Argentina - Religion

ARGENTINA - RELIGION

Argentina is predominantly Roman Catholic, with 2% of the population Protestant and another 2% of the population Jewish. Currently a steady rise of Evangelicals has occurred in recent decades, mainly due to the lower classes converting from Catholicism. Even though the total population of Jewish is 2%, Buenos Aires contains the second largest population of Jewish in the Americas next to New York. Argentina also has the largest population of Muslims in Latin America. Catholic practices incorporate a great deal of syncretism with religious festivals in the northwestern provinces featuring Catholic icons with ancient Andean pagan ceremonies.

Due to their cultural heritage in Argentina, 78% of Argentieneans claim to be Catholic. However despite this percentage, people for the most part are not regular church goers. Weddings, funerals, and most religious feasts are the most common reasons to attend church.

There has also been a recent decrease in perceived authority in the church throughout Argentina, however this has not lead to an increase in secularization. People believe for the most part that "there is no clear dividing line between good and evil", because "they depend completely on the circumstances." For the most part, attending church depends on ideological considerations, gender, age, education level, and status (i.e. generally women and older people attend more frequently, where as left-wing leaning people, more educated, and those of higher socio-economical status attend less often). Roughly 7% consider themselves secular or non-religious.