Protestantism and Modernity: The Implications of Religious Change in Contemporary Rural Oaxaca
Author(s)
Gross, Toomas
Abstract
The growing popularity of Protestant churches in Latin America is a phenomenon that is believed to have significant social, political and economic implications. It has even been suggested that Protestantism is for Latin America “a vehicle of modernity.” This paper studies the process of change and its implications in the example of indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Mexico, and explores the alleged link between modernity and Protestantism. It will be argued that although Protestantism in rural Mexico has various social implications, its role as the trigger of social change is often exaggerated and the process of religious fragmentation is not necessarily synonymous with the process of modernization.
