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Chile - Religion

According to the most recent census in 2002, 70 percent of the population over the age of 14 identified themselves as Roman Catholic and 15 percent as evangelical. In the census, the term “evangelical” referred to all non-Catholic Christian churches with the exception of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Jehovah’s Witnesses, Orthodox churches (Armenian, Greek, Persian, Serbian, and Ukrainian), and Seventh-day Adventists. Approximately 90 percent of those identified as evangelicals are Pentecostal. Anglican, Baptist, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Reformed Evangelical, and Wesleyan church members constitute the remaining 10 percent. Baha’is, Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, and members of the Unification Church collectively constitute less than 5 percent of the population.

Indigenous persons make up 5 percent of the population. Sixty-five percent of indigenous persons identify themselves as Catholic, 29 percent as Protestant, and 6 percent as “other.” Mapuche communities, constituting 87 percent of indigenous citizens, continue to respect traditional religious leaders (Longkos and Machis), and anecdotal information indicates a high degree of syncretism in worship and traditional healing practices.

The distribution of practicing Catholics and Protestants varies dramatically on the basis of socioeconomic status. In 1990-91 about half the practicing Protestant population (52.1 percent) was composed of individuals from poorer groups, while a tiny minority (2.3 percent) had high socioeconomic status. Among practicing Catholics, the proportion with high status was significant at 15 percent, whereas the poorest segment constituted about a fifth (21.8 percent) of all those who practiced. These differences are so salient that among the poor Chilean urban population, for every practicing Roman Catholic there is a practicing Protestant.

The growth of Protestantism has therefore mainly been at the expense of the Catholicity of the lower socioeconomic groups, among whom Catholicism has long been weakest. Surveys taken between the late 1950s and early 1970s showed that only between 4 and 8 percent of working-class people who were nominally Catholic attended mass weekly. The 1991 survey showed that 93.4 percent of high-income respondents indicated that they are nominally Catholic; the proportions declined to 75.2 percent of middle-income people and to 69 percent of those with lower incomes. Among the latter, 22 percent consider themselves nominally Protestant. The practicing Protestants also tend to work in greater proportions in the personal service areas of the economy and to be less educated than Catholics. This is consistent with the generally lower economic status of the Protestant population.

Publicly-subsidized schools are required to offer religious education during two teaching hours per week through high school. Parents may decide to have their children excused from religious education. Local school administrators decide how funds are spent on religious instruction. The majority of religious instruction in public schools is Catholic, although the Ministry of Education has approved curricula for 14 other religious groups. Schools must teach the religion requested by the parents. Parents may homeschool their children for religious reasons or enroll them in private schools.

Catholicism was the dominant religion in public schools, prisons, hospitals, and the military. Representatives from the National Office of Religious Affairs held regular roundtable meetings with Protestant leaders to discuss mechanisms to increase Protestant pastoral presence in these institutions. At an 03 June 2011 ceremony at the presidential palace, the minister of the Secretariat General of the Presidency presented an official notice to the Ministries of Defense, Education, Justice, and Health instructing each ministry to comply with previously established legal norms requiring access to pastoral and educational services for all religious groups. The celebration of Catholic Mass frequently marks official and public events. If the event is of a military nature, all members of participating units may be obliged to attend. Government officials attended Catholic events and also major Protestant and Jewish ceremonies.

Anthropologists of religion would be hard-pressed to find expressions of indigenous beliefs in the "popular" sectors of Chile - the masses of working-class, underemployed, and unemployed citizens. The principal exception to this is in the north, where various religious festivals honoring the Virgin Mary show bold traces of highland Andean indigenous beliefs. The most noted of these is "La Tirana," held each July in Iquique and the nearby village of La Tirana. In the rest of the country, Christian and indigenous religious syncretism has been largely confined to native American communities, where faiths in various animal and bird spirits coexist with beliefs of Christian origin. Popular religious beliefs focus to a large extent on the notion that there is a struggle between good and evil, the latter seen as a force personified by the devil. This perspective is much in line with Mapuche beliefs. Illnesses are often seen, like sin, as tied in some way to the devil's work. Catholic priests in poor parishes usually have had the experience of being called by their least educated parishioners to perform exorcisms, particularly of demons thought to be afflicting sick children, and many Pentecostal services focus on ridding body and soul of satanic influences and on faith healing. A belief in heaven and in the eternal horrors of hell is a fundamental ingredient of the popular religious imagery, with earthly life said to be a brief trial determining the soul's final destination. Much of the message of Pentecostal sermons revolves around these concepts, focusing on the weakness of the flesh and on the necessity of leading a life of constant preparation for eternal deliverance. In this respect, there is a puritan streak to the Pentecostal message that is reinforced through a liberal use of individual testimonies of repentance and conversion from members, of the congregation. Among Catholics, this element of popular religiosity is tied intimately to a belief in the intercession of saints and, most important, of the Virgin Mary. Intercession may be invoked on behalf of deceased family members who are remembered in prayers. The afterworld is heavily populated in popular religious imagery by errant souls atoning for their sins and seeking their final rest. Particularly in rural areas, it is common along roadsides to see niches carved into the sides of hills or shaped from clay the contain crosses, occasionally photographs, and candles. The niches are in the proximity of places where people met sudden, violent deaths, primarily from traffic accidents, without the benefit of last rites. The candles are lit mainly to plead for their souls but also in some cases to ask the deceased to intercede for those who light them. It is customary among the Chilean poor to believe that infants who die become little angels. Pilgrimages to Catholic churches that house special images of the Virgin or of saints and multitudinous processions in which these images are displayed are also part of the popular religious landscape. The faithful frequently offer penances in the hope of obtaining special favors. A central objective of Pentecostal services is to experience a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. The leader of the service tries to cleanse the congregation of devilish influences and to prepare the way for this manifestation. Between his or her invocations stressing the necessity and possibility of redemption from sin and anointments of the sick, the congregation joins in rhythmic but often lamentational singing, sometimes to the accompaniment of guitars and tambourines, and often supplemented by the clapping of hands. While singing, some of the women who attend will frequently begin to dance, swaying back and forth, and even to "speak in tongues." Sometimes the dancing will surround certain individuals who are chosen because they need special attention for some reason. Another common practice is for members of the congregation to pray individually in a loud voice. There were approximately 15,000 members of the Jewish community. There were various reports of anti-Semitic incidents during the year, such as acts of vandalism, verbal slurs, bomb threats, and online harassment. Authorities noted an increase in anti-Semitic comments made via social media during the year, including by several congressional deputies. Vandalism included desecration of Jewish community institutions, such as schools, synagogues, and cemeteries.

Neo-Nazi and skinhead groups engaged in gang-type criminal activities and violence against immigrants, homosexuals, punk rockers, and anarchists. Some skinhead groups shared the anti-Semitic rhetoric of neo-Nazi groups.

The interior minister, who is Jewish, was the target of several anti-Semitic remarks throughout the year. On August 11, the president of the College of Professors accused the minister of using “Zionist methods of apartheid” and “having some upbringing in some school of Israel.” After widespread condemnation, the College of Professors president apologized for the remarks. On December 21, following the interior minister’s condemnation of a Communist Party letter of condolence to North Korea for the death of Kim Jong Il, a deputy from the Communist Party stated via Twitter that the interior minister was “a Jew who acted like a Nazi.”