When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Sources

Nothing Can Stop The Spread Of Latin American Atheism

Not even the first Latin American Pope! Studies show fewer Catholics in Latin America, and more people identifying as atheist or secular. Now non-believers are fighting for a true separation of church of state.

She is her own woman.
She is her own woman.
Víctor Herrero

-Analysis-

SANTIAGO The specter of atheism is haunting this most Christian of regions, Latin America. From Mexico to Argentina, dozens of voices and groups of freethinkers, atheists and agnostics are demanding to be heard and calling for more secular structures in their countries.

Most don't seek to convert the religious but instead to ensure that their own rights are respected in countries where separation of church and state isn't often a flimsy legal concept.

These activists want "respect for diversity," says Argentine engineer Fernando Esteban Lozada, Latin America spokesman for the International Association of Free Thought.

Four years ago, Lozada, who has organized four annual national atheism congresses in Argentina, took legal action against the Jesuit-run El Salvador University, or USAL, in Buenos Aires, for discrimination "based on religion." USAL's charter calls for a "struggle against atheism." It was drafted in 1974 by the country's then-ranking Jesuit Jorge Bergoglio, now known as Pope Francis.

Argentina's National Institute Against Discrimination (INADI), which is part of the Justice Ministry, ruled in Lozada's favor, though USAL has yet to eliminate the contested principle. Discrimination in education, traditionally a bastion of Latin America's Catholic Church, is a chief concern for atheists and agnostics. In Chile, almost half of Catholic schools require baptism certificates of prospective students and parents' church wedding certificates for admission — and these are not private schools, but institutions receiving state subsidies.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet's socialist government is expected to reform this system — against Church opposition. Meanwhile, the Chile Atheist Society has published its list of truly secular schools for the spring term that begins in March.

Author and political analyst Cristóbal Bellolio says it is "important to have an organized and visible atheist community paying attention to the debate." He says that, until recently, television channels never invited dissenting non-religious voices to debates on morality or religion, based on the opinion that "only the representatives of churches are valid speakers."

While most Latin American countries implemented the separation of church and state decades ago, public rituals that irritate non-believers persist in some. In Peru and Chile, mass is celebrated at national festivities.

These are presided over by the archbishops of Lima and Santiago, and attended by state dignitaries. And many government buildings are still decorated for Christmas.

Leaning toward Uruguay

There are currently 60 million Latin Americans who identify as atheist or agnostic, according to a November 2014 Pew Research Center poll. That's 8% of all Latin Americans, though non-believers are more numerous in some countries in percentage terms: 11% in Argentina, 16% in Chile, 18% in the Dominican Republic, and 37% in the continent's most secular country, Uruguay.

Other studies — in Chile, for example — suggest growing numbers of non-believers and shrinking numbers of Catholics.

Indeed, the declining number of Catholics is one factor that has helped non-believer growth in the past 15 years. In 1970, 92% of Latin Americans identified as Catholic. Pew's poll shows this has fallen to 69%. While people may have been less honest in their declarations in 1970, the scandals of recent years, namely over child abuse and corruption in the Church, have no doubt driver some former Catholics to Protestant denominations or away from religion altogether.

Fear is certainly a factor in declarations of faith: A Gallup poll has shown that 5% of Saudi Arabians said they were atheist or agnostic, but could not say so in public. At the other extreme, in a liberal setting such as Sweden, official religion has been declining for decades now.

Holding on to his bible. Photo: Sociedad Atea Chile

The website adherents.com, which gathers global statistics on religion, currently counts all Christians at 2.1 billion or just over a third of the world's population. They are followed by Muslims, numbering 1.5 billion, then atheists and non-believers, numbering 1.1 billion, or 16% of the world's population. These are then followed by Hindus and Buddhists.

In 2011, Northwestern University scientists developed a mathematical "forecast" of religious tendencies in coming decades. The result of the study, "Modeling the Decline of Religious Affiliation," showed that those describing themselves as non-religious were the fastest-growing minority. The study concluded that religion could disappear in societies where it was perceived as not useful enough.

A changing Francis?

Atheists can be perceived as immoral, or even wicked. "They call us satanical and see us as amoral people," Mónica Moreno Rubio, an organizer of the First Atheist Congress in Mexico, told a local agency.

Most non-believers base their ideas on universal humanism and empirical scientific methods, and associations around the world have begun campaigns to clarify some of their positions.

"Don't worry for those of us who are good without believing in god," the Mexican Atheists Association slogan goes. "Worry for those who need to believe in god to be good."

Studies on atheists around the world show that they are on average more educated, more tolerant and more liberal — and surprisingly, know more about religion than the average believer. That could partly explain Latin America's growing atheist movement.

"I have the impression we are waking from a state of lethargy in matters like abortion, same-sex marriage and religious influence in schools," Bellolio says.

Many Catholics hope perhaps that the Argentine Pope's enormous popularity will reverse the flight of believers. Yet a good image appears not to sway non-believers. "I don't think Francis is enough to revert the decline of Catholicism in Latin America, but it could stop the bleeding," Bellolio says.

Lozada says, "Bergoglio shed his skin to return as Francis, leaving behind his sins, his violence, intolerance and explicit authoritarian character." He recalls a speech the now-Pope gave as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, on USAL's 20th anniversary. "Fighting atheism is to fight the negation of all transcendence, and affirm the presence in our history of the Living, the only Living One," he said then. "Fighting atheism in its various forms is to affirm transcendence."

Lozada admits the Pope is good with the media, but thinks his effect will pass. "At the end of the day, the Church's doctrine remains the same and is against all that has been won in human rights."

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Green

Forest Networks? Revisiting The Science Of Trees And Funghi "Reaching Out"

A compelling story about how forest fungal networks communicate has garnered much public interest. Is any of it true?

Thomas Brail films the roots of a cut tree with his smartphone.

Arborist and conservationist Thomas Brail at a clearcutting near his hometown of Mazamet in the Tarn, France.

Melanie Jones, Jason Hoeksema, & Justine Karst

Over the past few years, a fascinating narrative about forests and fungi has captured the public imagination. It holds that the roots of neighboring trees can be connected by fungal filaments, forming massive underground networks that can span entire forests — a so-called wood-wide web. Through this web, the story goes, trees share carbon, water, and other nutrients, and even send chemical warnings of dangers such as insect attacks. The narrative — recounted in books, podcasts, TV series, documentaries, and news articles — has prompted some experts to rethink not only forest management but the relationships between self-interest and altruism in human society.

But is any of it true?

The three of us have studied forest fungi for our whole careers, and even we were surprised by some of the more extraordinary claims surfacing in the media about the wood-wide web. Thinking we had missed something, we thoroughly reviewed 26 field studies, including several of our own, that looked at the role fungal networks play in resource transfer in forests. What we found shows how easily confirmation bias, unchecked claims, and credulous news reporting can, over time, distort research findings beyond recognition. It should serve as a cautionary tale for scientists and journalists alike.

First, let’s be clear: Fungi do grow inside and on tree roots, forming a symbiosis called a mycorrhiza, or fungus-root. Mycorrhizae are essential for the normal growth of trees. Among other things, the fungi can take up from the soil, and transfer to the tree, nutrients that roots could not otherwise access. In return, fungi receive from the roots sugars they need to grow.

As fungal filaments spread out through forest soil, they will often, at least temporarily, physically connect the roots of two neighboring trees. The resulting system of interconnected tree roots is called a common mycorrhizal network, or CMN.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch

The latest