Religion in Bolivia

After the promulgation of the New Political Constitution of the State in March 2009, Bolivia became a non-denominational or secular state. Under Article No. 4, it privileges all religious beliefs and dogmas.

Article 4. The State respects and guarantees freedom of religion and spiritual belief, in accordance with its cosmovisions. The State is independent of religion.

There are 280 non-Catholic religious organizations and more than 200 government-registered Catholic groups.

Mennonites, Lutherans, Adventists, Baptists, Pentecostals, Methodists, Mormons, etc., maintain an active foreign missionary presence.

History

Pre-Columbian religions

Within the current Bolivian territory, various Native American religions of each of the indigenous peoples converged, each with a different cosmology and worldview. For the Aymara indigenous people, their polytheistic religiosity was deeply connected to the elements of nature, where they worshiped the gods or "guardian" spirits of the mountains such as Mallku and the achachilas, Pachamama, who represents Mother Earth and to the Amaru, the waters.

Colonial Bolivia

With the arrival of the Spanish conquerors in Bolivian territory, the process of Catholic evangelization began at the same time, having been the only official religion of the Spanish Empire. Some of the clearest examples of the evangelization of indigenous people by the Catholic Church occurred in the Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos, the Jesuit Missions of Moxos, and the Franciscan Missions of Apolobamba. Several of the missions that were founded during the colonial era exist today as towns and villages.

Christianity

Catholicism

Christ of Concord, in Cochabamba.

There is freedom of worship, with the Catholic religion being the majority and most influential religion in the country of Bolivia.

The Catholic Church has four Archdioceses in Bolivia, seven Dioceses, two Prelatures and five Apostolic Vicariates. Among the most important religious events of the last decades, it is worth mentioning the visit of John Paul II in 1988 and the appointment as cardinal of Monsignor Julio Terrazas, Archbishop of Santa Cruz.

It is worth mentioning the custom of naming a saint as patron of the city, country or town, for which an annual festival is celebrated on the corresponding holiday. Bolivia has the Virgen del Carmen as its patron saint and her feast day is July 16, and Sucre has the Virgin of Guadalupe as its patron saint whose feast day is September 8.

Native religions

Map of dioceses and archdiocese of Bolivia.

Ekeko, deity of Aymara origin. Alasitas Fair, La Paz.

The religions of the original peoples are generally pantheistic and holistic religions whose ways of seeing or rationality of the notions or concepts of time-space (Andean Cosmovision) are totally different from the monotheistic religions of Judeo-Christian origin, brought by the Spanish conquerors and later, by other migratory groups from Europe, who imposed the Catholic religion on the natives of America. With the arrival of enslaved people from sub-Saharan Africa, their customs are also preserved, although all this has been mixed together with Christianity, with a mixture of cultures and thoughts between European and indigenous.

This miscegenation is what has been called syncretism, since the names of the "saints" Catholics have been replacing the names of the original indigenous deities; Thus we have, for example, that Pachamama (literally Mother Earth, Goddess of the earth and the fertility of the fields) ended up associated with the image of the Virgin Mary, to whom on carnival dates an offering consisting of a "table" (composed of colored or white wool, sweets in the shape of the objects that you want to have and in which you want to prosper the person and the llama fetus). Concrete examples of syncretism are the cults to Pachamama combined with the adoration of the Virgin of Copacabana, the Virgin of Urkupiña, the Virgin of Socavón or the Lord Jesus of Great Power. The ritual of sacrificing an animal to sprinkle the earth "hungry and thirsty" with its blood is also maintained. to make it more fertile during the year. A good part of the indigenous population practices various religions with syncretic or complementary elements with Catholicism from Cosmovisions and Ancestral Traditions.

Likewise, there are Aymara regions to the south of Lake Titicaca that maintain a strong devotion to the Tata Apóstol Santiago that is combined with ancestral traditions. Other indigenous deities are: Ekeko, the Aymara god of abundance whose festival is celebrated in a general way on January 24 at the Alasitas Fair, and Tupá, the prestigious god of the Guarani people.

These traditions have remained almost unchanged from colonization to the present day. Until recently, the Evangelical religion began to break with these rites and syncretisms, however, some surveys show that since Evo Morales took power, the revaluation of Aymara spirituality has grown and the number of Evangelical faithful has not increased significantly.

The Catholic Church has been weakened in some rural indigenous populations in the West because it does not have sufficient financial resources to expand. Thus, efforts to replace indigenous spiritual traditions with Catholic practices have been unsuccessful. In many of these towns, Protestant Christian churches have gained ground over Catholicism. For their part, the indigenous peoples of the east such as the Chiquitos and the Moxos maintain strong links with Catholicism as a result of the cultural miscegenation inherited from the Jesuit missions of the 17th century.

On the other hand, some indigenous leaders have sought to banish all forms of Christianity from their communities to vindicate their ancestral beliefs. In 2009, by Supreme Decree, it was decided to recognize the celebration of the Aymara New Year or Wilka Kuti (return of the sun), a festival that celebrates the beginning of a new solar cycle with the arrival of the winter solstice. This celebration takes place in the ruins of the Tiwanaku complex.

In its 2010 publication, Datosmacro classified native religions, relatively free of syncretism, in the category of animism, with an estimate of 1.58%. In 2020, the Latinobarómetro survey resulted in the existence of 3.3% of the total population of Bolivia in the category of "other religions," of which at least 3.1% belonged to native or animist religions. By the year 2022, based on the Diagnosis company survey, it can be established that close to 8% of the population practices native religions.

Other religions

Representation of Pachamama (deity worshiped in the Andean world in syncretism with the Virgin Mary) in the cosmology according to John of Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamayhua (1613), according to an image in the Temple of the Sun Qurikancha in Cusco.

Mormon Temple, Cochabamba.

Until recently there was a sustained growth of Protestants, known as Christians or Evangelicals and Unitarian Universalists. However, there existed and continue to exist, religions of the original peoples both in the Andean and Amazonian parts of Bolivia.

On the other hand, there is an important community of the Bahá'í Faith, in addition to practitioners of religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism, among Buddhist groups in the country there are practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism such as Sakya Rinchen Ling, of Theravada Buddhism there is the institution known as Vipassana. In the case of Hinduism, there are 3 different groups of the Hare Krishna movement with activities in La Paz and Cochabamba.

However, in recent years there has been an appreciable return to the religious practices of Andean peoples such as the Aymara due to the rise to power of Evo Morales and his indigenous model. On the other hand, in 2008 Gallup conducted a poll asking "Is religion important in your life?". 12% of Bolivians answered "No"". This shows a significant growth of people without religion in Bolivia.

A survey, carried out between March 29 and 30, 2014, by Captura Consulting in 800 households in the 4 most populated cities in Bolivia (La Paz, El Alto, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz) that cover almost a third of the population of the country, gave the following result:

In the city of La Paz the result of the survey was as follows:

Other estimates on beliefs in Bolivia are:

• Mormons: are present throughout the country. Sources of the Mormon Church estimated that the number of members was 212,148 people before 2010. However, the 2020 Latin Barometer survey indicates that it is 0.6% of the population, about 70,000 practitioners.
• Jehovah's Witnesses: They are spread throughout the country. An earlier estimate indicated that there were more than 10,000 active ministers and more than 65,000 people attended their religious services. The 2020 Latin Barometer survey indicates that it is 0.4% of the country's population, approximately 47,000 practitioners.
• Jewish Community: it is mainly concentrated in the cities of La Paz, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz de la Sierra, with a smaller presence in other localities of the country. The community has synagogues in the three cities mentioned and has approximately 500 members throughout the country, making it one of the smallest Jewish communities in South America. Most of the Bolivian Jews are ascenazí. In addition, unlike other religious groups in Bolivia, the Jewish community is decreasing year by year, due to its ageing and high rate of emigration.
• Islamic Community: It has cultural centers that also serve as mosques in La Paz, Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Cochabamba. These cultural centers welcome both Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
• Asian Community: Korean immigrants establish their church in La Paz. Most Korean, Chinese and Japanese immigrants have been established in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, where there is a university, founded by Korean immigrants from the Moon sect, with presbyteric evangelical ties.
• Other religious communities: Buddhists and symptoists, as well as an important Baha ' i community throughout the country. The proportion of Buddhists was 0.04%, around 4,000 practitioners, in 2010.
• Wicca: a relatively new religion in Bolivia, but of rapid growth, especially among young people, which instills respect for all living beings.
• Without religion: the poller Diagnosis recorded that about 13% of the population belongs to this community of non-affiliates in the year 2022, about 1,300,000 people.