A deeply Catholic country...
Colombia is one of the most Catholic countries in the world. There is no official census regarding the religion of Colombians, and the figures are quite variable, but most studies indicate that between 75% and 80% of Colombians are Catholic. There are many churches or prayerrooms (salas de oración) everywhere (airports, shopping malls, etc.), while rosaries and other devotional objects are everywhere, in cars, houses, or on stands in tourist markets. The majority of Colombians are baptized and many go to mass, at least on Sundays. The place given to God is omnipresent in daily life. Don't be surprised to see your bus driver making the sign of the cross at the beginning of the trip and every time he passes a church, or to hear expressions such as Gracias a Dios (Thanks be to God), Si Dios quiere (If God wills), Qué Dios me perdone (May God forgive me), Qué la Virgen te acompañe (May the Virgin accompany you), Qué Dios te bendiga y la Virgen te cuide (May God bless you and the Virgin protect you), etc. Traditional religious holidays, such as Easter and Holy Week, are always in focus and most of these days are public holidays. The Holy Week celebrations are the object of long processions in some cities, such as Popayan, Mompox, Tunja, Pasto and Pamplona. Earlier in the year, during Ash Wednesday(miércoles de Ceniza), which marks the beginning of Lent, forty days before Easter, many Colombians draw a cross on their foreheads with ashes before going to work. Of course, the Ascension of Christ and the Assumption of the Virgin Mary are also celebrated, as well as Corpus Christi, 60 days after Resurrection Sunday, and the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul (San Pedro y San Pablo), between June and July. Our Lady of Chiquinquirá is the patron saint of Colombia and all the cities have their own patron saint, such as the Virgen de la Candelaria (Our Lady of Candelaria) in Cartagena and Medellín, San Francisco (St. Francis of Assisi) in Quibdo, Santiago Apóstol (St. James) in Cali, etc. On December 8, the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary is celebrated. These events begin the night before. During this Día de la velitas (day of the little candles), which lasts until late at night, people light candles in front of their homes to celebrate the beginning of the Nativity celebrations. From December 16 to 24 is the Novena de Aguinaldos (or novena to the Child Jesus): during the nine days before Christmas, friends and families gather in each other's homes every night to read and sing carols. These celebrations, which are only held in Colombia (and in certain regions of Venezuela and Ecuador), are sometimes very drunk and people quickly move to the rhythms of cumbias or to the latest reggaeton hits (with "not very Catholic" lyrics!).
Which does not prevent a great religious diversity
Catholicism is predominant, but other religions have found their place in Colombia. There are Protestants, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, animists... The coexistence between religious groups is rather good and tolerance is encouraged by the 1991 Constitution which recognizes the freedom of worship.
People of Protestant faith are more and more numerous. They represent around 13% of Colombians, but the figures vary between 12% and 35% depending on the study. The first Protestants to arrive in Colombia were English soldiers who came to support the Colombian rebels in their struggle for independence in the early 19th century. Pastors of the Presbyterian Church arrived a few years later. They were followed in the first half of the 20th century by Baptist, Mennonite and Evangelical missionaries. In the 1960s, more fundamentalist and proselytizing movements arrived from the United States: Pentecostals, Adventists, Jehova's Witnesses, Mormons... In recent decades, the neo-Pentecostal and evangelical churches have grown significantly, especially in working-class areas and in certain regions, such as the Caribbean coast. This is the case, for example, of the Council of the Assemblies of God in Colombia, which has an estimated 1,200 churches throughout the country and approximately 360,000 members. These new churches, with their enormous financial resources, seem to have an easier time responding to the urgent expectations of the population, especially the poorest, who are no longer satisfied with an Si Dios quiere ("if God wills") but are looking for concrete solutions to their existential problems. Multi-millionaire pastors know how to ignite the crowds gathered in their mega-churches. And there is no need to enter these ostentatious mega-churches : on public transport, for example, it is not uncommon to see preachers inviting other passengers to listen to the word of God and to join their saving church...
Syncretism. Most Indigenous and Afro-Colombians identify themselves as Catholics or Protestants. But in rural communities, the practice of Christianity is often combined with ancestral rites. At the time of colonization, the Amerindian and African slaves were forced into the Catholic religion. To convince them to save their souls, when brutality and threats were not enough, the missionaries had to accept the presence of traditional rites in the practice of the Christian faith. For the slaves, this was a matter of survival, a form of resistance. The integration of white religion into traditional ceremonies was facilitated by the fact that Jesus Christ and especially the Virgin Mary were presented as supernatural beings at the origin of the universe or of life. They were thus associated with other indigenous creative deities, the soul of Mother Earth, or the spirit of animals or ancestors. This religious syncretism has survived the centuries and ancestral practices still accompany the worship of monotheistic religions in certain communities.
Judaism and Islam have a few thousand members (around 5,000 and 15,000 respectively), especially in the north of the country, particularly in Barranquilla, where Near Eastern communities have been established since the end of the 19th century. In Maicao, in Guajira, the Omar Ibn-al-Khattâb mosque is the second largest mosque in Latin America.
There are also many Hindus, mostly from the Hare Krishna movement, who often run vegetarian restaurants and yoga centers, and a few Buddhists in the larger cities. To conclude this panorama, it should be noted that more and more Colombians, especially young people, declare themselves to be believers, but do not identify with a particular religion. Agnostics and atheists represent about 5% of the population.
The weight of religion in political life
From the time of independence in the early nineteenth century, the separation of church and state was a contentious issue among the ruling Creole elite. The bolivaristas (supporters of the ideas of Simón Bolívar, who later formed the Colombian Conservative Party) wanted to maintain a Catholic state, delegating important powers to the church, including school education. The Santanderistas (supporters of the ideas of Francisco de Paula Santander, who later formed the Liberal Party) advocated a secular state. These differences (among others) between conservatives and liberals gave rise to several civil wars, including the terrible period of La Violencia (1946-1958). In 1991, a new constitution was adopted. Much more progressive, it replaced the 1886 constitution, which had established Catholicism as the state religion. Colombia officially became a secular state. But in practice, religion still plays a major role in political life. The Catholic Church remains influential in the upper echelons of power. Traditionally conservative in Colombia, the Catholic Church has been a regular voice in societal debates, such as issues around the role of the family, abortion and the rights of LGBTI people. But it has also promoted dialogue and mediated the release of hostages, as well as peace talks between the state and the guerrillas. The visit of Pope Francis in September 2017, was interpreted as a support of the policy of Juan Manuel Santos, a year after the signing of peace agreements with FARC. For the occasion the government and the still active ELN guerrilla had even signed a temporary 100-day ceasefire, the first in 53 years of armed struggle. More recently, part of the Church has denounced police violence in the large demonstrations of 2019 and 2021, while another, more conservative part has supported the repression against demonstrators described as "terrorists". Politicians, for their part, like to use religious language and Christian morality to rally the population to their cause. This was the case, for example, during the Covid-19 crisis, when President Ivan Duque and Vice President Martha Lucía Ramírez publicly implored the help of Our Lady of Fatima and Our Lady of Chiquinquirá. But the Catholic Church is not the only one to influence public life. Some Pentecostal and evangelical movements have even created ultra-conservative political parties that are regularly courted by the hard right.
