The Attraction of Evangelicalism in Latin America

Evangelicalism has attracted many followers here. This reason for this simple - people associate it with North America, and its affluence. And they associate Catholicism with the poverty of Latin America.

They do not have to think about this - the economic contrast is obvious, and unavoidable. The Protestant religion did, in fact - make Northern Europe, and North America wealthy. But this was a long, and violent process, that involved Industrialization.

The Evangelicals, without intending to do so - promised to make this process easy for Latinos. All they had to do, was convert - and wealth will follow! Many Latinos converted - but riches did not follow. And they lost interest in their new religion.

Moving from a Undeveloped culture, to an Developed culture, is much harder, than anyone realized. A lot of fundamental changes are required - and these changes are hard to make. So far as I know, no Latin American country has made this transition - and they have tried, as hard as they could.

Any organization (religion or business) that wants to move into Latin America, has to take these problems into account. The WalMart store I shop at down here, has Tshirts all its employees wear - saying (in Spanish) "We are here to serve you." This is a huge cultural shift for Latino organizations,  who usually - only want to serve themselves.