Guatemala
Religious beliefs in Guatemala
Freedom of religion is guaranteed under the Constitution of Guatemala. This freedom has allowed the proliferation of many religions and a free expression of indigenous religious practices among the people, particularly in the villages. But the country, being historically and overwhelmingly Catholic, has recognized Roman Catholicism as a legal personality of the Catholic Church and as its predominant religion. Statistics show that 50% to 60% of the 14 million populations are Roman Catholics, with some of the inhabitants combining Catholic beliefs with Mayan rites which are sometimes performed openly, giving rise to the Mayan-Catholic fusion religion between some Catholic and Mayan adherents. This takes place even as the indigenous religious practices of the Mayans are at times subjected to discrimination by the so-called Westernized Mayans who have a mixture of European ancestry.
Protestantism is the country’s second largest religion with followers estimated at 35% of the population from only 500,000 adherents in 1980. Its three large denominations are the Assembly of God, Church of God of the Complete Gospel, and the Prince of Peace Church. The other religious denominations which are said to comprise 5% of the people are the Presbyterians, Baptists, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Church of Christ of the Latter Day Saints, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Some of the minority religious groups are those of the Jews, Muslims, and the followers of the Indian spiritual leader Sri Sathya Sai Proba.
Catholic and Protestant churches are built throughout the country and their adherents are distributed among all major ethnic groups and political parties. A political party called Guatemala Republic Group (FRG) has a big number of Protestants as its members, starting from the time when it won the Presidency of the country and a majority of members of Congress in the 1999 elections.
