Religious Left Praying for Radical Hispanics

The Center for American Progress (CAP) hosted “The Moral Complexity of a Diverse Latino Community” to investigate the religious and political convictions of the rising Hispanic demographic. CAP and other liberal groups worry about a socially conservative U.S. Latino population gaining greater political power, especially after 2050, when whites are projected to end as the majority of the population.

CAP’s August 11 talk included Arizona United Methodist Bishop Minerva Carcano, statistician Robert P. Jones of the Public Religion Research Institute, Jesuit sociologist Joseph Palacios of Georgetown University, and abortion rights activist Silvia Henriquez of Conway Strategic. Together, they plotted how to dislodge Latino Christians from traditional moral teachings.

CAP’s Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative director Sally Steenland encouraged “challenging the monolithic generalities of the Latino community,” especially regarding LGBT and pro-life issues. She questioned the assumption of a religious and traditional Hispanic culture by conservatives who enjoy “calling ‘moral complexities’ sin” and who have “hijacked” the conversation.

Jones followed with statistics showing Catholicism dropped in second and third generation Hispanics, with an increase in evangelical Protestantism. Succeeding generations showed some relaxed attitudes toward marriage issues yet remained rather firm on abortion. One trend made the experts absolutely giddy: Latinos are more likely to hold to “contextual morality,” rejecting hard absolutes for right and wrong. Even with the recent generations, however, most Latinos are still social conservatives except on immigration issues.

Bishop Carcano noted: “Those figures don’t represent the group I represent…You shouldn’t mix mainlines with Baptist and charismatic congregations.”  A leading liberal opponent of her own United Methodist Church’s traditional stance on marriage and sex, Carcano presides over the fast declining and nearly all Anglo-white Desert Southwest Conference of her denomination.  She cited Hispanics who “are moving away from these [faith] communities…looking to other journeys of faith.” Carcano happily noted that many are leaving the church to become Muslims and Buddhists. And she lamented, “Latinos have been dependent on whites” for reproductive issues, but observed, “There’s a small but growing movement towards LGBT inclusivity.” Carcano has little patience for Hispanic Methodists who oppose homosexual causes “because [accepting LGBT behavior as policy] would damage our relations with families in Latin America.” For Carcano, these traditional roots need to be jettisoned. She rejoiced: “Latino youth are much more progressive. I can’t wait to see where we’ll be in 2050.” Carcano looked forward to a time when denominations would pursue ecumenicism based on “real issues” of social importance, not theology.

Palacios echoed Carcano: “The trend has been that Latino Catholics are becoming more progressive on LGBT rights…but still conservative on reproductive rights.” He sourced Catholicism’s spiritual habits, which focus more on a sacramental lifecycle rather than on “cognitive doctrine.” Family cohesiveness actually helps make abortion a non-issue; unwed mothers have relatives willing to support the rearing of a child. For American Hispanics, though, single-parent households are increasing. Because of this statistic, Palacios quickly dismissed what many consider a key issue: “We can’t talk about the traditional family. That issue is out the door.”  He admitted discouraging abortion is “where the church has been successful” because it is an overriding Catholic social issue. “We need to reconsider this hierarchy of values,” Bishop Carcano chimed in, “It’s about justice all the way across.” Palacios complained, “Bishops don’t know the statistics [on abortion and birth control] or won’t entertain them.” He was baffled that the bishops could be reactionaries, that they would resist liberalizing cultural trends on the basis of absolutes and traditional Christian teaching.

With regret, Palacios saw the “gay issue” and the pro-life stance determining much of Catholicism’s social witness. These stances pull from natural law anthropology, which Palacios described as a “convoluted new logic that hearkens back to natural law,” originating “when the church condoned slavery.” Carcano inserted her opinion again to say, “Scripture is very clear—all are made in the image and likeness of God” to be loved and accepted by the church. Palacios agreed: “Love supersedes this cognitive doctrine that is coming down [from the church hierarchy].”

Joining the consensus, Enriquez espoused a pro-choice ideology. She preferred women ignore church teaching against abortion and contraception. “Once you see the personal side of it…it’s not a moral issue. It’s a personal decision issue.” Enriquez, a non-practicing Catholic, admitted, “We’ve been afraid to engage church leaders on this issue.” With a tone of worry, she remarked, “The evangelical church is highly organized. They [pro-life evangelical clergy] used their pews for organizing.” Palacio joined in the evangelical bashing, saying that this religious tradition is “part of the political theatrics” of every election season. Enriquez hoped to find a way to achieve grassroots effectiveness to counter church-based convictions.

Oddly, the CAP talk did not include any Latino evangelicals or traditional Catholics who might have explained those communities. CAP is headed by former Bill Clinton aide John Podesta and has been funded by philanthropist George Soros. With a powerful Latino voting bloc in the making, the religious left has its eyes fixed on this growing traditional community.

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