling against the established religious order. In this ambiance of distress, the Catholic Church is viewed as having failed to do its job to protect the destitute and to comfort those in pain. Social and economic troubles (such as in Chiapas and Guatemala during the past generation) and deep-seated economic deprivation or exploitation (such as in many working-class urban environments) are the most likely contexts to manifest the right conditions for conversion to evangelism. To summarize, social upheaval, economic deprivation, and any kind of local distress are the conditions most likely to bring to the surface pent-up anger and resentment—the immediate, often powerful antecedents for converting to evangelism. Some Generalizations Concerning the Precepts Leading to Conversion In the foregoing section we described and analyzed the religious, social, and economic considerations relevant to conversion and why individuals remain evangelists. Occasionally we made reference to how and why the various evangelist sects adhere to doctrinal and pragmatic precepts. We conclude this section with some encompassing generalizations. First, the seven precepts analyzed above do not apply in their entirety to all Protestant and native sects, at least in Mexico. The main factors accounting for their discharge are the rural/ urban cleavage and ethnic differences, mainly in regions where there obtains either an Indian/Mestizo continuum or an Indian/Mestizo dichotomy; at this juncture, the main consideration is that people are outgrowing many aspects of folk religion as they make the transition to urban environment and class stratification.

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Second, in urban environments the immediate factors leading to conversion almost invariably entail an economic aspect, while in rural areas, the precepts initially more effective are those with purely religious semantic value. The reason for this is that people in urban settings are no longer affected by the constraints of folk religion (such as a sacred covenant with the supernaturals, Christian and pagan, and the social and economic obligations that this entails), while people in rural areas are still very much constrained by it. Third, as a corollary of the second precept, the stronger the influence of the folk religion, the higher the probability that individual initial motivation to convert is mostly for religious considerations. This generalization applies primarily in regions where the Indian/Mestizo dichotomy obtains, and affects mostly Indians, given certain affi nities between evangelism and folk Catholicism: curing, spiritualism, and miraculous explanations of religious happenings. Fourth, liberation theology, instead of solidifying Catholic resolve to resist conversion to evangelism among the poor and disadvantaged, at least as we have been able to determine for the Córdoba-Orizaba region and the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley, has had the opposite effect. The Catholic hierarchy, bishops and parish priests alike, are generally conservative and are distrustful of the few priests who espouse liberation theology as a way to renovate the Church and help the dispossessed; this attitude is shared by conservative laymen, who regard them as radical troublemakers. As a result, quite often when a parish priest has tried to implement pragmatic aspects of liberation theology and parishioners realize that the diocese disapproves, it is an indication that the hierarchy is not about to institute meaningful local changes. Evangelist proselytizers do not miss the opportunity to reinforce parishioners’ distrust of the hierarchy, enhancing the probability that the most skeptical will convert. Fifth, the actual discharge of the seven precepts is ultimately contingent upon internal and external factors of rural community or urban neighborhood life. In the former context, labor migration and physical contact with cities is crucial; contact with the outside world accelerates secularization in the com-

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munity, and as we have noted above, the higher the degree of secularization the higher the probability of converting to evangelism. In the latter context, religious and social secularization has run its course, and class becomes the primary factor: the lower the class, the more urbanites are likely to convert. These generalizations vary somewhat from region to region, but on the whole they hold pretty well.

The Catholic Reaction: Diocesan and Parochial Focus and Strategy The Catholic Church is taking deadly seriously the prediction that in a few decades Protestantism may be the dominant religion in several Latin American countries. This is an unlikely but not farfetched prediction if one considers that Protestant evangelism in Guatemala is approaching 40 percent of the country’s population. In Mexico, there were one million Protestants in 1970; by 1990, the number had increased to four million; and by 2006, they numbered roughly ten million— one-tenth of the country’s population. Of these, about one million belong to evangelical congregations. Although some mainstream Protestant denominations do some proselytizing, evangelism in rural areas and among the urban poor is practiced by the four sects mentioned above. The proselytism of evangelists greatly worries the Catholic hierarchy, and for nearly three decades it has been making a concerted effort to counteract it. The five visits to Mexico of Pope John Paul II, the last one shortly before he died, had the ostensible purpose of counteracting evangelist proselytism, including the canonization of Juan Diego (an Indian to whom, according to the legend, the Virgin Mary appeared in 1531 at a place named Tepeyac, near Mexico City). In his 1990 visit, the Pope addressed the situation by saying that Catholics should present a united front “against the solicitations of the sects. No Catholic in Mexico can consider himself exempt from the obligation to bring defectors back to the Church” (New York Times, 12 May 1990).

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In order to get a rounded description of native evangelism, focusing on the two sects that are the main concern of the book, it is necessary to analyze what the Catholic Church has been doing to counteract proselytism everywhere in Latin America. During the past thirty years, the Church has been actively engaged in Mexico in a serious campaign to reduce conversion to evangelism and trying to bring converts back to the fold. This has not been very successful; it has proven difficult to overcome the sense of entitlement, after nearly five centuries of complete Catholic domination, particularly at the local level. The Catholic reaction has been at the diocesan and parochial levels, and the following are the main steps that have been taken. (1) Since the mid-1970s, a Catholic charismatic movement has been growing in Mexico, to a large extent as an alternative to Protestant and native evangelism. By emphasizing the emotional, curative, communitarian, and renovationist elements of Christianity, the movement could certainly make a difference (see Boff 1982; Díaz de la Serna 1984; McGuire 1982). We have observed charismatic Catholics performing in both the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley and the Córdoba-Orizaba region, but despite a potentially significant impact on renewing the Church, the movement is not yet widespread. This, however, is a good example of the “If you can’t beat them join them” approach. (2) More significant and pervasive at the moment is the formation of local action groups organized without clerical leadership or supervision. Deriving in part from liberation theology, these groups (known variously as apostolic assemblies, cells, and prayer groups) are emulating many evangelical practices, such as Bible reading, the value of individual prayer, inducing people to stop drinking, and improving family life (see Bowen 1996; Juárez Cerdi 1997). This kind of activism is encouraged by parish priests, who assert that this demonstrates that many parishioners are taking the Pope’s admonition seriously. As far as our research has been able to determine, however, this subterfuge has not had any deterrent effect on Catholics converting to Protestant or native evangelism.

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(3) Old organizations such as “Acción Católica” (Catholic Action) and “Predicadores Laicos” (Lay Preachers) have been revitalized and given a more pragmatic orientation. These associations of Catholic activists engage mostly in religious work. More recently, however, they have turned to social and charitable work: community development and advising people on how to lead a better material life. Originally these lay groups were organized to work among the poorest sectors of urban society; now they are just as active in rural communities (Juárez Cerdi 1997; Roelofs 1991). Again, our research indicates that these associations have had little effect in stemming conversion to evangelism. (4) Even before the public statement by the Pope, parish priests had begun to devise local schemes to counteract evangelist inroads. They included all three of the foregoing strategies plus some of their own. The general thrust is catering not so much to the religious yearnings of poor congregations as to their material needs. This pragmatic approach is evidently designed to counteract those domains where evangelists excel the most. Efforts include general counseling to parishioners, access to information to provide improved material conditions, and occasionally undertaking projects to ameliorate local economic and material conditions (Bowen 1996; Stoll 1990). This initiative has potential, but it should be noted that the priests who practice it are in the minority, as the majority of them remain traditional to the role of the priest exclusively as religious leader. (5) Independent of the organizations mentioned in (3), in provincial cities, at least in central Mexico, solid-middle- and upper-middle-class families take it upon themselves to organize anti-proselytizing groups. Both men and women go into rural and poor urban parishes and, with the permission of the priest, preach to the people (in church facilities or in public venues), admonishing them of the dangers of conversion, and impressing upon them that Mexico has always been a Catholic country and should remain Catholic. We do not think that these groups accomplish much, and probably they do more for the ego of the

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organizers (allowing them to think of themselves as defenders of the faith) than for arresting evangelism. (6) These general strategies are encouraged by diocesan hierarchies, which occasionally conduct seminars for parish priests to discuss ways and means to improve methods of reconversion. Diocesan authorities occasionally lobby the rich and powerful to make contributions to regional projects, practice capitalism more compassionately, and create jobs to ameliorate the lives of the poor (vicar general, diocese of Tlaxcala, personal communication). In general the hierarchy now takes a more active part in improving the lives of the poor, whom they regard as the most vulnerable sector for conversion to evangelism. (7) The most drastic, violent reaction against evangelists takes place when the traditionalists in a community try to force compliance with folk Catholic practices. This has not yet happened in the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley or the Córdoba-Orizaba region, but in our opinion it will not be long in coming; whether it will become generalized throughout Mexico is difficult to predict. What has been going on in Chiapas since the birth of the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN, Zapatista National Liberation Army) has given wings to evangelists, who take seriously the federal government’s assertion that there is freedom of religion in Mexico. Our perception of the Catholic response to Protestant and native evangelism is that it has been both disorganized and ineffective. On the one hand, its reaction has been more emotional than rational (structural), emphasizing a sense of entitlement that is out of sync within the secular state that Mexico de jure and de facto became during the second half of the twentieth century. It is counterproductive and unrealistic to claim that Mexico should continue to be an exclusively Catholic country, even if the country’s ruling and political classes are mostly Catholic but profess that Mexico has freedom of religion. The Church can no longer depend on staunch Catholic political leaders to publicly deny the rights of evangelists and other religious groups to practice their faith. (On the other hand, the

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Catholic reaction came late, as the Church surmised that evangelism and other forms of Protestantism were a passing fad— not to be taken seriously by making a concerted effort to counteract it—making possible the conversion of sizable numbers of Catholics in many communities, thereby permanently planting the seeds of evangelism at the local level.) Closely related is the fact that the Church has evidently forgotten what originally made the Mendicant friars so successful in the conversion and catechization of the Indians, namely, a communitarian, primitive-like Christianity and the social and economic support that went with it. Ironically, Catholicism apparently no longer believes in the model of proselytism and conversion that it itself invented nearly five hundred years ago—and which has become the main tool of the success of Protestant evangelism, to judge by the scant success the Church has lately had in counteracting Protestant and native evangelism.

The Basic Model of Conversion: Psychological Factors and Their Consequences To round up the analysis, we turn to the basic model of conversion from Catholicism to Protestant and native evangelism, and the psychological context in which it takes place, all of which we were able to establish after completing our third summer of research in 1998. The initial impetus for conversion entails practical considerations, which are ex post facto reinterpreted and rationalized in doctrinal terms. By the last summer session of fieldwork in 2006, this model had been verified, and this constitutes the subject of this section, which complements the aspects of conversion that we have already discussed in the two foregoing sections. (The model applies equally to La Luz del Mundo and Amistad y Vida.) Conversion is never an instantaneous decision. Rather, it is a gradual process, which varies in duration, as we have already indicated, depending mostly on the pragmatic reasons for the original impetus toward conversion. The pragmatic reasons for conversion may vary, but they are always in the sphere of the

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self-fulfi lling context of the curative nature of religion, which becomes a powerful reinforcer of faith in evangelism. Abandoning Catholicism for evangelism does not involve a single act of conversion. Rather, as we have already discussed, it entails a gradual process of experimentation and doubt that may require from as little as a few months to as many as three years for a defi nitive decision to convert. Most significantly, our research suggests several distinct social and psychological profi les, which, based on the factors, contexts, and circumstances of conversion, are detailed below. The profi les, of course, are not exhaustive, but they may constitute an instrument that may be useful as a new focus in the study of evangelism. Throughout this book, the pragmatic, practical motivations which determine conversion have been detailed, and they include an extensive array, including economic, material, social, psychological, and any other reasons that would alleviate, soothe, improve, and change the circumstances of individuals. Rarely do people convert for strictly religious reasons, which is the self-fulfi lling effect of the pragmatic act of conversion, or its “rationalization,” as we referred to it. The religious aspect in the syntagmatic process of conversion is nonetheless fundamental, for it is commitment to the new faith that keeps individuals in the congregation. We wish now to analyze the psychological frame of mind of men and women, in specific social contexts, that structures the process of conversion. From the highest to the lowest degree of incidence, the following are the profi les that we have been able to authenticate so far. (1) Individuals under serious stress due to personal tragedy. This is the most common context leading to conversion, which applies to all Protestant and native evangelists sects, in both the Córdoba-Orizaba region and the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley, most pristinely exemplified in conversion to Amistad y Vida. Psychologically greatly stressed, and unwilling to accept the traditional Catholic (and mainstream Protestant) explanation of tragedy and unexpected or inevitable occurrences—“Thy will be done” and “God works in mysterious ways” (the ultimate, unappealable articles of Christian faith)—individuals turn to other sources for alternative explanations, to alleviate pain, and

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seek personal comfort. Most commonly, this is the case when there is death in the family, the premature departure of beloved kin, and a variety of less tragic occurrences, such as divorce or a diagnosed terminal illness.4 Evangelist proselytizers take full advantage of the situation by pointing out to prospective converts that they should expect nothing more than platitudes from priests and fellow Catholics, while emphasizing the palliative and curative features of their own sect. This is not necessarily the most ethical way of proselytizing, but it certainly has proven most effective for the Jehovah’s Witnesses and SeventhDay Adventist sects. (2) Individuals going through a crisis of conscience concerning some doctrinal or pragmatic aspect of Catholicism. The number of men and women fitting this profi le are slightly less than those fitting profi le (1), and questioning doctrinal features of Catholicism is more common with men than women. Women are concerned mostly with lack of opportunities for active participation in the affairs of the parish and the condescending attitude of the hierarchy toward them.5 Their aims are modest; they are still sufficiently traditional not to question the dictum of the Church that the Lord ordained that only men be priests and bishops, but they wish to have a more active role in the administration and organization of the parish. The Church has to some extent made changes, such as allowing women to play a role in conducting the Mass and as assistants to the parish priest. These welcome changes affect mainly the higher classes and are present mostly in urban environments, but do not affect the rural and urban folk Catholics who constitute the bulk of the population in which evangelist proselytizing takes place. Men’s crises of religious conscience, on the other hand, have different sources and take different forms. In rural folk Catholicism, Indians and Mestizos resent the interference of the priest in their traditional practices and his efforts to make the community more orthodox. For example, priests insist on modifying the mayordomía system and controlling the local religious government, which the men and elders of the community consider their exclusive preserve. Since folk Catholicism is more at-

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tenuated in the urban context, men’s crises of conscience are manifested differently. They think unnecessary the insistence of the hierarchy on complying with many of the bureaucratic requirements of marriage, baptism, and confi rmation, whereas at the parish level they resent what they consider the greed of the priest in overcharging for his ritual services. All these contextual circumstances are psychologically disturbing to Catholic men and women, to say nothing of being psychologically dislocating. Individuals in this predicament are confronted with a tough choice, which diametrically pulls them away from the social and religious reality of a lifetime and propels them into an unknown and, in the view of their social group, antagonistic environment. It is a psychological juncture entailing much uneasiness, distress, and apprehension. A fortythree-year-old urbanite male informant describes it as follows: Tenía treinta y cuatro años cuando decidí convertirme a Amistad y Vida. Siempre había sido un buen católico, asistía a misa todos los domingos, me confesaba varias veces al año, y creía fi rmemente en la doctrina católica y en las explicaciones del párroco. Nunca se me había pasado por la mente dudar lo que el cura decía hasta cuando quise confi rmar a mi hija y le dijo al obispo que no lo hiciera porque mi esposa y yo no habíamos cumplido con unos requisitos burocráticos. Me dió tanto coraje que desde ese instante empecé a cuestionar algunas doctrinas de la iglesia y el comportamiento del párroco. Los siguientes seis meses fueron terribles para mi, llenos de inquietud, sobresaltos, y constante ansiedad y culpabilidad. Por fi n un amigo que era cristiano me llevo a su templo, y hablando con varios feligreses me di cuenta que Amistad y Vida me ayudaría a resolver mis dudas y a volver a tener paz conmigo mismo. Después de casi dos meses de asistir al templo y participar en algunas de sus actividades decidí convertirme. Pero seguía angustiado de tener que dejar la iglesia católica y antagonizar a mi familia y muchos parientes y amigos. Pasaron otros seis meses hasta que volví a ser yo mismo en mi nueva fe. Creo que es la mejor decisión que he tomado en mi vida, y por ocho años

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yo y mi esposa, que también se convirtió, hemos sido muy felices. I was thirty-four years old when I decided to convert to Amistad y Vida. I had always been a good Catholic, went to Mass every Sunday, went to confession several times a year, and fi rmly believed in the Catholic doctrine and the explanations of the parish priest. It never crossed my mind to doubt what the priest said until I wanted to confi rm my daughter and he told the bishop not to do it because my wife and I had not complied with some bureaucratic requirements. I was so mad that from that instant on I began to question some Church doctrines and the behavior of the parish priest. The following months were terrible for me, full of uneasiness, dread, and constant anxiety and guilt. Finally, a friend of mine who was a Cristiano took me to his temple, and talking with several faithful I realized that Amistad y Vida would help me to resolve my doubts and to regain peace with myself. After almost two months of going to the temple and participating in some of their activities, I decided to convert. But my anxiety continued about having to leave the Catholic Church and antagonize my family and many relatives and friends. Another six months went by until I was myself again in my new faith. I believe this is the best decision that I have made in my life, and for eight years, I and my wife, who also converted, have been very happy.

This attestation is exclusively a manifestation of the type of crisis described above, which may take several specific forms. But the psychological framework and the behavioral manifestations of actors are the same for the five profi les. The social circumstances and contextual events of the individuals may vary greatly, but what remains constant are the reactions and the behavior that accompanies them. Moreover, another factor that should be considered is that the differential behavior of men and women fitting each profi le is what specifies the configuration of the type of evangelism of the Protestant and native sects and the methods of conversion they employ.

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(3) Individuals drastically reacting against the prevalent simony of parish priests concerning the administration of rituals. Not as dramatic in its realization as (1) and (2), in this profi le the abuses committed by parish priests are a constant source of complaint in both rural and urban parishes, but especially the former. As we have already summarily discussed, these complaints are seldom collectively expressed, but they are always latently present. Occasionally, and more frequently during the past five years, parishioners verbally complain to the priest, and a few complain to the diocese vicar. Seldom does this do any good, and it is a source of great frustration to individuals and families. More influential than the economic hardship entailed by raising the prices for special masses, marriage ceremonies, decoration of the parish church for special occasions, and other ritual events, is the distrust and lack of religious respect for the parish priest and the hierarchy. When the priest does not rectify this kind of behavior, it leads an increasing number of Catholics to take the fi rst steps to convert to evangelism. There are significant differences between rural and urban environments, and between men and women. With respect to the former, the main factor that conditions the decision to convert is the constraints of folk Catholicism, which involves many practices requiring the special participation of the parish priest, particularly during the most important and busiest times of the religious cycle (Holy Week, the day of the patron saint of the community, and All Souls/All Saints Day), when there is a great demand for the services of the priests (as there are never enough of them to serve a region) and the prices for ritual services go up to two or three times more than the normal fees throughout the year. In urban lower-middle- and working-class parishes, there is no occasion for the above to take place, and simony is almost exclusively centered on the use of the church for the celebration of the events of the life cycle, when prices go up significantly, particularly for decorating the church rather than allowing the families of, say, a wedding party to do so. As far as how it affects men and women, the main difference is that women seldom take the initiative, as they are generally more traditional and less apt to question any practice of priests.

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Men, on the other hand, after having been exposed to economic abuse for something they believe is unacceptable priestly behavior, do react and openly question how the hierarchy can permit, or at least implicitly condone, such behavior by not taking any measures to stop it. In such predicaments men feel impotent, become enraged, and take steps to distance themselves from the Church. In this process, women play a rather passive role and go along with their husbands’ decisions. Most men do not necessarily abandon Catholicism but become nonparticipant members of the Church. They no longer go to Mass, confession, or communion, and convince their wives and children to do the same. But an increasing number of them search for a new faith, meaning mainly an evangelist sect, and launch themselves and their families on the road to conversion, which usually takes place rather rapidly. Leaving Catholicism always entails a great deal of anxiety and pain, but in the case of those fitting this profi le these are significantly diminished by the fact that conversion was provoked by simony, which they regard as most unworthy of a parish priest, a sentiment that is shared by the converts’ kinfolk and others close to them. (4) Urbanite men and women who yearn for the social and group support afforded by the ritual kinship/compadrazgo system. The incidence of this profi le is less extensive and more restricted than the foregoing three, but in central Mexico it accounts for an important step leading to conversion. It is realized most intensely by rural migrants in the process of adapting to the city—that is, during the initial five or six years. It goes without saying that this is a difficult period through which migrants must make many changes and devise social and economic strategies in order to cope with the competitive and harsh urban environment. The rather protective context of the rural community is gone, and new social and economic ties must be generated in order to adapt. The parish priest does not usually help, and co-parishioners are indifferent to the plight of new arrivals, and frequently they discriminate against them, regarding them as country bumpkins who should have stayed in

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their villages. This is a difficult predicament, and many of these new urbanites, all of them among the most destitute, are game for conversion to evangelism. Moreover, the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Seventh-Day Adventists are particularly adept at proselytizing among this most vulnerable urban group, and they keep informed about new rural migrants to the city. The profi le of this group involves a powerful incentive to abandon Catholicism, which entails a distinct socialpsychological crisis that is becoming more and more important in the spectrum of conversion to evangelism in central Mexico. We have not encountered this form of conversion in the literature for other parts of Mexico and other Latin American countries, but it is quite possible that it takes place, especially where folk culture and Catholicism are pronounced. The crisis has its roots in the discrepancy that exists in many regions of Latin America between diocese and parish, due to the implementation, in the latter, of the reforms that the former deems necessary to counteract evangelism. Although this crisis is primarily social, it nonetheless causes psychological effects no different from those discussed above, in fact perhaps more intensely for it involves larger numbers of kinfolk, ritual kinsmen, friends, and neighbors. (5) Individuals and groups dissatisfied with doctrinal and pragmatic aspects of Catholicism, but whose immediate reasons for conversion are triggered by material and practical factors. This profi le combines religious and pragmatic factors that structure the context of conversion to evangelism. It takes place primarily in urban environments, and occasionally in acculturated rural communities, well on the way to secular status with close labor migration and commercial ties to the city. The realization of this profi le of conversion is also becoming more significant, due mainly to the rather high secularization that central Mexico has been experiencing during the past generation. It affects both men and women, but in different ways, individually and collectively. Individually, both men and women may decide to convert to evangelism, but the number of women is higher. Collectively, on the other hand, the process of con-

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version is always initiated by men, and women play a passive role, irrespective of whether they are wives, daughters, or in any other kin category related to the man deciding to convert. What do we mean by “collective conversion”? Essentially that a man (husband, father, or prominent kin) convinces those under his control or authority to convert to evangelism, occasionally pressuring them to do so. For example, a husband requires his wife and children to convert, or the head of an extended family requires the members of the household to do the same. The men and women fitting this profi le have usually gone through a period of doubt about some aspects of Catholic doctrine and practice, which may range from local simony and priestly high-handedness to administration of the sacraments and dogmatic beliefs. Usually, after one or two years of questioning some trait of Catholicism, an individual’s doubts come to a head and a decision is made to abandon Catholicism; the precipitating factor may be any of those discussed for profi les (2), (3), and (4). In the interim, men and women search for options among evangelist sects, and once they decide on one, conversion occurs within one or two months. There is no proselytism involved, as converts on their own choose the most appropriate sect to fit their religious aspirations. This is undoubtedly the most voluntary and spontaneous of all contexts of conversion, as there is no proselytizing pressure of any kind and all candidates convert of their own volition. As we indicated, there are other profi les of conversion that may yet be established to generate a more complete account of the contexts of conversion. However, all the above profi les except (5) are explicitly or implicitly mentioned or discussed in the literature, but what we do not know is their regional incidence. Moreover, the profi les discussed in this section are widely distributed in Mexico, and so may serve as a guide to establishing distribution throughout Latin America, especially in countries with large Indian populations. This is the main ethnological significance of this discussion.

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Conclusions

This book has presented a description and analysis of two native evangelist sects in central Mexico. It discusses the organization of the congregations, their methods and techniques of proselytism, doctrinal beliefs and worldview, theological and teleological underpinnings, endogenous and exogenous activities, relationship to the Catholic majority, perceptions that they engender, and several related aspects of the nature of Protestant evangelist sects in the context of the rural/urban cleavage. It also discusses the different forms evangelism takes with respect to ethnic and class affi liation, and the Catholic reaction to evangelism’s penetration. To conclude, we address three topics: (1) a comparison of La Luz del Mundo (LLDM) and Amistad y Vida, with an emphasis on what they provide doctrinally and pragmatically and how they are perceived regionally; (2) native evangelism and its relationship to Protestant evangelism, focused on nationalism and local roots of the former; and (3) an assessment of native evangelism in central Mexico: the differential development of a religious persona, the probability of violent confrontation with the Catholic majority, and prospects for the future. A Comparison of La Luz del Mundo and Amistad y Vida These two sects, though they share several doctrinal aspects, are a study in contrast. LLDM is, at least at the top, a destruc-

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152 Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

tive sect, whereas Amistad y Vida is the most ethical, forthright, and honorable of all the native and Protestant sects we have encountered in central Mexico.1 Before we discuss the differences between these two sects, what do they have in common? Both sects are Trinitarians, with a strong emphasis on Jesus Christ, a literal interpretation of the Bible, and a complete opposition to iconolatry. They are anabaptists, who practice baptism by total immersion, and recognize only marriage as a sacrament. They believe that faith in Jesus does not ensure salvation if it is not accompanied by good works. The differences between these sects, however, are much greater. The symbolic and curative power of the Holy Spirit, very pronounced in Amistad y Vida, is absent in LLDM; its rituals and ceremonials do not exhibit the charismatic fervor of Cristianos’ religious services. On the other hand, the cult of LLDM is centered exclusively on Jesus Christ as a key to salvation, and there is a more focused ritual and ceremonial complex that gives the creed a basically practical makeup, in contrast to the essentially expressive orientation of Cristianos. The differences in ethos may be summarized as follows. First, regarding good works, LLDM congregants believe that their duty is to help their own and, unlike Cristianos, they do not engage in community services. Second, LLDM proselytism is more systematic and much more aggressive than that of Cristianos, as its congregants engage in door-to-door hard-pressure propagation of the faith and buttress it with written material, like all Protestant evangelist sects. Third, the self-help within the congregation is mostly material help, and there is little of the social and psychological support that characterizes Cristianos; a member may solicit and get support for building a house, but there is no emphasis on mutual help concerning personal or family problems. Fourth, LLDM, like traditional evangelist sects, is concerned primarily with demanding adherence to a moral-religious code; hence, there is nothing like the serious concern of Cristianos with the social and psychological wellbeing of congregants, or with doing good work outside the congregation. Fifth, all hierarchical positions in LLDM (from

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apostle to local missionaries) are exclusively occupied by males, in stark contrast with the male-female egalitarianism that in all domains obtains among Cristianos. Moreover, in contrast to the liberalism of Cristianos, LLDM faithful are rabid fundamentalists: they think homosexuality is a sin, are adamantly opposed to abortion, forbid birth control of any form, and do not permit divorce under any circumstances. These are the main differences between the two sects, but they need to be clarified in several ways. First, how much do the Protestant origins of the two sects have to do with their organization, doctrine, and ethos? The answer is “very little.” Rather, the fundamental characteristics of LLDM and Amistad y Vida reflect the founders of the sects. In the case of LLDM, its doctrine and organization were established by Aarón Joaquín shortly after its foundation. He imprinted the sect with all the noxious traits that, continued by the leadership of Samuel Joaquín, his son, make LLDM a destructive sect. On the other hand, Amistad y Vida reflects the religious orientation of the sect’s Robert Mayers, a Presbyterian minister, and even more so that of Jorge and Susana Bitar, the founders of the Córdoba-Fortín congregation. According to several Cristianos and Catholic informants, this married couple were devout Protestant evangelists, dedicated to doing good works and helping people in trouble, and were charitable and selfless Christians; they were also liberal, respectful of other people’s beliefs, and without a trace of authoritarianism and fundamentalism. This is the ethos and virtuous approach to religion with which they imprinted Amistad y Vida, improving on the original sect, and making Amistad y Vida a model of Christian probity and charitableness, the opposite of LLDM as to what evangelism should be. Second, the organization of the congregation of the two sects is widely different. LLDM, and we are referring to the local level (as contrasted to the see in Guadalajara), is geared to the exaltation of the apostle, and the generation of economic resources to be sent to the see; all religious services throughout the year, and the rites and ceremonies they entail, are de-

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154 Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

voted to these ends. The only saving grace of LLDM congregations is the help they receive for buying a plot of land for house construction near the temple, as everything else is geared for economic gain and ritual exaltation of the apostle. Amistad y Vida, by contrast, is exclusively concerned with the charismatic and curative worship of the Holy Spirit and doing community good works. Within the congregation there is no economic support, for practically all members are fairly well off; the organization of the congregation, however, affords to the faithful a great deal of social and psychological support. It is a highly integrated group and functions almost as a centripetal folk community. As we have noted, in this respect Amistad y Vida is unique among the Protestant and native evangelist sects that we have encountered in central Mexico. Third, and as a consequence of the organization of the congregation, the leadership of LLDM is stratified and centralized, whereas that of Amistad y Vida is in every respect egalitarian and decentralized. In the former, there is a strict chain of authority from pastor to congregants, and nothing is done without the pastor’s approval; the pastor’s main organizational job is to design and coordinate every activity that takes place. All disputes are presented to him for adjudication, as he is the ultimate judge, and his decisions cannot be appealed. In the latter, the pastor (director) of the congregation has the trust and respect of congregants; he or she is a guide and organizer of activities, but decisions are made by consensus involving several persons in designated positions. The pastor is not an autocrat, and, in fact, the pastor’s authority emanates from the confidence that congregants have in him or her. Decentralized authority and consensus are the main reasons Amistad y Vida congregations are content and worship with a high degree of happiness. Fourth, what are the beneficial and destructive aspects of these two sects? Answering this question involves several considerations that must be assessed from different standpoints. It is easy enough to characterize LLDM as a destructive sect and Amistad y Vida as a beneficial sect, but there is more to it than

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that. Amistad y Vida is beneficial to its adepts, it does not engage in a kind of deception, and doctrinally and pragmatically its practices redound in happiness for congregants. Cristianos never tire of stating that their religious, social, and personal (psychological) life is incomparably better than when they were Catholics in good standing. Participating in their religious services and witnessing their good works in the community, we are certain that this self-assessment is true, and Amistad y Vida is an entirely positive and beneficial sect. Assessing LLDM involves recognizing that center and periphery are at variance. At the Hermosa Provincia, the see in Guadalajara, the sect is destructive to the extreme. At the congregational level, the situation is significantly less destructive. Sexual abuse does not take place; and the pastor’s hold on the congregation is not as tyrannical, although a strict control of the congregation remains in place, and destructive elements affect the lives of congregants: deceiving them about the nature of the creed, strongly inducing them to generate money for the apostle, and instilling in them the notion that Brother Samuel is in direct contact with Jesus Christ. The congregations of the Protestant sects that we have studied fall between Amistad y Vida and LLDM, but are closer to the former. None of the Protestant sects engages in anything like the sexual and economic abuses that go on at the see of LLDM, but neither can they compare with the transparency and happy manner of worship of Amistad y Vida. Rather, we established that every one of these sects engages in some form of mild dishonesty or deception in the process of proselytism and the organization of the cult, mostly in the former. Fifth, let us present the basic differences in the methods of proselytism of LLDM and Amistad y Vida, and assess their effectiveness in the regional process of growth the two sects are experiencing. The approach of LLDM involves aggressive doorto-door proselytism combined with a well-informed knowledge of potential converts, and a misleading representation of the creed and organization of the congregation. This kind of approach is effective with the rural and urban dispossessed,

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156 Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

mostly folk people recently settled in the city, working-class urbanites, and rural-labor migrants still enfranchised in rural communities. During the past decade, at least in the Córdoba– Orizaba region and the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley, LLDM has been proselytizing among lower-middle-class and wellestablished working-class people. This is a large sector of the population, and we think that this sect will continue to grow, despite the scandals that have plagued the top of the leadership at the see. Amistad y Vida’s proselytism, by contrast, is low-key and nonaggressive, and does not involve door-to-door contact with prospective candidates. It is partly conducted by word of mouth; that is, Cristianos may occasionally approach people in some sort of trouble or crisis, or are themselves approached by people who have heard good things about the sect. The latter occurs because Amistad y Vida has a web page, and occasionally it is mentioned in the daily press. Amistad y Vida attracts almost exclusively lower-middle-class and middle-class urbanites, with few converts of rural extraction, and they constitute the best educated of all constituencies among which Protestant and native evangelists proselytize. This is a much smaller constituency than that of LLDM; the combination of this small target audience and Cristianos’ low-key proselytism is not conducive to greater growth. We surmise that Amistad y Vida will remain a small sect without mass appeal.

Interrelationship between Native and Protestant Evangelism and Politics The interactions of native and Protestant evangelist groups in central Mexico have never been cordial. In fact, they do not interact very much and there is no discernible way in which they present a united front to defend their rights against Catholic counterproselytism and high-handedness. They are in many ways in fierce competition for converts, even among the Protestant sects themselves, a fact that they try to play down by not

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overtly bickering with each other. But Protestant sects quite often overtly express the opinion that native sects are neither Protestant nor evangelist because they depart significantly from Protestant evangelism doctrinally and organizationally. There are some differences, of course, but no more than exist among Protestant sects themselves, and this attitude is simply a way of slighting native sects. This is a matter of perception, but it underlies the rather antagonistic competition for the souls of Mexicans that obtains among evangelists in all regions with which we are acquainted in central Mexico. One of the reasons that native sects have been successful and able to compete with Protestant sects is that they were founded in Mexico by Mexicans, regardless of their doctrinal roots in United States evangelism. This nationalistic aspect has been instrumental in the growth of LLDM and Amistad y Vida, as was fi rst brought to our attention by several perceptive Catholic observers and confi rmed by many informants of these two sects. They believe that a new faith has been “hecha en México” (made in Mexico). As one Cristiano with a sense of humor pointed out, “Nuestas creencias son en parte hechas en EE.UU., pero las hemos transformado para que encajen con la mentalidad y religiosidad de nuestra gente. Es por lo tanto que consideramos Amistad y Vida como una fe hecha en México” (Our beliefs are in part made in the USA, but we have transformed them to fit the mentality and religiosity of our people. Thus, we consider Amistad y Vida as a faith made in Mexico). The interrelationship of nationalism, politics, and religion has a long history in Mexico. In the introduction, we discussed President Plutarco Elías Calles’s most blatant governmental intercession in religious affairs, but this practice goes back to the middle of the nineteenth century, when the Leyes de Reforma were passed, which marked the beginning of strict separation between church and state. This has persistently accompanied government intervention and regulation of some aspects of religious practice that were deemed at the time politically expedient, most often concerning the Catholic Church, but also having to do with religious freedom and the acceptance of new

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evangelist sects. Chronologically, a few examples will clarify this, but allow us fi rst to review what transpired before the middle of the nineteenth century. From the Spanish Conquest to independence from Spain (1519–1821), the Catholic Church in the vice-royalty of New Spain was, for all intents and purposes, a religious, political, and economic power unto itself. This began to wane when in 1756 the Spanish crown ordered the Jesuit order removed from its New World colonies, which began diminishing the power and control of the Church. But nothing drastic occurred until Independence, despite the modernizing and secularizing ideas that spread from Europe beginning with the French Revolution. From then on the modernization and secularization of Mexican society had a significant effect on the practice of religion and the mostly adverse role of the government in the affairs of the Catholic Church. Many politicians had become Masons (of both the Scottish and the Yorkist rites), and this changed the way they regarded the role of the Church in society, notwithstanding that most of them remained practicing Catholics. The political class of Mexico two decades after Independence, in addition to questioning the influence of the Church, regarded its vast ownership as inimical to the economic development of the country. Shortly after Independence there had been attempts to release the lands of the Church (about 35 percent of the arable lands of the country accumulated throughout colonial times) and abolish all communal lands. Nothing was done at the federal level, but some states enacted ordinances with varying degrees of success. The avowed aim of abolishing all corporately owned property was to generate revenue and unfreeze the economy, for privatization fitted in well with notions of economic liberalism. Privatization of the land was also, however, in the economic interests of the political class, and even the most revered leaders (Juárez, Lerdo de Tejada, Comonfort) profited by the “Ley Lerdo” (ley de desamortización, the law passed in June 1856 requiring the sale of all communally owned property). The Ley Lerdo affected the Church and

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Indian communities and provoked various consequences and reactions.2 The Church was allowed to keep only buildings directly related to the religious cult (churches, convents, monasteries) and to administration (hospitals, bishops’ residences). Hacienda owners acquired all Church land, which contributed to the unprecedented growth of landed estates and became one of the main causes that precipitated the 1910 Revolution—all of which drastically changed the social, economic, and political composition of Mexico. The Ley Lerdo and kindred legislation, known collectively as Leyes de Reforma, provoked not only economic but religious changes and reactions and unleashed a wave of violence and instability that lasted more than three years, until the French intervention. Reaction against the Leyes de Reforma in respect to the Church was widespread. Aggravated by the government’s high-handedness in destroying Church property, as symbolized by the destruction of the sixteenth-century Franciscan convent in the heart of Mexico City, revolts erupted throughout the country, beginning in Puebla. Led mostly by the conservatives, plotted in the capital, they nonetheless inspired a lot of support. Although the overwhelming majority of the country undoubtedly had no sympathy for the Church as a landlord, it was not about to tolerate the government’s interference with the discharge of Roman Catholicism. Fundamentally, of course, the war over the reform and the violence it generated had an economic reason, for conservatives and liberals alike were tacitly and openly in favor of ending the vast ownership of land by the Church. What really provoked the reaction of conservatives and much popular support was the liberals’ insistence on bringing the Church under government control. The liberals did not just confi ne themselves to implementing a reasonable separation of church and state, but committed excesses that could have been avoided had they only controlled their ideological fervor. Predictably and regardless of personal religiosity, the Leyes de Reforma, insofar as they were concerned with religion, led to hardened positions, to ideological intransigence on both sides, and, most seriously, to political rigidity and the in-

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160 Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

ability to compromise—traits that continue to characterize the Mexican political system today. More devastating for the Catholic Church was the liberal Constitution of 1857, inspired mostly by Juárez, which contained a number of decrees that accompanied the complete separation of church and state: (1) the secularization of monasteries, transforming monks into secular priests; (2) the abolition of convents; (3) the abolition of all religious corporations; (4) the abolition of tithes. During the Porfi riato, however, these decrees were ignored and to some extent, the Church regained its former influence in society, except that the dictator kept a tight control on religious matters. During the second half of the nineteenth century, most of the Protestant evangelist sects now present in Mexico were introduced by North American missionaries, and also by denominations such as Baptists, Presbyterians, and Lutherans, who established congregations in the largest cities. The presence of these sects and denominations began before the French intervention, and they were on the whole welcomed by the liberal government then in power. This stance on freedom to worship continued under the dictatorship of Porfi rio Díaz—no doubt largely determined by the government’s intent to use the establishment of Protestantism in Mexico as a countermeasure to the undisputed monopoly of the Catholic Church, without having to intervene in the internal affairs of the Church and the discharge of the cult.3 However, there was no stated policy until after the end of the armed phase (1919) of the Revolution of 1910. The postrevolutionary attitude of the government after 1919 was one of acceptance of all religions and sects until fi nally, during the administration of Luis Echeverría Álvarez (1970– 1976), freedom of religious worship was written into the constitution. Since then, the official policy of the government has been that all religious faiths are equal before the law. But from the Porfi riato until the turn of the twentieth century, several developments took place in the relationship of church and state that affected the spread of Protestant evangelism.

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The restrictions imposed on the Church by the Constitution of 1857 were again enforced after the end of the Porfiriato, and even more stringently when the armed struggle of the Revolution ended in 1919. The Constitution of 1917 explicitly included the anticlerical provisions that had characterized the 1857 Constitution, and added others. Primarily, it made all public education secular, which was bitterly resented by conservative Catholics, and culminated three generations of anticlericalism. During the Calles administration (1924–1930), a serious confrontation took place after the president was bitterly attacked by the capital newspapers. He retaliated by expelling hundreds of foreign priests and nuns and closing all religious schools. The reaction was a repetition of the clerical revolt against Juárez. The reaction throughout the country was severe, and in the states of Jalisco, Michoacán, and Colima the people rose in arms—the “Cristero rebellion,” led by priests; schools were burned, teachers were killed, and trains derailed. Local leaders, with Calles’s approval, put thousands of rebels in concentration camps, and many rebels were hanged on telegraph poles. It was a terrible repression, totally out of proportion, which Jean Meyer (1976) considers the greatest aberration in postrevolutionary Mexico. Furthermore, Calles did not miss any opportunities to oppose the Catholic Church by supporting religious sects and churches, such as the Catholic splinter groups discussed in the introduction and American Protestant evangelism, which were welcomed and which, from then on, began to proliferate. During the last year of his administration, Calles tried to reconcile with the Catholic Church, to no avail. General Lázaro Cárdenas became president in 1934, and for the next six years he did not interfere in Church affairs but continued the policy of tolerance toward non-Catholic faiths. Evangelist sects already established in the country began to expand, and by the early 1940s there were more than a million Protestant evangelists in at least twelve states of the country. In addition, a few native evangelist sects were increasing in numbers, some of

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which were of short duration, but a few are still going concerns today, most notably LLDM. The next episode in the relationship between church and state was sinarquismo (synarchism). It was a counterrevolutionary movement composed mainly of peasants and workers under secret leaders that sought restoration of an early Christian social order, emphasizing hispanidad (everything Spanish) and opposed to communism. In several ways it was a rebirth of the Cristero movement, but with an ideology similar to Francisco Franco’s Spanish Falange, a neo-fascist organization ostensibly emphasizing God, Church, and family, but masking complete subordination of the individual to absolute leaders.

Prospect for the Future of Native Evangelism and Its Relationship to Protestant Evangelism The fundamental assumption of this book is that evangelism of all persuasions has a defi nite function in the face of the monolithism of Catholicism in Mexico, regardless of whether it is upright and benevolent (Amistad y Vida), destructive and dishonest (LLDM), or slightly aggressive or intrusive in proselytizing (some of the Protestant sects, particularly Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses). More precisely, it provides something that is lacking in Roman Catholicism today, or was practiced in the past but is no longer part of Church praxis. What we have in mind is that Catholicism during the past century (at least in Mexico but probably everywhere) has become ritually and ceremonially ossified, and has forgotten that its religious success often derived from the social, economic, and psychological support it afforded the faithful. From this standpoint evangelists have done very well. But before we address the future of native evangelism in competition with Protestant evangelism, we would like to discuss the doctrinal and social factors underlying the appeal of evangelism, based on what we have established in our work in the Córdoba– Orizaba region and the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley.

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Given the increasing modernization that central Mexico has been steadily experiencing since the Revolution of 1910, and the secularizing trends that set in right after World War II, protestant individualism struck a chord. In short, individualism speaks to the soul of individuals and groups yearning for a better and less costly religious life. Salvation is something individual, no longer exclusively a matter of visiting the ritual space, as it is in folk Catholicism (in both rural and urban environments) burdened by so much ritual and ceremonialism. Evangelism (Protestant and native) not only offers but demands a ritual identity (persona) which is personal, individual, and unique. One is no longer necessarily tied to a community or place of origin, hindered by collective constraints, and thus one can more easily succeed in the secular world. This is the overarching attraction of evangelism, which in various forms and degrees colors all other factors constituting the appeal of evangelism. We would like to conclude with a few remarks on the prospects for the future of LLDM and Amistad y Vida, two very different evangelist sects, to determine what these sects have or lack for surviving in the competitive field of evangelism. In this endeavor we also address some aspects of changing Catholicism that may slow down the spread of evangelism; but fi rst, some of the most appealing traits of evangelism of all persuasions. The praxis of evangelism entails an integration of religion and everyday life; that is, the sacred is brought to bear intimately in the social and economic concerns of the people, giving meaning to mundane but important aspects of human experience. Religion (in most Spanish-speaking countries) is not in any sense external to or beyond what individuals and the group do, but is intimately interrelated with their lives. There is not necessarily a causal link between the sacred and the divine, but rather a symbolic connection that functions as a guide for Christian behavior (McGuire 1982). As we have noted on a couple of occasions, this aspect was pervasive in early Catholicism but somehow seems to have been lost today. It is as if people never entirely forgot the early Christian integrational, communitarian values—particularly individuals and families with

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164 Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

folk Catholic backgrounds—which they fi nd after conversion to evangelism in their rural communities but more often when they settle in urban environments. There is a realized yearning for the return to a better, faraway time, or to the immediate circumstances that they left behind in their rural communities. This is what some enlightened Catholic activists and parish priests in the Córdoba– Orizaba region and the TlaxcalaPueblan Valley have unsuccessfully been trying to recapture. In evangelism, the ministry of all believers is emphasized. Fundamentally this means all believers can be saved independently of intermediaries (priests, pastors), although the presence of a charismatic leader does help. This religious stand also redounds in a better adaptation to modernization; that is, creates behavior mechanisms that reconcile supernatural beliefs with the contemporary materialistic, technological world. This is one of the reasons evangelism has so appealed to the urban and rural destitute and near-destitute as a means to climb the socioeconomic scale (Droogers 1994:45– 49). (To one degree or another, this worldview of evangelism as attested by our research in central Mexico is shared by all Protestant evangelist sects, but is most pristinely realized by Pentecostals.) Karla Poewe approvingly mentions that Evans-Pritchard and some other anthropologists propose that faith and science go together, and she maintains that “these thinkers insisted that faith was the real link between science and religion. But what did they mean by faith? Faith seems to us to be an attitude that fostered trust in institution, insight, inspiration, and revelation, manners of perception that were often the core of proleptic experience” (1994:236–237). She is right in everything she says empirically, but there is no need to invoke proleptic. From our perspective and based on what Bertrand Russell says (see introduction, note 3), there is nothing that science can say about religion or any system of beliefs or values; anthropology (a science) can only make arguments about the consequences of religion (a system of beliefs). It is unnecessary to adduce the experience of God’s existence in order to say something meaningful about religion.

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In a very perceptive analysis, Patricia Fortuny (2001:88) rightly points out that “a modern society is characterized by the existence of relative values, relative truths, and a multiplicity of cultural messages that contradict one another and produce a social atmosphere of disorder, confusion, and emptiness. In the face of this situation, large sectors of society respond by integrating themselves into religious communities that distinguish themselves by being authoritarian, exclusive, and highly normative, and thereby allow individuals to feel calm and at peace with themselves and the world.” With the notable exception of Amistad y Vida, an exceptionally unstratified and egalitarian sect, the foregoing characterization applies fully to the Córdoba– Orizaba region and the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley. Holy Saints and Fiery Preachers: The Anthropology of Protestantism in Mexico and Central America, edited by James Dow and Alan Sandstrom (2001), is one of the latest entries on Protestant evangelism in Mesoamerica. This is a welcome volume directly relevant to our work on this subject in central Mexico, and includes many articles summarizing the spread of evangelism and many other topics. Alan Sandstrom’s “Conclusion” is outstanding in his summary of the ten articles. Also outstanding is his analysis of topics ranging from conversion to Protestant evangelism and reconversion to Catholicism, to reasons for conversion, and the similarities between Protestant evangelism and folk Catholicism. Sandstrom’s acuity and insight stem from his in-depth ethnography of the Nahua people of northern Veracruz. We suggest that the reader read Sandstrom’s “Conclusion” for a better understanding of this book. Given the affi nities between folk Catholicism and evangelism, one of the puzzles that we were not able to solve was why so few people from the Indian/traditional communities, mostly in the cold lands of the Córdoba– Orizaba region, have converted to Protestant and native evangelism. There are a significant number of transitional/Mestizo communities located in the vicinity where both Protestant and native evangelist sects have made significant numbers of converts, but for some reason this has not happened in Indian/traditional communities, de-

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spite the efforts of LLDM, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Pentecostals, and Mormons, which have been proselytizing there for more than thirty years. Try as we may, we have not been able to give a satisfactory answer. Finally, the Córdoba– Orizaba region and the TlaxcalaPueblan Valley generally, and LLDM and Amistad y Vida in particular, conform to the above generalizations. However, not all of the above generalizations apply equally to LLDM and Amistad y Vida.

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Notes

Introduction 1. Amistad y Vida, Inc., was founded in Mexico City in 1982 by a Presbyterian minister. Within a few years, congregations had been established in cities and rural communities of central Mexico. 2. Statistics on evangelism in Mexico are notoriously unreliable; evangelical sects tend to overestimate their numbers, while the Catholic hierarchy tends greatly to underestimate them. Based on our survey of evangelical congregations in the Córdoba-Orizaba region, and the list of sects and their congregations kept by the authorities of the state of Veracruz, the number of evangelists is much greater than the estimates of the Catholic authorities. 3. We are not theologians, but merely students of comparative religion. Thus, to us “heresy” is a relative term. For example, Nestorianism is heresy for Catholics, but dogma for Jehovah’s Witnesses. Therefore, when anthropologists and sociologists study religious systems and analyze concepts such as heresies, dogmas, and in general any doctrinal elements, they are not dealing with matters of fact, but with perceptions of ideological constructs that cannot be proven true or false. This is the case with all ideational constructs, namely, beliefs, values, ideologies, and worldviews: they are accepted or rejected, but they cannot be falsified. This, of course, is the doctrine that has been called the “subjectivity of values,” which evidently applies to all ideational constructs. Bertrand Russell (1997:237–239) characterizes this scientific stand as follows: “This doctrine consists in maintaining that, if two men differ about values [or about any ideational construct], there is not a disagreement as to any kind of truth, but a difference of taste. If one man says oysters are good and another says I think they are bad, we recognize that there is nothing to argue about.

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Notes to Pages 11–12

The theory in question holds all differences about values are of this sort, although we do not naturally think them so when we are dealing with matters that seem more exalted than oysters. The chief ground for adopting this view is the complete impossibility of fi nding any arguments to prove that this or that has intrinsic value.” Science, in other words, can prove or disprove only matters of empirical fact, but has nothing to say about truth or falsity of ideational constructs. This does not mean, however, that anthropology (as a science) has nothing to say about religion—quintessentially an ideational subject. But what it has to say is not about theology, teleology, and doctrinal constitution, but rather the consequences of these constructs in the social and cultural life of a group. We shall elaborate on this analytical strand but we wanted to state at the outset how the analysis would proceed. 4. The situation in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico, has become even more violent since the onset of the indigenous movement, Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN). The connection between EZLN and the expulsion of evangelists from the  municipio of Chamula has not been properly explored, despite the able work of López Meza (1992). It is quite likely, however, that the empowering aspects released by the EZLN movement have radically changed the local relationship between evangelists and Catholics. In our estimation, what this means is that indigenous people now consider themselves entitled to make their own decisions concerning internal matters affecting their own municipios. Similar movements, particularly in the state of Guerrero, have led to the same developments. Such drastic developments have not yet occurred in the Córdoba-Orizaba region and the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley, but our prediction is that they soon will take place. 5. We have designated all rural and urban Protestants who do not belong to mainstream denominations as “evangelist sects.” This is a justified appellation insofar as all sects mentioned in the text share a strong concern with proselytism, a consuming desire to spread the word of God as dictated by their beliefs and practices. This usage seems to us to denote the essence of evangelism in the Christian tradition from the beginning, although we are well aware that contemporary students of religion may specifically denote something else by the term. Moreover, we have not specified our usage of terms such as “sect,” “denomination,” “church,” “millenarianism,” and several others. These points have been studied by students of contemporary Protestantism in most of its forms, but they are not immediately pertinent to our description and analysis of native evangelism. Nonetheless, for the sake of keeping matters straight, we shall have something to say about this in chapter 2.

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6. Our understanding of the present policy of the Mexican government is as follows. For about 150 years, since las Leyes de Reforma (the Reform Laws) enacted in 1856, Mexico’s government has had an uneasy relationship with the Catholic Church. At every period, from Benito Juárez and Porfi rio Díaz to every administration after the end of the armed confl ict of the Revolution of 1910 and until the administration of President Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León, the government has not missed any opportunity to approve of any development or occurrence to counteract Catholic power and influence. The reasons have changed throughout this long period, but the aim has been the same, and in this respect every form of Protestantism that was introduced in Mexico has been implicitly used for this purpose. Another example of the same strategy took place in the late 1920s. During the administration of President Plutarco Elías Calles, in several parts of the country a movement away from the Roman Catholic Church came into existence. It took the name of Iglesia Católica Cismática Mexicana: a nationalistic religious movement that declared itself independent of Rome and its Mexican hierarchy. It retained intact the creed and dogma of Catholicism, but it arrogated to itself the right to consecrate its own priests and bishops. In Tlaxcala, for example, they took over two communities (Santa Anita Nopalucan and San Miguel Tenancingo), which did not return to Catholicism until the 1980s (Nutini and Isaac 1974). President Calles and his administration supported the movement, and there was nothing that the Catholic hierarchy could do. Thus, anticlericalism and freedom of worship have more to do with politics than with religious change per se, as the great majority of Mexicans, including most practicing politicians, remain staunch Catholics. In fact, we do not think that the present PAN (Partido Acción Nacional; most of its members are devout Catholics) administration would dare upset the status quo by abolishing freedom of religion. See our conclusions for further discussion.

Chapter One 1. Parenthetically, native evangelism, at least in the CórdobaOrizaba region and the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley, is a somewhat syncretic mixture of Catholicism and Protestant evangelism, in which some modified doctrinal aspects of the former coexist with the fundamental doctrinal and pragmatic aspects of the latter (as specified in the introduction). Differences between native and Protestant evangelism will be analyzed in the conclusions, when we compare the two analytical ethnographies. Suffice it to say here that there has been fric-

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Notes to Pages 40–55

tion in that evangelist sects, particularly Pentecostals and Jehovah’s Witnesses, maintain that native sects are not true evangelists.

Chapter Two 1. As we shall discuss in the conclusions, some evangelist sects, particularly the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh-Day Adventists, occasionally take a confrontational stance when challenged by Catholics by responding in kind, verbally or physically. These incidents do not happen often, but they are becoming increasingly common in the Córdoba-Orizaba region and in the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley. 2. This, of course, is the dogmatic-axiomatic cornerstone of all religions and the sects that have sprung from them, some of which do become mainstream religions in their own right. In the case of Christianity, with unsuccessful attempts at sectarianism, the deus-exmachina framed by the First Council of Nicaea (325) held the teachings of Christ, his original apostles, and Saint Paul as a unified religion until the Orthodox schism (1054), the fi rst major subdivision of Christianity. In the West, the deus-ex-machina continued to reign supreme, again despite several abortive cases of sectarianism. The second great schism, the rise of Protestantism in the fi rst half of the sixteenth century, was then framed primarily by Luther and Calvin. From then on until today mainstream religions (denominations)— and sects that were fairly independent movements—have proliferated to no end. They all claim (some implicitly, others explicitly; some stridently, others quietly) that they represent the only true doctrinal path to worship based on the correct interpretation of the scriptures. What are secular students of religion (mostly sociologists, historians, and anthropologists) to make of this simplified evolutionary account of Christianity? Two things, in our opinion: fi rst, that dogmas are the result of specific social, economic, and political factors, usually at critical historical junctures, and are not due to any divine intervention as theologians maintain; and second, that since dogmas cannot all be true, they must necessarily be taken as fundamental axioms that engender beliefs, behaviors, and actions that characterize particular faiths; these are the raw materials that secular students may use to determine the position and functions of religion in society.

Chapter Three 1. Our observation of many services in five different congregations (three in the Córdoba-Orizaba region and two in the Tlaxcala-

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Pueblan Valley) indicated that this extemporaneous part of the service is conducted in an implicitly orderly fashion, that is, attending congregants speak if they have something to say, attest, or ask without abusing the privilege, and when they do speak up, they do so concisely. It is as if these interventions had been orchestrated beforehand. To some extent this is true, in that those who may want to say or ask something may sometimes consult in advance with the director, particularly in the case of young people or individuals unsure of themselves, as we found out when we interviewed congregants. On the other hand, there are many spontaneous interventions, most often testifying to the Holy Spirit having manifested to the person. 2. Cristianos, like all evangelist sects, are opposed to alcoholism, and regard it as the source of much disruption and abuse within the family, but they are not averse to taking a glass of wine or a beer once in a while. In fact, we have heard discussants at home meetings recommend that adolescents should be taught to occasionally drink in moderation, rather than prohibiting it outright, which may elicit a negative reaction when young men and women leave the family of orientation. This is an enlightened policy that again demonstrates Cristianos’ relaxed approach to religion. 3. There is a certain amount of competition among congregants to be included in these visiting groups, which it is up to the committee to appoint, implicitly acknowledging that voluntary service in the cause of good works is the best way to please the Lord and achieve salvation. 4. We decided that it was not appropriate to follow up on the episode immediately after the service. A few days later, however, we interviewed a couple (husband and wife) of Cristianos with whom we had become close. We learned a good deal about this episode, which subsequently led to other informants, and we were able to put together a rather coherent picture of what they referred to as “el don de lenguas” or “hablar en lenguas” (speaking in tongues). 5. Three informants (two men and a woman) told us in no uncertain terms that they do not want to be identified with superstitious sects such as Pentecostals, for whom speaking in tongues “es algo como la brujería que practican los indígenas, que se puede manipular al gusto cuando es conveniente” (is something like witchcraft as practiced by Indians, that can be manipulated at will when it is convenient). 6. In our research on social stratification and mobility in central Veracruz (Nutini 2005), we established that the higher the class of the individuals, the lower the incidence of the extended family. This is not necessarily intuitive, for in Mexico City aristocrats have a higher incidence of extended families than plutocrats.

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172 Notes to Pages 62–72

7. Urban kinship has been studied by H. Nutini in his work on aristocrats, plutocrats, and the upper-middle class in Mexico City (see Nutini 2004:221–281). It is practically the same in several cities of central Mexico (Puebla, Orizaba, Córdoba, and a few smaller ones), where it applies to the entire urban stratification spectrum, above the Indian context, as illustrated below. 8. This form of kinship structure is present in both Amistad y Vida and La Luz del Mundo congregations, and it is widespread in Mesoamerica. We discuss this form of kinship here and in the following chapter, on La Luz del Mundo kinship structure. 9. H. Nutini had not seen this form of ritual kinship behavior since 1962, when he completed two years of fieldwork in San Bernardino Contla, Tlaxcala. Until then, it was standard in traditional communities in the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley for godchildren to kneel and kiss the hand of godparents. The practice rapidly declined, and by 2000 it had disappeared. Therefore, we were astonished to witness the practice in an urban environment among mostly middle- and lower-middle-class people. It was a throwback to nearly half a century ago. 10. This is a constant that obtains in the Córdoba-Orizaba region and the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley, and the generalization can probably be extended to central Mexico as a whole. To us it makes sense, although when we broached the matter to a Pentecostal and a Jehovah’s Witnesses pastor, they were horrified. We were told that our view of conversion was an insult to the Holy Spirit, which most Protestant evangelist sects consider as the main supernatural agent in the process of conversion. We quickly dropped the matter as inimical to our research. 11. Jesus’s career as a public figure—that is, the last three years of his life—was characterized by his criticism of the old Mosaic Law as having become ossified by its concern with ritualism. The Gospels and Saint Paul describe his divine mission as a reformation of the Law, a change from performing rituals controlled by an entrenched priesthood to a direct relationship to the deity, and based on a dynamic of human interaction of love and good works for fellow humans that pleases the Lord and ensures salvation. In our estimation, this fundamental dynamic has been present in the evolution that Christianity has undergone from roughly the First Council of Nicaea (AD 325, when Christianity, originally a folk religion, had nearly completed its transformation into an imperial religion) until the present. Every dissenting movement away from traditional Christianity (=Catholicism), from the transcendental Orthodox and Protestant schisms to minor sectarian reforms, most frequently since the middle of the nineteenth

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century, has been conditioned by this premise. Amistad y Vida is the last (so far) in this long line of development. To the best of our knowledge, among the many sectarian movements active in central Mexico today, only Amistad y Vida has been fashioned in this manner.

Chapter Four 1. When I asked the minister-pastor of the LLDM congregation in Fortín what this interpretation of Jesus Christ is, he was unable to give me a theological explanation, and limited himself to saying that it was the apostle Aarón’s conception and should be accepted without question. This indicates the total subservience of pastors and congregants to the head of the sect—which in essence amounts to his infallibility—and we may add that this is so not only in theological matters, but also in all personal and practical matters concerning the sect. 2. The number 14 is sacred for LLDM, a kind of cabalistic number. This is an article of faith for Mundists because on this date God blessed His people, on August 14 the apostle Aarón and his son, Samuel, were born, and on this day the Lord delivered His chosen people from Egyptian oppression. Thus, the fourteenth day of every month is sacred, and it is expected for families to get together to remind the faithful of the history of the sect, and to do the same once a year to celebrate the founding of the sect. 3. This overtly nationalistic aspect of native evangelism will become increasingly important as it expands in Latin American countries, as apparently is already happening. “Nationalist” elements—in both connotations of the term, as we have used them here (native religious movements and close association with the political establishment)—will undoubtedly enhance the legitimacy of evangelism and provide local congregations with means to counteract whatever action the Catholic hierarchy takes to curtail the expansion of new faiths. 4. In-depth interviewing of congregants and many Catholic informants did not reveal any kind of economic exploitation or sexual abuse. On the contrary, several reliable Catholic informants spoke well of the good that the congregation was doing for the poor of Fortín and the region. When we interviewed the minister-pastor, however, he pointed out that the tithe of congregants who could not attend the yearly celebration of the Santa Cena in the Hermosa Provincia (when the tithe is individually paid) was locally collected a week before and promptly sent to the see. He added that tithing is good for the congregation, as some of what has been contributed comes back in the form of periodic gifts from the apostle. He did not say how often and

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174 Notes to Page 83

how much, but we were able to determine from informants that there were gifts from the anointed of the Lord. This, at any rate, was evidently the perception of the rank and fi le, generated by the exalted position of Brother Samuel. 5. LLDM has been called a “destructive sect” (secta destructiva, in the context of evangelism in Mexico) by several scholars (Erdely 1997; Masferrer 1997b; Hochman 1997). Recalling the collective suicide incited by Rev. Jim Jones in Guyana in 1978 and the David Koresh episode in Waco, Texas, when eighty people committed suicide, these scholars have called LLDM a destructive sect, which they defi ne as a group promulgating a religious ideology that, potentially or actually, causes social, economic, and/or psychological damage to individuals and the group as a whole. But these authors do not explore the genesis of destructive sects beyond adducing the usual reasons of discontent of people indiscriminately searching for new religious experiences. In chapter 5, we will explore this aspect of LLDM in some detail, as an important case study for understanding the origin and development of destructive sects. 6. The analogy that comes to mind here is the estate system of stratification as it existed in the Middle Ages, which to a large extent survived until the rise of a class system after the American and French Revolutions. Western society was divided into two estates: the aristocracy and the commonality; the fi rst had most of the rights and privileges that European societies offered, while the second had few and were in a position of total social, economic, and political subordination. The aristocracy never had a membership larger than 10 percent of the total population, but was provided a life of luxury and exalted well-being by the hard labor of the commonality. For reasons of selfinterest the aristocracy would throw a few crumbs to the commonality, but at all times maintained a tight control over it. In all estate systems that existed before the late eighteenth century, there is not a single case in which the proportion of the superordinate to the subordinate estate was more than one to ten. When the ratio rose, the result was upheavals and revolutions, as the dominated were too few to maintain the ruling estate in a state of luxury and comfort. The best-authenticated case is that of the French Revolution. Until the sixteenth century, the aristocracy never formed more than 9 percent of the population of France, but for the next two centuries it increasingly grew, to nearly 17 percent. The productive commonality could not support in style such a large nonproductive aristocracy, and, in our opinion, this was the social force that precipitated the revolution. We maintain that this applies to any stratified group in which a mi-

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nority has the power to exact economic, social, and religious benefits from the majority. 7. This aspect of LLDM brings to mind the tightly knit nature of the closed-corporate community, as we have observed in central Mexico in general, and some kinship systems in particular. This constructive behavior is in sharp contrast to the destructive behavior that goes on at the see. The concept of ayuda, as we have defi ned it for the kinship system of San Bernardino Contla in Tlaxcala (Nutini 1968:225– 241), is essentially the same among Mundists. And as far as we are aware, it is not present with as much intensity in native and Protestant sects in central Mexico, and unquestionably is absent in Catholic parishes. 8. Flaviano Amatulli Valente is an Italian priest who went to Mexico in 1968. In 1986 the Mexican Council of Bishops nominated him to lead the Department of the Faith to Combat Sectarian Proselytism. He has written several pamphlets on LLDM, and although he may be biased against the sect, the information he provides is useful in assessing evangelism in Mexico. What he says about the sexual abuses and economic exploitation of the apostles and the leadership enfranchised in the Hermosa Provincia agrees with what independent studies and the daily press have made public about LLDM. 9. Here we have specific evidence of a practice of LLDM that can be traced directly to Brother Samuel, as reported by Amatulli Valente (1998:49): “Once he [Samuel] got together with some incondicionales that were about to be married and he told them: ‘I am giving you these women so that you may polish and fashion them as you please. I know that you are going to say, what is Brother Samuel doing by marrying profesionistas [men practicing liberal professions] to women that have not even fi nished primary school. I am giving them to you so that you polish them, as I did with my own wife. When I met her she was fat and not well formed. I offered her five hundred pesos for each kilo she lost, and she is now a woman that I can be proud of.’” Similar remarks about women made by Brother Samuel have been reported in the daily press (Excelsior, June 17, 2003), underscoring the misogyny that characterizes LLDM from top to bottom.

Chapter Five 1. It is our opinion that the situation between Catholics and evangelist sects, at least in the Córdoba-Orizaba region, has been precariously maintained, but violence may soon erupt, as has happened in

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several cities and towns in central Mexico during the past five years. The federal government has always promulgated freedom of religion, but it seems powerless to prevent confrontation and violence at the local level. The exaggerated claims of the Catholic Church and the increasing assertiveness of evangelists are on a collision course, and when the latter acquires a critical mass in a particular community, violence will ensue. In no community that we are aware of do evangelists form more than 12 percent of the total local population; what we do not know is what percentage of evangelists would constitute the breaking point. 2. Social stratification and mobility in central Veracruz are described and analyzed by Nutini (2005). For an extended discussion of the social classes and the standard of living and material culture in the Córdoba-Orizaba region, the reader may wish to consult this publication. 3. In the lowlands and midlands Indian populations are much more acculturated than in the highlands, and are therefore not likely to convert to an evangelist sect that is worldly and lacking in ritual and ceremonialism. This was verbalized by Indian informants from the municipio of Tequila, some 20 miles from the city of Orizaba. In the highlands of central Mexico, on the other hand, most Indian communities are in transition to becoming Mestizo, and are therefore more receptive to the basically urban, working-class orientation of LLDM. 4. How can this specific contrast between center and periphery be accounted for? Again one would be tempted to explain it psychohistorically. But the better explanation is social: the wealth of the sect is accumulated at the center and controlled by a very small group, and given the hierarchical subservience to the see, it is highly unlikely that the abuse of power and women would develop in local congregations. 5. This is a distinct pattern in the proselytizing process of LLDM congregations, which undoubtedly produces good results, and at the same time tends to preserve the social endogeny of the congregation. When we asked the minister-pastor of the Fortín congregation when this form of proselytism had come into existence, he said that Brother Samuel had insisted on it since he became the head of LLDM upon his father’s death. 6. Beyond religious disagreements with LLDM, Catholics express a great deal of antipathy toward the sect because they do not sanctify important events with compadrazgo and do not celebrate other social occasions throughout the year in true Mexican tradition. This attitude, of course, obtains against other evangelist sects, but it is exacer-

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177

bated in respect to LLDM because the people at large know that the sect is of Mexican extraction. 7. The situation around LLDM is comparably greater than any similar cases of abuse perpetrated by the clergy in the United States, and Catholics were duly shocked. Mexicans are inured to political and economic corruption, but the general public was not aware that religious corruption could occur on the scale practiced by LLDM. Unfortunately, the Church hierarchy in particular, and the Catholic faithful in general, place all other Protestant and native evangelist sects together with LLDM, which is clearly not the case. 8. It is rather ironic than in Mexico, which only recently has had the luxury to experience unrestricted freedom of expression, religious matters and scandals are expressed and discussed by all concerned more openly than in the United States. US Newspapers and television do report on the transgressions of priests and pastors, but never with the depth and intensity to which LLDM has been subjected. We do not have an explanation for this phenomenon, but it seems that scholars, and certainly the media in the United States, are loathe to delve into the inner workings of the religious life of the people, as if by doing so, they would be transgressing the boundaries of reverence and offending religious sensibilities.

Chapter Six 1. The sole purpose of the foregoing statistics is to put in perspective the tremendous success that evangelism has had in Latin America during the past fi fty years. Many students of religion have investigated this process, such as Bastián (1986), Boff (1982), Bruce (1990), Deiros (1966), Garrand-Burnett (1992), Greenleaf (1992), Martin (1990), Roelofs (1991), and Stoll (1990), to name some of the most outstanding. 2. Parishioners are aware that priests do not receive a salary from the diocese for their maintenance and must subsist by charging a fee for services rendered. But they object to priests’ abuses when they charge two or three more times than the going rate for a special liturgy, particularly for Holy Week and All Saints/All Souls Day, when they are much in demand, or for commemorating a person’s death. Another source of income that parishioners resent is the priest having exclusive monopoly of decorating the church with flowers for a wedding or the celebration of a girl’s fi fteenth birthday, when parishioners could do it themselves.

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3. This is essentially an encapsulation and a more literary rendition of statements from Pentecostal pastors and converts we interviewed, at the beginning of our research, in congregations of three communities in the Tlaxcala-Pueblan Valley. Similar statements about the role of preaching and its salvific effects were expressed by members of Protestant and native sects in the course of the research. 4. Again, the evangelism of Amistad y Vida is an exception. In order to avoid repetition, let us reiterate that this native sect is the most liberal, laid back, and least aggressive of all evangelist sects present in central Mexico. And therefore it constitutes the most atypical and well-meaning kind of evangelism that we have encountered. 5. We should emphasize that the great majority of women everywhere in Mexico are still traditional; they believe that the priesthood should be male, and as far as we are aware, women have never actively lobbied for the right to be ordained as priests. This is the case even with the best-educated women, but we will not be surprised if this kind of activism soon makes its appearance.

Conclusions 1. We are aware that this is a value judgment, but we cannot refrain from making it, given the unkept promises, subterfuges, and pressures that occasionally mar the proselytism of some evangelist sects, to say nothing of the undue assertiveness that characterizes the practical implementation of some of sects. 2. Indian communities suffered greatly, and something should be said about what happened to them, although it is not directly relevant here. The Ley Lerdo had catastrophic effects for Indian communities, as about 35 percent lost their communal land. Thus deprived, they hired themselves out as day laborers in nearby haciendas (large landed estates). This accelerated the processes of modernization and secularization, and many communities lost their Indian character. Such was the unintended result of the Ley Lerdo. 3. The Mexican government has always been reluctant to interfere with the practice of Catholicism, and the two or three times that it did so resulted in violent confrontations with the Catholic body politic. We will discuss this below.

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Index

Acción Católica (Catholic Action), 17, 140 Aguirre Beltrán, Gonzalo, 4 alcohol and alcoholism: and Amistad y Vida, 56, 62, 171n2; and Catholicism, 139; and conversion, 123, 127– 128, 134; and La Luz del Mundo, 101, 126 Alcoholics Anonymous, 134– 135 Amatulli Valente, Flaviano, 118, 175n8, 175n9 American Indian tribes, 21 Amistad y Vida A.C. (Cristianos): axiomatic principles of, 46– 48, 50– 51, 52; as beneficial sect, 154–155, 162; and Catholic/evangelist relations, 40, 48, 53, 55, 61, 67, 69, 71; and celebration of yearly cycle, 54– 58, 62; and community service, 43– 44, 47, 49, 50, 51, 57– 58, 60, 67, 70– 72, 152, 154, 155, 171n3; and conversion, 40, 41, 46, 48, 53, 54, 58, 60, 64, 67, 69–71, 121, 125, 142, 143–

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144, 146; and covenant with God, 49; and creation of organically united group, 47, 85; doctrines of, 27, 41– 43, 46, 135, 155; and egalitarianism, 16, 40, 41, 55, 64– 65, 73, 125, 153, 154, 165; establishment of, 2, 12, 15, 39– 41, 167n1; ethnography of, 3, 19, 52; future of, 67–73, 163; ideational-ideal configuration of, 44; ideology of, 45– 53; imperatives for behavior, 51; imperatives to action, 48– 50, 51; and interaction among congregants, 47, 50; lack of intermediaries between God and individuals, 48– 49, 60, 68– 69; La Luz del Mundo compared to, 151–156; membership levels of, 39, 69; nationalism of, 157; optimism of, 46– 47, 51, 53, 54, 62– 63; perceptions of, 67–73; pragmatic character of, 42, 43– 45, 50, 53, 56; and private/ individual component, 50, 54, 55– 57, 59, 60; and prose-

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Amistad y Vida A.C. (continued) lytism, 40, 42, 50, 54, 67, 69, 73, 125, 126, 152, 155, 156, 178n4; and public/collective component, 50, 54, 55, 56, 57– 58, 171n3; relaxed religious approach of, 40, 46, 49, 171n2; reunions of, 50, 55– 56, 63, 69; and role of Jesus Christ, 41, 42, 71–72, 152, 172–173n11; and secular state events, 63; social and kinship aspects of congregation, 61– 67, 87, 89, 92, 94, 95, 154, 172n8; social and religious ayuda, 95, 152; statement of purpose, 42, 52; teleology of, 46, 48, 53, 54; theology of, 41– 43, 48, 52, 53, 54; as tolerant and liberal, 7, 16, 153, 178n4; and women, 40, 125, 126, 132, 153 anabaptism: and Amistad y Vida, 42, 152; and La Luz del Mundo, 76, 78–79, 152 Annis, Sheldon, 120 anthropology: and distinction between “what is” and “what ought to be,” 45; and ethnography, 20, 22–23, 33, 34; motivational characterization of, 22; and proselytism, 14–15; and religious systems, 164, 167–168n3 Applewhite, Marshall, 38 Arianism, 6 Assembly of God, 12 Australia, 21 Bakker, Jim, 111 Baptist Church, 7, 12, 75, 160 Bastián, Jean, 4– 5, 120, 177n1

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Bible: and Amistad y Vida, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, 55, 152; and Catholicism, 139; and conversion, 122, 127, 131; and La Luz del Mundo, 86, 100, 103–104, 152; and native evangelism, 2, 6–7, 16. See also New Testament; Old Testament Bitar, Jorge, 39– 40, 153 Bitar, Susana, 39– 40, 153 Boas, Franz, 21 Boff, Leonardo, 120, 177n1 Bolivia, 134 Bowen, Kurt, 120 Bridges, Julian C., 120 Bruce, Steve A., 177n1 Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE), 21 Calles, Plutarco Elías, 157, 161, 169n6 Calvin, John, 170n2 Cárdenas, Lázaro, 161 Catholic/evangelist relations: and Amistad y Vida, 40, 48, 53, 55, 61, 67, 69, 71; and Catholic counteracting of proselytism, 9, 11, 13–14, 17, 120, 128, 138–142, 156; and Catholic knowledge of individual sects, 12; confrontations in, 8, 9, 11, 18, 68, 141, 168n4, 170n1, 173n3, 175–176n1; and La Luz del Mundo, 80, 81, 84, 86– 87, 95, 97, 98, 105–106, 109, 175n8, 176–177n6, 177n7; and nationalistic aspect of native evangelism, 16 Catholicism: anti-Protestant stance of, 8, 9, 11; charismatic movement of, 14, 139; and

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Index 187

compadrazgo, 176–177n6; converts’ perceptions of, 123; counteracting proselytism, 9, 11, 13–14, 17, 120, 128, 138–142, 156; folk Catholicism, 12–13, 29, 34, 38, 48, 82, 131, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 141, 144–145, 147, 163, 164, 165; hierarchy of, 132– 133, 137, 141, 144, 145, 147, 148; impersonal ambiance of parish, 96, 122; laissez-faire attitude toward Protestant evangelism, 9, 10, 142; and liberation theology, 137, 139; and Mexico’s government, 17, 18, 169n6; and native evangelism as dissent movements, 1, 2, 6–7; political and economic power of, 158–161, 162, 178n3; pragmatic tenets of, 15; Protestant denominations contrasted with, 6, 8; on Protestant evangelism, 8– 9, 167n2; and relationship with state, 119; and sexual abuses, 111, 115; social and kinship traits of, 61, 62, 63– 64; and social needs of local congregations, 14, 29, 140, 148–149; and vernacular Mass, 135; and women, 126, 147, 148; and yearly cycle, 99, 122, 147, 177n2 Centro para el Estudio Científico de las Religiones (Center for the Scientific Study of Religions), 112 ceremonialism: and Amistad y Vida, 41, 47, 49, 53, 54– 58, 152; and Catholicism, 12, 99, 131, 132, 133, 162, 163; and conversion, 113; and lack

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of hierarchy in native evangelism, 2; and La Luz del Mundo, 77, 78, 85, 99–105, 152, 153–154 Chamula, Chiapas, 168n4 Chiapas: and confrontations between Catholics and Protestant evangelists, 8, 16, 141, 168n4; and Protestant evangelism, 4; social and economic troubles in, 136 Chile, 121 Christianity: as dissenting sect of Judaism, 71; and evangelism, 35; folk roots of, 72; “heresies” of, 6, 167–168n3; schisms of, 73; and sectarianism, 170n2. See also Catholicism; Protestantism colonialism, 36, 72 Comonfort, Ignacio, 158 compadrazgo (ritual kinship): and Amistad y Vida, 63– 66; and Catholicism, 176–177n6; and La Luz del Mundo, 110– 111; and Tlaxcala-Pueblan valley, 172n9 Congregational Church, 75 congregations: and administrative decentralization, 2; and Amistad y Vida, 40, 55, 61– 67, 87, 89, 92, 94, 95, 154, 170–171n1, 172n8; and conversion, 123, 124, 128–129; ethnography of, 10, 19, 26– 27; and La Luz del Mundo, 77, 78, 81, 82, 83, 85– 86, 87, 88– 95, 105–111, 153–154, 172n8, 175n7; social needs of local congregations, 14 Constitution of 1857, 160, 161 Constitution of 1917, 161

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conversion: and Amistad y Vida, 40, 41, 46, 48, 53, 54, 58, 60, 64, 67, 69–71, 121, 125, 142, 143–144, 146; Catholic reactions to, 120, 138– 142; collective conversion, 149–150; and congregations, 123, 124, 128–129; doctrinal considerations, 130–131, 132, 133–138, 144–146, 149, 150; drinking and womanizing as dependent variables in, 127–128; and economic factors, 120, 121, 122, 123, 129, 133–134, 136, 137, 143, 147–150, 177n2; and folk beliefs and practices, 13; forms of, 38, 121–122; and glossolalia, 60; and Indians, 122, 133, 134, 135, 137, 144, 150, 165–166; and La Luz del Mundo, 75, 76, 80, 86, 107, 108, 121, 125, 142; and men, 129, 144–146, 147, 148, 149–150; and Mestizos, 122, 133, 144, 165; and opposition from kinsmen, 126–127, 129; and persona, 28–31, 35; process of, 125, 126, 127, 128–136, 143; profi les of, 143–150; psychological factors of, 123–124, 130, 142– 150; and rationalization after the fact, 41, 69, 98, 120, 142; reasons for, 1–2, 26, 29, 71, 82, 85, 107, 113; and reconversion to Catholicism, 82, 120, 127, 130, 141; religious context of, 120, 122, 129, 130–136, 137, 143; and religious pluralism, 120; social and cultural variables of, 120, 121–130, 131, 132–134, 143;

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and social class, 68– 69, 121, 125, 136, 138, 164, 172n10; success of conversion of Catholics, 7, 12–13, 40, 41, 48, 53, 58, 67, 71, 80, 120, 130; and women, 122–123, 125– 128, 129, 132, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149–150. See also proselytism Córdoba, Veracruz: Amistad y Vida in, 39, 40, 55, 57, 153; and conversion, 134; La Luz del Mundo in, 82 Córdoba-Orizaba region: Amistad y Vida in, 40, 58, 166, 170–171n1; Catholic activists in, 164; and Catholic charismatic movement, 139; and Catholic/evangelist relations, 17, 141, 168n4, 170n1, 175– 176n1; and conversion, 137, 143, 172n10; ethnography of, 19, 25, 162; kinship system of, 67; La Luz del Mundo in, 85, 102, 106, 156, 166; and modernization, 165; native evangelism in, 2, 7, 15, 34, 169–170n1; Protestant evangelism in, 5, 10–12, 13, 167n2; as region de refugio, 4 Council of Chalcedon, 6 Council of Nicaea, 6, 170n2, 172n11 Cristianos. See Amistad y Vida A.C. (Cristianos) cult of the saints: and Amistad y Vida, 49, 68– 69; and Catholicism, 29, 68– 69, 82; costs of, 82, 122, 133; native evangelism’s rejection of, 2, 11, 12, 13, 29, 49 cultural consensus, 23–24, 26, 27

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Deiros, Pablo Alberto, 177n1 De la Torre, Renee, 118 De los Reyes, Alfonso, 120 Departmento de Investigaciones Sobre Abusos Religiosos (Investigative Department of Religious Misconduct), 117 deus-ex-machina, 170n2 Díaz, Porfi rio, 3, 7– 8, 63, 160, 169n6 Diego, Juan, 138 Di Mambro, Joseph, 38 Donatism, 6 Dow, James, 165 Durkheim, Émile, 31 Echeverría Álvarez, Luis, 160 Ecuador, 134 Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN), 141, 168n4 Erdely, Jorge, 112, 117 Escalantes, Paloma, 115 ethnography: analytical or indepth ethnography, 24, 25, 26–28, 30, 31, 35, 38; and cognitive concept of persona, 28–31, 35; complementing and interpreting quantitative data, 25–26, 28; diachronic and synchronic reasons for, 20–23, 24, 26; and distinction between ideology and structure, 32–34, 45; epistemological foundations of, 31– 35; and functionalism, 22, 23, 32; integrational role of, 22, 23; interpretative and explanatory dimensions of, 23– 24, 28; of native evangelism, 19–20, 25; salvage ethnography, 21–22; uses of, 24–26 evangelism: appeal of, 130–

Nutini_4545-final.indb 189

136, 162–164; defi ning concept of, 35, 36–37; and religious studies, 112. See also native evangelism; Protestant evangelism Evans-Pritchard, E. E., 22, 24, 164 Falange, 162 Father Devine sect, 111 Fortín, Veracruz: Amistad y Vida in, 39, 40, 44, 55, 153; congregations of, 10, 19; and conversion, 134; La Luz del Mundo in, 81, 82, 85, 87, 102, 107, 109, 173n1, 173– 174n4, 176n5 Fortuny, Patricia, 165 Franco, Francisco, 162 French Revolution, 158, 174–175n6 fundamentalism, 8, 112 Gamio, Manuel, 21 Garma Navarro, Carlos, 120 Garrand-Burnett, Virginia, 177n1 Gaxiola, Manuel J., 120 glossolalia: and Amistad y Vida, 42, 47, 50, 58– 61, 171n4, 171n5; and La Luz del Mundo, 76, 102 Gnosticism, 6 González, Eusebio Joaquín (Aarón): connections with political establishment, 81, 107; death of, 75, 102; and exclusivity, 79, 80; and exploitation of rank and fi le, 83– 84; founding of La Luz del Mundo, 74, 75, 103, 105, 116; glorification of, 77, 78, 79, 80, 84– 85, 100, 102,

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190 Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

González, Eusebio Joaquín (Aarón) (continued) 103, 110, 117, 173n2; and hierarchical principle of authority, 88; ideology of, 80, 153; infallibility of, 173n1; Jim Jones compared to, 113; on marriage, 79; and millenarianism, 77; personality profi le of, 114; puritanism, 82– 83, 96– 97; and Santa Cena, 104; teachings of, 76; theological procedures established by, 78– 80, 173n1; and tithes, 79; visions of, 74–75 González, Samuel Joaquín: and celebrations of Brother Aarón’s birthday and death day, 102; connections with political establishment, 81, 107, 118; and control of Hermosa Provincia, 83– 84; controversies surrounding, 116, 153; and exclusivity, 80; glorification of, 77, 78, 79, 80, 84– 85, 100, 101, 103, 104– 105, 114, 117, 155, 173n2, 174n4; and millenarianism, 77; and misogyny, 175n9; and monumental temple of Hermosa Provincia, 75; personality profi le of, 114–115; and prohibition of compadrazgo, 110–111; and proselytism, 176n5; and puritanism, 96; and Santa Cena, 103; and sexual abuses, 115, 118; teachings of, 76; and theological procedures, 78– 80; and tithes, 79 the good, and Amistad y Vida, 46– 47, 70–71 Goodman, Felícitas D., 60

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Greenleaf, Floyd, 177n1 Guadalajara, Jalisco: and La Luz del Mundo, 75, 78, 153; Protestant evangelism in, 7 Guatemala: La Luz del Mundo in, 3; Protestant evangelism in, 10, 121, 138; social and economic troubles in, 136 Guerrero, 168n4 Herodotus, 20–21 hispanidad (everything Spanish), 162 Hochman, John, 113 Huasteca Potosina, 4 ideational constructs, 167–168n3 Iglesia Apostólica de la Fe en Cristo Jesús, 12 Iglesia Católica Cismática Mexicana, 169n6 Iglesia Cristiana Interdenominal, 12 Iglesia de Bethel, 12 Iglesia de Dios en la República Mexicana, 12 Indian/Mestizo dichotomy, 4, 7, 28, 121, 136, 137 Indians: and conversion, 122, 133, 134, 135, 137, 144, 150, 165–166; and La Luz del Mundo, 106, 176n3; and Ley Lerdo, 159, 178n2; and Mendicant friars, 72, 142; and Protestant evangelism, 7 Ireland, 36 Jehovah’s Witnesses: and Catholic/evangelist relations, 170n1; and conversion, 126, 144, 172n10; doctrines of, 135; lack of political involvement, 107; and native evange-

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Index 191

lism, 1, 16; and Nestorianism, 167n3; and proselytism, 7, 11, 67, 125, 149, 162, 166; and rituals, 100; and women, 125 Jesuits, 158 Jesus Christ: and Amistad y Vida, 41, 42, 71–72, 152, 172–173n11; and La Luz del Mundo, 76, 78, 80, 84, 152, 155, 173n1 John Paul II (pope), 138, 139, 140 Jones, Jim, 38, 113, 174n5 Juárez, Benito, 158, 160, 161, 169n6 Judaism, 35, 61, 71 Kluckhohn, Clyde, 24 Koresh, David, 38, 174n5 Lalive D’Spinay, Christian, 120 La Luz del Mundo (LLDM): Amistad y Vida compared to, 151–156; and Catholic/ evangelist relations, 80, 81, 84, 86– 87, 95, 97, 98, 105– 106, 109, 175n8, 176–177n6, 177n7; and center/periphery differences, 108, 111, 113, 115, 117, 155, 176n4; and community ambiance, 85– 87, 95– 98, 108, 109, 111; and conversion, 75, 76, 80, 86, 107, 108, 121, 125, 142; as destructive sect, 38, 83– 85, 96, 98, 99, 105, 111– 115, 151–152, 153, 154, 155, 162, 174n5; and economic exploitation, 81– 82, 83, 84– 85, 111, 114, 115, 153, 155, 173n4, 175n8; and economic welfare of members, 17, 82, 86, 87, 95, 152; ethnography

Nutini_4545-final.indb 191

of, 3, 19; exclusivity of, 79, 80, 85– 87, 104; fi scal scandals within, 17; founding of, 2, 12, 15, 74, 75, 162; future of, 163; growth of, 2– 3, 75–76, 98, 156; headquarters of, 75, 78; and Hermosa Provincia, 75, 81– 84, 85, 96– 97, 101, 102–103, 104, 106, 111, 113, 114, 115, 116–117, 155, 175n7, 175n8; hierarchy of, 16–17, 27, 77, 78, 80, 81, 83, 84, 88, 96, 107–108, 118, 152–153, 154, 176n4; and homophobia, 96, 153; ideology of, 45, 80– 85, 153, 174n5; leadership of, 83, 106, 111, 116–119, 153, 154, 156; membership figures of, 75– 76, 98, 116; and misogyny, 96, 97– 98, 175n9; nationalism of, 81, 106–107, 157; and nonresidential extended families, 87, 88, 91– 92, 94– 95, 109, 110; and number 14, 102, 173n2; organization of congregations, 77, 78, 81, 82, 83, 85– 86, 105, 153–154; and proselytism, 75, 77, 79, 86, 107, 108, 110, 119, 125, 126, 152, 155– 156, 166, 176n5; and puritanism, 82– 83, 87, 96– 97, 116; and Santa Cena, 78, 87, 102–105, 173n4; sexual scandals within, 2–3, 17, 38, 81, 83, 84– 85, 97, 111, 114–115, 116, 117–118, 155, 173n4, 175n8, 177n7; social and kinship aspects of congregation, 87, 88– 95, 105–111, 172n8, 175n7; social and religious ayuda, 87, 95– 98, 152,

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Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

La Luz del Mundo (continued) 175n7; syntagmatic structure of, 99–105; teleology of, 77, 79– 80; as theocracy, 78, 79, 80; theology of, 76– 80, 173n1; and tithes, 77, 78, 79, 82, 84, 85, 111, 114, 117, 173–174n4; values and worldview of, 85– 88; and women, 82– 83, 96, 97– 98, 110, 113, 116, 125, 126, 132, 153, 175n9; and yearly cycle, 76, 87, 99–100, 101, 102, 104 La Malintzi, 15 Las Casas, Bartolomé de, 72 Latin America: Catholicism in, 36, 138, 139; and conversion, 120, 121, 128, 149, 150, 177n1; and native evangelism, 173n3; and Protestant evangelism, 18, 121, 138; secularization in, 14, 134 Lerdo de Tejeda, Sebastián, 158 Lévi-Strauss, Claude, 22, 34 Leyes de Reforma (Reform Laws), 157, 159–160, 169n6 Ley Lerdo, 158–159, 178n2 López Cortés, Eliseo, 120 López Meza, Antonio, 168n4 lower-middle class: and Amistad y Vida, 40, 156; and Catholicism, 8– 9, 135, 147; and conversion, 69; and La Luz del Mundo, 95, 106, 156; and Protestant evangelism, 7, 68 Luther, Martin, 170n2 Lutheran Church, 5– 6, 160 Malinowski, Bronislaw, 22, 24 Manicheanism, 6 marriage: and Amistad y Vida, 64, 152; and Catholicism, 147; and La Luz del Mundo,

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79, 88– 89, 108–110, 126, 152 Martin, David, 120, 177n1 Marzal, Manuel M., 118 Mascareñas de los Santos, César, 114 Mascareñas Ruiz, Jorge, 114 Masferrer, Elio, 76, 111, 112– 113, 116, 117, 118 Mayers, Robert, 39, 153 mayordomía system, 82, 122, 144 Mestizos: and conversion, 122, 133, 144, 165; and Protestant evangelism, 7. See also Indian/Mestizo dichotomy Methodist Church, in TlaxcalaPueblan valley, 4– 6 Mexican Revolution of 1910: and Amistad y Vida, 63; and Catholicism, 159, 160–161; and Eusebio González, 74; and modernization, 131, 163; and Protestant evangelism, 3, 4– 5, 8 Mexico: Catholicism counteracting conversion in, 139; and church/state separation, 63, 157, 159, 160; conversion in, 121, 150; ethnography of, 20–21, 23, 32; independence of, 158; media reports of La Luz del Mundo in, 117–119, 177n8; Protestant evangelism in, 138, 160; religious freedom in, 8, 9, 11, 17, 18, 141, 157–158, 160, 161, 169n6; study of religious sects in, 111–115 Mexico City: Amistad y Vida in, 39; Protestant evangelism in, 7; and social class, 171n6, 172n7

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Index 193

Meyer, Jean A., 118, 161 Michoacán state, 11 Middle Ages, estate system of stratification, 174n6 middle class: and Amistad y Vida, 7, 16, 40, 53, 58, 66, 67, 68, 156; and Catholicism, 12, 68, 69, 135, 140– 141; and conversion, 133; and La Luz del Mundo, 106; and Protestant evangelism, 7, 8, 12–13 millenarianism, 76, 77, 168n5 Ministry of the Interior, Department of Religious Affairs, 81 modernization: and Amistad y Vida, 43, 53, 65; and conversion, 125, 131; and evangelism, 164, 165; and French Revolution, 158; and individualism, 163; and La Luz del Mundo, 85; and Ley Lerdo, 178n2; and return to primitive Christianity, 72 Mohammed, Prophet, 78 Mohammedanism, 35 Monophysitism, 6, 78 Monterrey, Nuevo León: and La Luz del Mundo, 74, 75; Protestant evangelism in, 7 moral code of behavior: and Amistad y Vida, 41, 43, 44, 47– 48, 53, 61, 152; Bible as source of, 2; and Catholicism, 132; and La Luz del Mundo, 101, 152 Morgan, Lewis Henry, 21 Mormons: and conversion, 125; doctrines of, 135; missions of, 3; and proselytism, 7, 11, 67, 125, 162, 166; and women, 125 Murdock, George Peter, 22–23

Nutini_4545-final.indb 193

native evangelism: belief systems of, 32–33, 34; and conversion, 122, 125, 146; differences among sects, 2; as dissent movements, 1, 2; ethnography of, 19–20, 25; exclusivity of, 6–7; as extension of Protestant evangelism, 2; future of, 162–166; growth of, 161–162; ideology of, 32– 33, 34; lack of hierarchy in ceremonialism, 2; lack of hierarchy in ritualism, 2; La Luz del Mundo compared to, 79, 80; as mixture of Catholicism and Protestant evangelism, 169–170n1; nationalist component of, 15–16, 18, 81, 157, 173n3; origins of, 1, 15; perceptions of La Luz del Mundo, 86; persona of, 28–31, 163; prophets of, 6– 7; and proselytism, 131; Protestant evangelism compared to, 1–2, 6–7, 18, 169–170n1; Protestant evangelism’s interrelationship with, 156–162; and reactions against Catholicism, 38; theologies and teleologies of, 6–7; and women, 132. See also Amistad y Vida A.C. (Cristianos); La Luz del Mundo (LLDM) Nazarenes, 12 neolocality, 61, 66 Nestorianism, 6, 167n3 new religious movements (NRMs), 113 New Testament, 41, 43, 44 Nicaragua, La Luz del Mundo in, 3 Nutini, H., 9–10, 16, 172n7, 172n9, 176n2

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Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

Old Testament, 41 original sin, 76 Orizaba, Veracruz: Amistad y Vida in, 55; La Luz del Mundo in, 82, 102; and Protestant evangelism, 5– 6, 10 Orthodox schism (1054), 170n2 Paloma, Margaret M., 120 Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), 63, 107, 169n6 Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD), 63 Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), 63, 81, 107, 118 patrineolocality, 88– 92 Pelagianism, 6 Pentecostalism: and conversion, 122, 123–124, 125, 126, 127, 164, 172n10; doctrines of, 135; egalitarianism of, 27, 77; and evangelical ecumenism, 68; and glossolalia, 58, 59– 60, 171n5; as model for La Luz del Mundo, 76, 83; and native evangelism, 1, 16, 170n1; and proselytism, 5– 6, 7, 11, 67, 125, 166; and rituals, 100; and women, 125 Peru, 134 Philippines, 36 Pitarch, Pedro, 28 Poewe, Karla, 164 Porfi riato, 160–161 poverty and the poor: and Catholicism, 136, 137, 140, 141; and conversion, 141, 164; and La Luz del Mundo, 86, 95, 173n4; and Protestant evangelicals, 68, 138 Powell, John, 21 preaching: and conversion, 134–

Nutini_4545-final.indb 194

135, 178n3; and native evangelism, 2, 13 Predicadores Laicos (Lay Preachers), 140 Presbyterian Church, 160 proselytism: and Amistad y Vida, 40, 42, 50, 54, 67, 69, 73, 125, 126, 152, 155, 156, 178n4; Catholicism counteracting, 9, 11, 13–14, 17, 120, 128, 138–142, 156; growth of, 10; and interaction with prospective converts, 122, 129, 130; and La Luz del Mundo, 75, 77, 79, 86, 107, 108, 110, 119, 125, 126, 155–156, 176n5; and Protestant evangelism, 4, 5, 9, 12– 14, 67, 125, 131, 149, 152, 155, 162, 168n5, 178n1; and women, 125–126, 128. See also conversion Protestant evangelism: and conversion, 120, 121, 122, 125, 146, 172n10; differences among sects, 2, 36, 157; historical considerations of, 3– 9; La Luz del Mundo compared to, 79, 80; nationalism of, 81; native evangelism compared to, 1–2, 6–7, 16, 169–170n1; native evangelism’s interrelationship with, 156–162; and perceptions of Amistad y Vida, 67, 68, 71; and perceptions of La Luz del Mundo, 80, 81, 84– 85, 86; persona of, 163; and preaching, 134– 135, 178n3; and proselytism, 4, 5, 9, 12–14, 67, 125, 131, 149, 152, 155, 162, 168n5, 178n1; and rejection of cult of the saints, 49; and spiritual

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simplicity, 135–136; statistics on, 3– 4, 10, 14, 18, 161, 167n2; and women, 125, 132. See also specific sects Protestantism: in Europe, 36; and individualism, 131, 163; mainstream denominations, 5– 8, 12, 36, 37, 138; and Reformation, 36, 73; rise of, 170n2; and sects, 37– 38, 112–113. See also specific denominations Puebla, Puebla: Amistad y Vida in, 39; Catholicism in, 14; congregations of, 10; Protestant evangelism in, 7; revolt in, 159 Quiroga, Vasco de, 72 Radcliffe-Brown, A. R., 22, 23 Redfield, Robert, 21 regiones de refugio (regions of refuge), 4 religious freedom: in Latin America, 14; in Mexico, 8, 9, 11, 17, 18, 141, 157–158, 160, 161, 169n6 Revista Académica para el Estudio de las Religiones, 111, 112–115, 116 ritualism: and Amistad y Vida, 41, 47, 49, 53, 54– 58, 152; and Catholicism, 12, 99, 132, 133, 134, 135, 147–148, 162, 163; and conversion, 113, 147–148; and lack of hierarchy in native evangelism, 2; and La Luz del Mundo, 77, 78, 85, 99–105, 152, 153–154 Rivera, Pedro, 120 Robichaux, David L., 65

Nutini_4545-final.indb 195

Roelofs, Gerard, 177n1 rural areas: and Amistad y Vida, 40, 91, 156; and Catholicism, 140, 147, 163; and conversion, 121, 122, 123, 127– 128, 133, 134, 136, 137, 147, 148, 149, 164; and cult of the saints, 82; and La Luz del Mundo, 91, 105, 106, 109, 155–156; and native evangelism, 19; and proselytism, 138; and Protestant evangelism, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 68, 151 Russell, Bertrand, 57, 164, 167–168n3 Sabellianism, 6 Sahagún, Bernardino de, 20–21 San Bernardino Contla, Tlaxcala, 172n9, 175n7 Sandstrom, Alan, 165 Schoolcraft, Henry, 21 secularization: and conversion, 131, 133–134, 137–138, 149; and individualism, 163; in Latin America, 14, 134; and Ley Lerdo, 178n2; of monasteries, 160 Seventh-Day Adventists: and Catholic/evangelist relations, 170n1; and conversion, 122, 144; doctrines of, 135; and native evangelism, 1, 16; and proselytism, 3, 7, 11, 125, 149; and women, 125 Sierra de Puebla, 4, 9–10 sinarquismo (synarchism), 162 social class: and Amistad y Vida, 40– 41, 53, 61, 68; and Catholicism, 12, 17, 61; in central Veracruz, 176n2; and conversion, 68– 69, 121, 125, 136, 138, 164, 172n10; and

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196

Native Evangelism in Central Mexico

social class (continued) ethnography, 25; and extended family, 61, 171n6; and La Luz del Mundo, 82, 95, 106; and Protestant evangelism, 7, 8, 12–13, 68. See also lower-middle class; middle class; poverty and the poor; upper class; upper-middle class; working class Spain, 35–36, 72, 158, 162 speaking in tongues. See glossolalia Stoll, David, 120, 177n1 subjectivity of values, 167–168n3 Tacitus, 20–21 Tarascan Indians, 72 televangelism, 8 tierra fría regions, 4 tithes, and La Luz del Mundo, 77, 78, 79, 82, 84, 85, 111, 114, 117, 173–174n4 Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala: Catholicism in, 14; congregations of, 10, 19; cultural loss in, 21; ethnography of, 25; La Luz del Mundo in, 82, 85, 102, 103 Tlaxcala-Pueblan valley: Amistad y Vida in, 166, 170– 171n1; Catholic activists in, 164; and Catholic charismatic movement, 139; and Catholic/evangelist relations, 17, 141, 168n4, 170n1; and compradrazgo, 172n9; and conversion, 137, 143, 172n10, 178n3; ethnographic survey of, 9–10, 19, 162; La Luz del Mundo in, 106, 156, 166; Methodist schools in, 4– 5; and modernization, 165; native evangelism in, 7, 15, 34,

Nutini_4545-final.indb 196

169–170n1; Protestant evangelism in, 11–12 Trinitarianism: and Amistad y Vida, 42, 68, 152; and La Luz del Mundo, 76, 152 Tzeltal-Tzotzil region of Chiapas, 4 upper class: and Catholicism, 12, 69, 135, 144; and conversion, 133; and Protestant evangelism, 7, 8, 12 upper-middle class: and Catholicism, 68, 69, 140–141; and La Luz del Mundo, 106 urban areas: and Amistad y Vida, 40– 41, 62, 68, 91, 156; and Catholicism, 140, 147, 163; and conversion, 121, 122, 123, 127–128, 132–133, 135, 136–138, 145, 147, 148–149, 164; of Córdoba-Orizaba region, 19; ethnography of, 25; and kinship systems, 62, 172n7; and La Luz del Mundo, 91, 106, 107, 155– 156, 176n3; and native evangelism, 19; and proselytism, 138; and Protestant evangelism, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 68, 151; and women, 144 Valenzuela, Carmen, 74 Valley of Mexico, La Luz del Mundo in, 106 Warner, William L., 25 Weber, Max, 37, 132 Willems, Emilio, 120 women: and Amistad y Vida, 40, 125, 126, 132, 153; and conversion, 122–123, 125–128, 129, 132, 144, 145, 146, 147,

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Index 197

148, 149–150; and La Luz del Mundo, 82– 83, 96, 97– 98, 110, 113, 116, 125, 126, 132, 153, 175n9; and proselytism, 125–126, 128; traditional beliefs of, 144, 147, 178n5 working class: and Amistad y Vida, 53, 68; and Catholicism, 8– 9, 147; and conversion, 69, 133, 136; and La Luz del Mundo, 82, 95, 106,

Nutini_4545-final.indb 197

110, 156, 176n3; and Protestant evangelism, 7, 8– 9, 68 Xalapa, Veracruz, Amistad y Vida in, 39– 40 Zapata Novoa, Juan, 120 Zedillo Ponce de León, Ernesto, 118, 169n6 Zongolica, and La Luz del Mundo, 105

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