Religion in Honduras

February 22, 2011
Religion


Religion is everywhere is Honduras; a lot of times it is one of the first questions that people ask you. Are you Catholic or Evangelical? Every town has at least one big church, and most of them have at least two churches, although the second one is smaller, but still usually “packed to the brimstones” as we say back home. It reminds me a lot of growing up in the South, where you would drive down the street and there would be more churches than houses sometimes.



Lago Yojoa

 Although most Hondurans are nominally Roman Catholic, according to one report (from Wikipedia), membership in the Roman Catholic Church is declining while membership in Protestant churches is increasing. The International Religious Freedom Report, 2008, notes that a CID Gallup poll reported that 47% of the population identified themselves as Catholic, 36% as evangelical Protestant, and 17% provided no answer or considered themselves "other," (although, I have yet to find these “OTHERS” that they talk about). The CIA Factbook has Honduras listed as 97% Catholic and 3% Protestant. Still, in Honduras you can occasionally find Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Seventh-day Adventist, Lutheran, Mormon and Pentecostal churches, although not in my town.



Discussing religion at REF

 Religion is a really hot topic in Honduras since everyone wants to know “what” you are and “where” you practice it. Many volunteers use religion as a way to integrate into their sites, meet people, and learn Spanish. I have been thinking about doing this recently; however, the Catholic and Evangelical churches are right across the street from one another and I don’t want to alienate any counterparts or people in my town. I got pressure to go to church when I first moved to town from my host mom and a counterpart, whose husband is the priest of the Evangelical church. Peace Corps had prepared many of us for this, who either:

1. Do not practice Catholicism or are Evangelical

2. Are “Spiritual” but not “religious”

3. Are agnostic or aethiest

4. Practice other religions altogether



Enjoying the waterfall

 Although I grew up going to church, summer church camp, vacation bible school and was baptized at a young age, I now find myself in the “spiritual, but not religious” category. I am totally fine being this way and know that most of my friends consider themselves the same way. So, when I first tried to tell my host mom this and that I find myself practicing “yoga” instead of going to church…that I find spirituality a much higher power than “going to church” she did not seem to understand me and kept repeating “But, what church do you go to? What religion are you?” I eventually gave up and told her I was Baptist, to which she sneered, made a funny face and in a not-so-caring tone replied “Oh, Baptist.” It was received the same way from my counterpart, who then told me that I could come to her church anytime I “felt the need.” I haven’t yet felt the need and seem to be doing fine in my spirituality here in Honduras. I know a lot of other volunteers feel the same way and don’t like the pressure that such a religious filled country can put on a volunteer. That’s why I was so happy that there was a support group called REF (Religious Equality Freedom) for us to meet, talk about things, and enjoy each others company.

We have two get-togethers a year and this past weekend was one of them. We joined up at Lago Yohoa, a lake in Central Honduras, about 16 kilometers long and 8 kilometers wide. It is also home to a Pulhapanzak Falls, 43 meters high, which we hiked around and held our small group discussions, including how it felt to be Jewish in Honduras (there are only about 100 Jews in Honduras) and if our spirituality affected our decision to be a Peace Corps Volunteer. There were great discussions all around and I was so happy to be able to talk to other volunteers and see that we are all going through the same situations.

At night we stayed at D&D Brewery, home of the only brewery in Honduras. It is owned by a guy named Bob, a former military man stationed in Honduras, who now spends his days brewing up ales and porters to make gringos happy as they paddle boats and watch birds around the lake. We took the opportunity to go ziplining, which you can watch here (I am the second one coming across). What an awesome experience!



Coming in from my crash landing!!!