The Catholic Church’s hold on the U.S. Hispanic community has declined markedly over the past decade, down from two-thirds of American Latinos in 2010 to just 43% today, according to a new analysis released Thursday.
Catholics remain the largest single faith group among U.S. Hispanics, a Pew Research Center survey reported, but the percentage of “religiously unaffiliated” Hispanic adults now stands at an all-time high of 30%, while the combined share of evangelical and non-evangelical Protestants among American Hispanics is 21%, down from 25% five years ago.
The survey, which mirrors trends challenging Catholicism’s long dominance in Latin America, paints a picture of a more fluid faith community than is often portrayed, with growing religious diversity among U.S. Hispanics reflecting a more nuanced political profile as well.
The survey noted a fair amount of “switching” from the faith in which Latinos were raised. While 65% said they were raised as Roman Catholics, one-third of Latino adults surveyed in 2022 said their current affiliation is different from the tradition they were raised in.
Pew researchers found that young Hispanics born in the U.S. account for much of the Latino population growth here since the 2000s, and nearly half of those in the 18-to-29 age group say they are religiously unaffiliated. Only 20% of Latinos over 50 say they do not belong to a religious faith.
While evangelical Hispanic numbers have remained “relatively stable” during the past 10 years, their profile has increased. This is due in part, the research group said, to the political activism of some evangelical churches, but also because “a rising share of Latino voters” have cast their ballots for Republican candidates in recent elections.
National origin also plays a part in where Latinos attend worship and affiliate: Those from Puerto Rico (15%) and Mexico (12%) are less likely to identify as evangelicals, while 31% from Central America identify as evangelical Protestants.
The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said that while he is “not doubting” Pew’s 15% figure for evangelical affiliation in the community, the researchers may have missed Latino churches that are not pigeonholed in a denominational matrix.
He said that in “Miami, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Houston, Chicago, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Jose [and] San Diego, you will find Latino evangelical churches literally bursting at the seams. I know that firsthand.”
But Rev. Rodriguez said many of these churches are “nondenominational,” a departure from earlier decades.
Instead, he said in an interview, “They’re a part of something called apostolic networks, or there’s a very influential pastor who has what they call daughter churches, and they’re part of a network, but it’s informal in nature.”
When it comes to younger Hispanics, Mr. Rodriguez said, “there is a generational disconnect” involving both the “Generation Z” cohort and the new “Alpha generation” that follows it. Latino Gen Zers, he said, have “the same sort of religious-spiritual angst and consternation” found in the non-Latino world.
On the positive side, he said, Latino churches are growing again, “especially now in the past three months coming out of [the pandemic] and coming back to pre-COVID numbers.”
Additional information on the Pew analysis can be found online.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.