A history of Protestantism in Guatemala (Rios Montt, church, religion)

Abstract

This study examines the history of Protestant work in Guatemala, from the efforts of foreign Bible vendors, in the early nineteenth century through 1983, when the nation's first evangelical president, General Efra(')in R(')ios Montt, was ousted from office This work seeks to answer two central questions. (1) Why did the efforts of American missionaries between 1890 and 1960 have such poor results? (2) What kinds of changes took place after 1960 that allowed Protestants to account for twenty-five percent of Guatemala's population in 1980? This work suggests that the foreign missionaries offered a formula for salvation that was culturally inappropriate for most Guatemalans. The missionaries emphasized the ideals complemented the political goals of the Liberal governments who sponsored the missionaries. They had little appeal, however, for the average Guatemalan, who continued to adhere to Catholic, organic values Following the overthrow of the revolutionary government of Jacobo Arbenz in 1954, however, Guatemalan Protestantism changed dramatically, as nationalistic native Protestants began to leave the missions to form their own congregations. These new sects were indigenous in form and Pentecostal in theology. Simultaneously, a new breed of American missionaries began to flow into the country, calling for an end to sectarianism and offering Protestantism as a spiritual alternative to communism. The new missionaries launched an evangelical revival in the early 1960s which gave new impetus to the indigenous Protestant churches. Buffered by the association of evangelicalism and anti-communism, the native evangelicals could redirect the frustrated nationalism of the Arbenz period into a religious forum Guatemala's 1976 earthquake spurred Protestant growth in two ways. (1) Protestant relief workers exposed large numbers of Guatemalans to their message. (2) the earthquake signaled the beginning of a downward spiral of national chaos marked by warfare, terror, and economic decline. In the midst of this trauma, the indigenous Protestant churches offered spiritual solace, and a political stance which absolved the believer from the dangerous demands of Catholic Liberation Theology. Indigenous Protestantism has become the new religion of the helpless and the hopeless in Guatemala, and for that reason, it continues to thrive. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)