Of course, the spread of commerce and capitalism encourages mercantile and narrowly "rational" attitudes, which in turn encourages Protestantism. In my visits to (and studies of) Latin America, I've noticed that the people more likely to dump Catholicism and to take up Protestantism were merchants and people who thought that they could "make it" in market activity. Those who did well in, and liked, more traditional and non-market ways of life (which were much more oriented toward the community) were more likely to cling to Catholicism.
(As I understand it, the neoliberal policy revolution (imposed by Pinochet, the IMF, etc.) has encouraged the rise of fundamentalist Protestantism in Latin America and has caused a crisis for the Catholic church.) -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
