The Religious Landscape of Uruguay in the Third Millennium: Present Piety as a Product of the Past?

Author

Brandon KripleanFollow

Date of Award

Winter 12-15-2023

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Croft Institute for International Studies

First Advisor

Douglass Sullivan-González

Second Advisor

Enrique Cotelo

Third Advisor

Ian Gowan

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

Of all Latin American countries, Uruguay enjoys both the lowest percentage of Catholics and the highest percentage of religiously unaffiliated. The central aim of this thesis is to explore the extent to which historical secularization processes and laicidad are responsible for the low number of Catholics and the large number of religiously unaffiliated. With regards to the former, the historical evidence suggests that the small Catholic population is not a result of laicidad but is instead a product of internal issues within the Uruguayan Catholic Church. Part 1 of this thesis will explore the factors that have weakened the Uruguayan Church and explain that laicidad alone is not responsible for its declining numbers and relatively weak socio-political influence. However, the thesis will also show how the historical process of laicidad has conditioned some modern Uruguayans to view the Catholic Church in a negative light.

Part 2 of this thesis is concerned with how laicidad has shaped the belief systems of Uruguay’s religiously unaffiliated. Although 37% of the country identifies as religiously unaffiliated, this subset of the population is not completely irreligious. This subset exhibits a wide diversity of religious and spiritual expressions. Part 2 of this thesis highlights this diversity by analyzing the testimonies of religiously unaffiliated Uruguayans. The concluding argument of this thesis is that although laicidad has caused many religiously unaffiliated Uruguayans to have negative views of institutional religion, especially Catholicism, many of Uruguay’s unaffiliated still partake in spiritual practices and beliefs that belie the positivist and rationalist beliefs of laicidad’s greatest historical proponents.

Recommended Citation

Kriplean, Brandon, "The Religious Landscape of Uruguay in the Third Millennium: Present Piety as a Product of the Past?" (2023). Honors Theses. 3141.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/3141

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