Non-Affiliated Believers and Atheists in the Very Secular Uruguay

Nestor Da Costa

doi:10.3390/rel11010050

Abstract

In recent years, literature in the field of religion has presented attempts to understand and characterize people who define themselves as believers but are not affiliated with any religious institution, along with those who define themselves as non-believers, or “nones”. Several quantitative studies covering this phenomenon in Latin America show clear disparities between the countries of the region. This article draws on a qualitative investigation into the way in which individuals relate to the transcendental, or live as non-believers, in the city of Montevideo, Uruguay. The objective of the article is to know and analyze those who define themselves as religiously unaffiliated. In doing so, the analysis takes into account the cultural framework of Uruguay—a country that moved the religion from the public to the private sphere a century ago, establishing a model similar to French secularism and unique within Latin America.

Highlights

Scholars of religious studies have taken note of two recurring phenomena: people who claim to believe in God or in transcendence, but have no affiliation to a religious institution, and a second group of non-believers or atheists
For the purposes of this article, the category of the “non-affiliated” includes those who express a belief in God and in transcendence, but without the mediation of any religious institution
Beyond the fact that some quantitative investigations use the “nones” category for Uruguay, there is a clear distinction between non-affiliated believers and atheists

Summary

Introduction

Scholars of religious studies have taken note of two recurring phenomena: people who claim to believe in God or in transcendence, but have no affiliation to a religious institution, and a second group of non-believers or atheists. The survey on Religion in Latin America by the Pew Forum on Religion (2014) shows that the percentages of these three categories vary greatly in the region, from Paraguay where all three represent 1% of the population, compared to Mexico (7%), Brazil (8%), and Argentina (11%). Uruguay is the country with the lion’s share of nones, with 37% of its population identifying with one of these three categories. Far from a homogeneous mass, the nones in Uruguay are divided as follows: 24% are believers without institutional affiliation, 10% are atheists, and 3% are agnostics (Pew Forum on Religion 2014). In terms of the 81% of Uruguayans who believe in God, 41% are Catholics and 15% are Protestants/Evangelicals

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