Latino Religious Experience

Until taking this class I never really considered the impact of the Latino population on religion across America. However, with the increasing numbers of Latino citizens coming into the nation, I think its important to understand what role they play. Obviously here in California, they make up a huge percentage of the community, and they are a part of the major group considered hispanics, which is the most rapidly expanding segment within the diverse American nation today. Therefore, I think that it is important to understand the religious role they play, simply because it is likely to provide an insight into how our religious settings may be shaped in the future.

I found it interesting to learn that there has been an emergence of Latino-oriented churches across the country, and this shows that they have had a profound impact on America by establishing their own cultures here. They have mangaged to implement their belief systams and traditions onto this country, rather than having to adapt to the American system/cultures.

I found a website that discusses the relgious affiliations of the Latinos in America at present, and I found it interesting that they now make up a third of the entire Catholic following here in the US. As they are an increasing community, I guess this therefore means that in future times, Catholicism is likely to be on the rise. Although it may rise however, it may also start to transition in the way it is practised, and methods that are used for worship. A survey taken by the Pew Research group notes that Latino worship is different to the traditional American followings, and specifically it is considered more spirit filled and expressioned, and also it constantly revolves around ethnicoriented worship.

The survey also shows that these groups also play a major role in the political environment here in America and it considerd religious affiliation to play a major part on party identification. Therefore, depending on the religious affiliations of these Latino voters, in 10/20/30 years time, the Republican v Democrat divide may not be so close simply due to the sheer numbers of Latinos and Hispanics entering this nation

A detailed survey regarding these issues regarding Latino religious experiences can be found on the Pew Research Foundation website, and for anyone interested futher, the link is http://pewforum.org/surveys/hispanic/