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Article Excerpt
Abstract
This essay is an ethnographic analysis of the Evangelical (1) and Pentecostal movements that, like elsewhere in Latin America, are sweeping across El Salvador and threatening to upset the historic dominance of the Roman Catholic Church in the region. Based on the latest information from country-wide surveys, as well as extensive interviews with clerical leaders, church members, social scientists, politicians, converts and critics, the essay looks deeply into this revival from the standpoint of what most Salvadorian Catholics, liberal Protestants and Liberationists see as its greatest weaknesses, viz. its first-world missionary antecedents and its passivity toward political and social engagement. The essay concludes by contending that despite the often warranted criticism, this revival is nevertheless producing important social capital, particularly among El Salvador's poor. There is evidence that it could, over time, have a dramatic impact on the political and economic structures of Salvadorian society, even in radical ways envisioned by liberation theologians.
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El Salvador often conjures up images of authentic, heroic Christianity in the face of persecution. When European and North American clergy preach the gospel through the lens of liberation theology, they typically invoke the Christ-like examples of Salvadorian civil war martyrs like Archbishop Oscar Romero, the Jesuits at the University of Central America, and the four American nuns, as well as the thousands of campesinos killed by government death squads and American bombs. Films like Romero and Voces Inocentes offer powerful images of the war, and are often the subjects of church and campus ministry discussions. Much to the delight of El Salvador's tourist bureau, parish groups and student delegations are increasingly visiting this tiny laboratory of poverty and social revolution in order to better understand how liberationist themes like, "the preferential option for the poor" still reverberate at the University of Central America, within the historic Protestant ecumenical community, in the Comundades Eclesiales de Base (CEBs) and especially among the left-leaning members of delegation-host organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are central to the solidarity movement. (2)
These pastors and pilgrims might be surprised to learn, however, that the so-called "preferential option for the poor", with its emphasis on salvation in this world, is typically not the religious option that El Salvador's post-civil-war poor are choosing. In great numbers they are opting for the other worldly and experiential altars of Evangelical conversion. According to the latest polls conducted by the University of Central America, Roman Catholic allegiance in El Salvador has dropped below 60% over the past two decades, while Evangelical professions have risen to nearly 30% and continue to grow. (3) Some three-quarters of these Evangelical converts belong to the tongues-speaking, faith-healing and boisterous Pentecostal traditions. In greater San Salvador alone, there are over a dozen churches each having attendance figures of more than five thousand. One of the largest is the Tabernaculo Biblico Bautista "Ammos de Israel Central". Founded by the US educated Dr Edgar Lopez Bertrand, better known as "Brother Toby", the Baptist Tabernacle boasts a membership of over 80,000 and has spawned over 40 smaller churches, including several within North American Salvadorian communities. In addition to its two schools and radio and television stations, the church's plush 8000 seat sanctuary hosts six consecutive, highly entertaining and choreographed Sunday services that have the look and feel of North America's largest mega-churches. (4) Another huge church is Mision Elim Internacional, located in the slums of Ilabasco. Unlike the Tabernaculo, Elim is a church of the very poor. It has an active membership of over 150,000 and is usually considered the second largest church in the world. Also unlike the Tabernaculo, Elim's continuous Sunday celebrations are animated by fiery preaching, open weeping, speaking in tongues, and healings. (5)
The crowds that gather in these mega-churches stagger the imagination but even greater numbers of Salvadorian Evangelicals and Pentecostals belong to one of the thousands of very small congregations of less than 100 members. The Assemblies of God in El Salvador is a typical example. As long ago as 1992, the denomination had some 264,000 members scattered between 2000 separate congregations and this figure has increased substantially. (6) It is virtually impossible to walk through poor barrios and miss hearing the pulsating music and shouts from one of these storefront or half-finished, concrete churches.
Unofficially, El Salvador is still a Catholic country. However, the same polls indicate that relatively few Catholics are actively involved in parish life beyond infrequent attendance at Mass. (7) In contrast, Evangelicals and Pentecostals congregate frequently for Bible study and worship. This means that on a weekly basis more Salvadorians are experiencing the gospel directly in the context of an emotion-centred Pentecostal meeting than are receiving it through the sacraments at the hands of a priest. As Pentecostals say, El Salvador is in revival.
What has precipitated this religious resurgence? Why is it primarily a Pentecostal phenomenon? What cultural and political impact will it have in this impoverished and war-torn country? For the past two years, in association with a faculty colleague and teams of students, I have conducted ethnographic research in El Salvador in an attempt to better understand this eruption. (8) In this process, we participated in numerous worship services and masses, Bible studies, and base community meetings. We interviewed clerical leaders and church members, converts and critics, social scientists, NGO leaders, and politicians. We were repeatedly surprised at the reactions to this revival within the Salvadorian Christian community. In response to the growth of the Protestant sects, Catholic bishops and parish priests are increasingly embracing a missionary strategy among disaffected Catholics, and are actively supporting parish-based neo-charismatic groups, such as the Legionaries of Christ, that infuse sacramental conformity with evangelical piety. The strongest voices of opposition toward the revival come from those in the more liberal and liberationist theological camps. They typically understand it as an aberrant religious amalgam made up by a predictable response to Catholic pastoral neglect, a psychological escape from the anomie resulting from poverty and rapid urbanization, and a religious cloak for North American cultural values and economic imperialism.
However, this massive religious development does not lend itself to quick reductions. There are certainly unifying factors to the current revival, viz. its dual antecedents in Latin American popular piety and the Los Angeles Azusa street revival of 1906, its social complexion that is primarily urban and poor, its conservative theology, and its supernatural orientation toward the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, the El Salvadorian revival is not a monolithic movement, and it is highly mutable. Contrary to the scholarly disposition to interpret "irrational" religious phenomena as the product of external, more "rational" forces, this revival also has its own internal dynamic stemming from the collective empowerment wrought by individual conversion and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, this empowerment is producing important social capital that in time could have a redemptive effect on El Salvador, perhaps in ways consistent with the prophetic ideals of its liberal detractors. These general observations form the backdrop for the analysis that follows. (9)
Catholic retrenchment
There is no doubt that the Catholic Church's response to the poor has affected the progress of this revival. From the development of the Encomienda system in the 16th century, E1 Salvador was ruled by a militarily supported oligarchy that stood in the way of widespread democratic participation. Within this system, the church legitimated the powerful and expected conformity to it within a hierarchical system that emphasized minimal sacramental obligations, and provided little pastoral attention. In the early 19th century, rich landholders began to confiscate peasant lands in an effort to develop a coffee republic. Widespread protests led to numerous genocidal slaughters, such as occurred at La Mantanza (1932) that left some twenty thousand dead. The deep hostilities and widening economic gulf that emerged between the landless poor and the powerful aristocracy eventually led to the bloodiest civil war in Latin American history (1980-92). Although land reforms were included in the peace accords signed in 1992, the effects of the reforms were minimal and the underlying structures of domination remain. Modern El Salvador is now mostly an industrial republic funded by Salvadorian elites and transnational corporations, and fuelled by neo-liberalism and the Central American Free Trade Agreement. The theory behind these new directions is that the rising tide of capital production will lift all boats. However, it is clear that, like other countries in Central America, El Salvador remains much the same as always. The rich own the boats and the poor are drowning. (10)
Until the mid-20th century, the Catholic Church remained complacent toward this consistently corrupt political and economic climate. Then, at the beginning of the 1960s, and emboldened by the liberal...
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