Becoming the Red Bishop of Cuernavaca: Rethinking Gill's Religious Competition Model

Abstract

Many explanations for the rise of progressive Catholicism in Latin America draw on internal and external factors. Gill (1994, 1998) breaks with this trend arguing that competition from Protestantism is key. After providing some methodological criticisms of Gill's work, the case of Cuernavaca, Mexico under the so-called Red Bishop Sergio Mendez Arceo is presented. This case suggests that competition from Protestantism played little or no role in his radicalization; rather, other factors (the Second Vatican Council and a radical worker's movement, among others) explain his transformation. In addition, it is suggested that for this case Gill's causal arrow should be reversed: Protestantism did not lead to the bishop's radicalization; rather his radicalization facilitated the growth of non-Catholic churches. The concluding section relates this study to recent research on religious pluralism and religious participation suggesting that for Gill's model religions pluralism is not a good indication of religious competition.