LAST UPDATE: 12JUN2005

  AMERICA ________________________________________________________________________________________________
 

  CANADA

    - 30.000.000 inhab.
    - Usual statistics range: 45-46% Catholic, 26-28-38% Protestant, 1.2% Jewish, 0.4% Muslim, 0.3% Hinduist.
    - Data: In census of 1991, 12% Atheist or Agnostic, 0.6% Buddhist, 0.6% Hinduist, 0.9% Muslim, 1.2% Jewish,
      0.5% Sikh, 83% Christian. In calculus of church assistance, 10% weekly, but a 21% says to do it. In poll appears:
      a 80% believing in god and in the divinity of Jesus too, item percentage believing in his/her religion as important to
      oneself, but is the 66% that believes in the resurrection of Christ; the 33% prays diary, and near to the 55% reads
      the Bible (The Peterborough Examiner 18/12/93). In the book "Fragmented Gods":  83% believes in some type of
      divinity, but some more of the half neither believes it like a personal entity, nor helper, nor demanding (=43% +/-).
      Survey of Queen in 1996: God is an unnecessary superstition; disagree or very disagree with this affirmation, 24.5%
      + 51%, and a 21.5% agree. If someone says that Jesus was not the divine son of God, we will find with a 50%
      disagree, a 22% very disagree, and a 18.5% a favour of the phrase. The Bible is the inspired book by God; 31%
      answered to be agree, and very agree the 35%; but if the phrase is that is necessary to read the Bible literally, those
      that were agree were the 16%, and those that were very agree the 13.5%. In self identification: 69% Christian, 1%
      Jew, 1.2% other religions, 3% Agnostic, 3% Atheist, 16% none, 6.5% other answer.
      By the Montreal Gazette in Saturday 23 December 2000: "Put children first: In the past three years, the number of
      reports of mistreatment of Quebec youngsters that authorities investigated and decided were founded rose 22 per cent.
      Last year, nearly 100,000 children were helped by child-protection authorities. Clearly, children's misery increased in
      Quebec. There seemed to be more, not fewer, parents who were violent, incompetent, ill, drug-addicted or alcoholic. [...]".
      Ipsos' Canadian branch found in july 2003 that a 64% believe in God (plus a 14% that believes but sometimes doubts),
      a 11% is not sure of its existence, and a 10% states that there is not God (among them otherwise one in five believe in
      the immortality of his soul...). After the death, people thinks that there is Heaven without any Hell (8%), or Hell or Heaven
      (21%), or that there is an existence without neither Heaven nor Hell (26%), or there is reincarnation (7%, but there is a 22%
      believing in regressions or that it is possible to know about past lives...), or there is nothing (11%), or people does not know
      what happens (25%). About the question if God punishes persons by means of AIDS, earthquakes, etc., only a 13% agreed
      with that. The self religious identification was: 36% Catholics, 10% "Christian", 8% Anglican, 16% other Protestant (as total
      Christian = 70%), 1% Muslim, 1% Buddhist, 1% Jew, 7% other religion, 18% none. There was a 23% of respondents
      that attended religious services weekly, 9% monthly.
    - Abortions: 15.5 / Ratio: 22% [Remember, ratio means the number of abortions in each 100 known pregnancies, a way
      to find out better the number of those that end with the lives of their babes, because the first cipher can lead us to
      bad conclusions for countries with a low cipher but also with a low birth rate, or also a high cipher where there are many
      births (compare USA with Colombia)].
    - New statistic: 9% Atheist, 9% Agnostic, 3.5% Others, 20% Deist, 9% New Age and a 5% Pseudoatheist (computing the
      ISSP98) !, a 14% Neodoukhobor, 6% Pseudochristianism or not orthodox believers (computing again the ISSP98),
      10% Protestant + 15% Catholic.
    - New statistic 2004: 8% Atheist, 11% Agnostic, 3% Others, 19% Deist, 2% Pseudoatheist, a 19% Neodoukhobor,
      19% Pseudochristianism or not orthodox believers, 10% Protestant + 10% Catholic.
      SPECIAL QUEBEC: The newspaper Le Devoir (8.10.99) does a comment about a survey among the quebecoise
      population carried out by the University Laval and edited in the book Croyances et incroyances au Québec (Fides, 1999),
      where the 90% believe in god, the 82% in the divinity of Jesus, the 64% in the life after life, the 40.5% in the
      judeochristian and traditional divinity, the 22.5% in a cosmic or pantheist divinity, the 27% in a subliminal divinity
      (collective subconscious, love, universal peace...), the 25% in reincarnation, and the catholic practicings are the 18%.
 

  UNITED STATES

    - 265.300.000 inhab.
    - Usual statistics: 22-26% Catholic, 16% Baptist, 6% Methodist, 4% Lutheran, 2% Presbyterian but in total the Protestants
      are the 31.8-40%, 1.5-1.9% Orthodox, 2.6% Jewish... The usual self adscriptions are: 56% Protestant ( 6% So. Baptists,
      10% other Baptists, 9% Methodists, 6% Lutherans, 3% Pentacostalists, 3% Presbyterians, 2% Episcopalians, 1% Church
      of Christ and an 11% in none of these); 26% as Catholics; 1% is Mormon; and according to The 1998 Britannica Book of
      Year, the non-christians are: 8.8% Nonreligionists, 2% Muslim (with Black Muslims), 2% Jewish, 0.7% Buddhists, 0.3%
      Hindus, 0.3% Atheists, 1% other religionists.
    - Data: Appeared in ABC news, to teach creationism and evolutionism in the school: 68% yes - 29% not; to teach creationism
      without evolutionism: 40% yes - 55% not; the human race was created by god 10.000 years ago maximum 44%, created with
      evolution but with the providence too 39%, evolution only without god 10%. Poll of Gallup '99 shows a 33% of believers in a
      literal Bible. In a survey among catholics in 1995, the 43% accept the abortion but in case of ill or violation, other 15% never;
      the 76-82% a favour of the use of anticonceptives; but among all the americans (according to a poll appeared in the CBS 1995):
      the 46% think that is assassination, but the half of those thinks that sometimes is necessary. Continuing with the catholics,
      the 57% practice weekly and the 28% once per month min., the 83% believe that the bread and the wine of the mass is the
      Body of Christ. In the Harris poll '95, 95% believe in god, 90% in the heaven, 80% in the divinity of Christ, 89% in the after life,
      87% in miracles, 85% in the virginity of Mary. In another survey, among the believers in the heaven (81%), the 5% think that
      after his/her death will be the end, the 6% will be the reincarnation. In a poll by the Yankelovich Partners '97, the 25% of all
      americans believe in some degree in the reincarnation. Gallup '95 and '96: White protestants whom in the self description is
      fundamentalist is 24% ( 28% vote republican, 20% democrat); your religion is important in your life ?, 60% all (50% men -
      68% women - 48% in 18/29 age - 58% in 30/49 age - 67% in 50/64 age - 73% in more of 65 age. In the self ascription: 28%
      Catholic, 0.4% Orthodox, 57% Protestants (where 19% Baptists, 6% Lutherans, 9% Methodists) = 85.4% Christians, 0.5%
      Islamic, 1.8% Jewish, 9% None. Nowadays, the 40% is weekly practicing and the 89% believe in god (1997). In New York,
      19% bisexual or homosexual, another cipher: By 500.000 US heroinomans, the half dwell here. USA: The 13% of the
      matrimonies finish in divorce. According to Andrew Greeley, 57% believe in hell, 70% in the heaven, 80% in the other life.
      Gallup '98 believing in a literal Bible 38%, inspired 45.6%, without god 13%; in others polls, they show to us that in 1998-99
      the 96% believe in god. About the reincarnation vary depending the source in: 35% (CNN in '90), 20% in 1991, 20% (Gallup'98),
      30% (Luitz Research, in George 12/96). According to certain calculus there are 4.000.000 Freemasons.
      The Harris Polls have some different results surely because of the way to ask; the number 52 in September 2000, at the
      question of beliefs was "Please say for each one if you believe in it, or not" (Negative or positive answers only) give us these
      results: God 94% - Heaven 89% - Resurection of Christ 86% - Survival of the soul after death 86% - Miracles 85% - Virginity
      of Mary 82% - Devil 72% - Hell 73% - Ghosts 39% - Reincarnation 20%.
      If we go deeply into the american beliefs, the journalist Russell Chandler (Los Angeles Times) reports that a 40% believe
      that god is all and all is god (pantheism); Gallup reports that the majority of the Christians in America believe in biblical
      Trinity; and other polls report that a 62% believe the Holy Spirit do not represents a personal entity but a divine manifestation
      of power... The calculations let us a big portion of people that put on the same level God and a fly (all is god), in a TRInity
      composted by two persons, etc. ( ! ).
      Gallup poll (may 2004) on religion, the belief in God was followed by 90% of Americans (where 5% were not sure and 4%
      were in fact atheists); in Heaven believed a 81%; in Hell and in Devil both had as 70% of believers. The religious preferences
      of the polled persons were: 40% Protestant (17% Baptist, 9% Methodist, 5% Lutheran, 3% Presbyterian, 2% Pentecostal,
      2% Episcopalian, 2% others); 11% Christian without affiliation; 25% Catholic; 3% Jew. There were a 34% attending
      religious services weekly and a 25% monthly or with more frequency. On morals it was regarded as morally wrong pre
      matrimonial sex by a 36%, euthanasia by a 41%, to have a baby out of matrimony a 45%, homosexuality by a 54%,
      and abortion by a 50%. About if Americans feel that Bible is to be taken literally or sometimes symbolically, there
      is a big gap between "fundamentalists" (42%), and "relativists" (37%); otherwise there is a 14% that feel that Bible is only
      a book written by men [Virginia Commonwealth University Life Sciences Survey, september 2003].
      Strikingly, the ABC News PrimeTime Poll (february of 2004), which conducted a survey about the personal beliefs
      related to Bible's in regard to the history of of Noah, there was a 60% who answered that everything related is literal,
      including that the whole world was flooded; similar percent (61%) on literal belief was stated on the account that the world
      was created in 6 days.
      In the Fox News appeared a survey conducted by Opinion Dynamic Poll on beliefs (september 2003). A 92% believes in God
      (where a 5% does not, and a 3% is unsure), in Heaven 85%, in Hell 74%, and in Devil 71%. The reincarnation is believed by
      one in four. This same company checked the positionament about abortion issues (april 2004): a 44% self identified as
      pro-choice, a 47% as pro-life.
      In NBC News (Wall Street Journal Poll) of november 2003, the Americans thought that abortion might be left to be decided by
      a woman (53%), a 29% thought it might be allowed only in cases of rape or health risk, where a 15% stated that it might be
      illegal always. Roy Morgan in USA found that 48% of Americans believe homosexuality is immoral, where a 46% reasons it
      is not so. [august 2001].
      Harris Polls has researched also issues related to religion among Americans, so that in february 2003 a 90% believed in God;
      a 84% in the survival of the soul after death (63% expects Heaven, 1% Hell, 6% Purgatory); 82% believe there is Heaven; 68%
      in Hell and Devil; 27% in reincarnation (among those of 25 to 29 years old is 40%...); 80% in the Resurrection of Christ (but a
      68% among those aged 25-29: there might be a big proportion who conforms an important subgroup consciously or
      unconsciously pertaining to the New Age beliefs). On morals, in april 2004, those who approve homosexual marriages are
      a 27% (against them a 50%), if the homosexuals might be allowed to take civil unions OR to marry, a 58% is favorable, and
      a 35% is contrary to it. In the same poll it was questioned the sexual orientation so that a total of 6.2% answered was gay,
      lesbian, bisexual or transsexual.
    - Abortions: 22.9 (1996), representing to 1.365.700 babies / Ratio: 25.9%. The 78% of the women that "aborted" their children
      were unmarried.
    - New statistic: 2% Atheist; 4% Agnostic; 2% Pseudoatheist in ISSP98; 14% Deist; 5% Jewish and others; 4% Christian
      deist; 21% Neodoukhobor; 8-0% Pseudochristian; 40-48% Christian (26% Protestant; 13% Catholic). Approximate
      valuation.
    - New statistic 2004: 4% Atheist; 5% Agnostic; 6% Deist; 3% Jewish and others; 4% New Age; 23% Neodoukhobor;
      54% "orthodox" Christian (36% Protestant; 18% Catholic). Approximate valuation.
    - Commentary:  Astonishing for the europeans, America is not unreligious like Marlon Brando or Woody Allen; luciferian like
      the Rolling Stones or Marilyn Manson or Metallica; lesbian like Withney Houston or Jodie Foster; liberal like Cheer or Hillary
      Clinton or Demi Moore, amoral like Mikel Jackson or Prince or Madonna or Larry Flint (the pride calls the fame ?), like the
      hippies, like the New Age, etc., etc., etc. ... What do you think wich would be the effect of forty years of these persons and
      their values in the West ?.
    - And more commentaries: Why this level of religiosity comparing with other secularized countries of the First World ?
      The sociologists believe that the answer is the great competence between religions (it is viewed that among the descendants
      of immigrants from Europe, the belief in the after life increases each new generation).
 

  MEXICO

    - 93.400.000 inhab.
    - Usual statistics: 90% Catholic, 5% Protestant. Races: 75% mestizo (as mix white - prehispanic), 15% white,
      7-9% native, above all in the southern states of Chiapas (25%), Hidalgo (18%), Oaxaca (37%), Quintana
      Roo (26%) and Yucatán (40%).
    - Data: (U. Mich.), 46% weekly attendance, 65% monthly min. Although the US Department of State says that the active
      catholic participants are the 27%. Voting, the left (PRD) obtain the 25% in the elections of 1997, the center - left,
      traditionally anticlerical the 38%, and the right (PAN) obtained  the 26%: party pro catholic
      and objective of the votes of the middle-class. More data in the newspaper El Nacional ( 8 May 1997):
      The 65 percent of the fathers of pupils in primary and secondary school of the Distrito Federal are against the intervention
      of the Church in the education or to add classes of religion, this poll was carried out by the Instituto Mexicano de
      Investigaciones Educativas (IMIE).
      The official data of the government shows us that a 88.2% of the Mexicans are members of the Catholic Church,
      that the 5.2% adheres with the Protestant churches, that there are a 1.2% of Jehovah Witnesses, that the 0.6% is
      Adventist of the Seventh Day, where the 3.5% hasn't religion, and the remaining 1.3% responded with other answers.
      Source: XII Censo General de Población y Vivienda 2000, elaborated by the INEGI.
      BIMSA research company found after a survey carried on in 2002: that more Mexicans are against abortions (74%)
      than favorable (13%), percentages that concorde with those that think that abortion is morally incorrect or that is
      morally correct. Then, those Mexicans believing that it might be illegal always is 23%, and those that feel that it might
      be legal only under certain circumstances is 62%, in fact a 55% would vote to legalize it, where a 34% would vote against:
      many Mexicans are against abortion, but at the end they deem more important the situation of the woman than the life
      of the baby.
    - Abortion: Estimated 300.000 - 750.000 for 1990 (=25.1 / Ratio: 17.1%). In 1989, the Gallup said that a 42.5% of the
      Mexicans thought that the abortion was a decision of the woman only; the 77.3% were agree with to legalize it.
    - New statistic: 4% Protestant, 6% Syncretic (the native population in Latin America, commonly,
      conserve its early paganism - shamanism mixed sometimes with catholic forms); 5% Atheist, 2% Agnostic, 24% Deist,
      8% Christian Deist, 43% Neodoukhobor, and a catholic remnant: 8% (with only catholic beliefs).
    - New Statistic (WVS 2000): 1% Atheist, 1% Pseudoatheist, 13% Deist, 18% Christian Deist, 5% surely Syncretic,
      3% Protestant, 42% Neodoukhobor, 7% Catholic.
    - Note: The syncretism of natives is not like the afroamerican. Example: today the Nahua natives (the actual
      aztec descendants) have the cult at the "God of the Heaven", at His Son and at the saints, substituting the old
      belief that it was necessary to sacrifice human blood in order to maintain the movement of the universe. But, below this,
      it appears a private and domestic religion: the Nahua stills praying at the "Tierra Más Sagrada", Talocan, and to their
      Masters, offering copal and animal blood. Really, it is not syncretism, but renaming: The old aztec god of the creation
      Ipelnemoani now is called God, so like the Heaven where He dwelt was named Ilhuicac; Talocan is now the "Hell" or
      purgatory where the souls of the Nahua dead go, and Tlaloc - Taloc, the ancient deity of the earth and the waters, now is
      the "Señor" of this underworld.
 

  CUBA

    - 11.000.000 inhab.
    - Usual statistics: 31-40-49% no religious, 50-6% Atheist, 1.6% Animist, 1.5-3% Protestant, 30-39-40% Catholic.
      Races: 72% white, 12% black, 15% mulatto (religion and race is very linked in South America).
    - Data: In the census of 1956, appears 72.5% Catholic, 19% Indifference, 6% Protestant, 1% Spiritist, 0.5% Freemason,
      0.5% Santeria. In appreciation, the "santeria" is really attended by the 70% of the Cubans... (1998). In other estimates
      of the 90's show that a 25-63-70% practice the Afro-American religion. In survey of 1997, 1% of churchgoers, and 51%
      as religious.
      COLLABORATION of the Protestant pastor Herman Bartley: "[...] from my personal experience I know that at least 75% of the
      population has practiced or at least consulted a "Babalao" which is a Santero priest, and Santeria is very deeply rooted in
      the Cuban culture, no matter the social class or educational level. Apart from Santería, which is a kind of "white magic",
      there are other practices which are supposed to be "stronger", one of them is "Palo Mayombo", whose members scratch
      their bodies according to their position or level inside the cult, and it is said to be used to do "Hard Works", or in other works
      to do magic to hurt others [...]".
      In the other side it seems that such widespread Santeria is recent, according to reverend Johnston in 1910: "The white
      Cubans charge the Negroes with still maintaining in their midst the dark Vudu or Hudu mysteries of West Africa. There
      seems to be no doubt that the black people of Cuba (not the mulattoes) do belong, to a number of secret or Masonic
      societies [...]" (Harry H. Johnston, The Negro in the New World, London, 1910, p. 193 - excerpt from "Voodoos and
      Obeahs" by Joseph J. Williams; New York, 1932 online ).
      If we take a look on race statistics we can see that Santeria in some epoch between 1910 and nowadays rooted
      among the white and mulatto races; could be supposed that with the Castrist revolution and its consequent social
      upheaval promoted this propagation ?
    - Abortions: 77.7 in 1996 / Ratio: 58.6%, one of the most large abortive nations.
    - New statistic: 6% Atheist; 43% Atheist or agnostic; 1% Protestant; 1% Catholic; 49% Syncretic or
      Spiritist ("santero"). Very hard to value the percentages !
    - Commentary: These syncretic cults aren't much took into account speaking about Latin America. And only the priests
      are Christians here ?
    - Note: The "santería", in the practice is a mix between two religions: the Catholic and the African Yoruba: Olodumare,
      the god of the creation, ever far of the human affairs, now He is known as Christ... the rest of gods/orishas
      (Agayanú, Yemayá, Changó, etc.) are identified - camouflaged below Catholic saints, except Elegguá, who
      represents directly at the Judeo-Christian devil.
 

  HAITI

    - 7.300.000 inhab.
    - Usual statistics: 80% Catholic, 10% Protestant; but the cults of the voodoo are attended by the 70%.
      Races: 95% black, 5% mulatto.
    - Data: From the same aforesaid source, we know that in 1910: "At least two out of the three millions of Haitian Negroes
      are only Christians in the loose statistics of geographers. They are still African pagans, with a vague recognition of the
      Cross as an unexplained but potent symbol. They believe in a far off scarcely heeding Deity and a multitude of spirits,
      ancestral and demiurgic. Magic or empirical medicine ('Wanga') is, of course, believed in; and ranges in scope from
      genuine therapeutics to sorcery, mesmerism, and poisonings." More concise was the a Jamaican witness:
      "... all the people from the president down, even practical Catholics, went to the ignorant Obeah [voudoo] men and women."
      [excerpt at A. J. Emerick, Obeah and Duppyism in Jamaica, Woodstock, 1915, p. 192, in the same book].
    - New statistic: 70% Syncretism; 5% Protestant; 13% Catholic (...).
 

  PUERTO RICO

   - 3.700.000 inhab.
   - Usual statistics: Catholicism 85%, Protestantism 5%. // Ethnic composition: 73% white, 23% mulatto and 4% black.
   - Abortions: 22.7 / Ratio: 23% (1992).
   - New statistic: 1% Atheist or Agnostic; 7% Deist; 12% Christian Deist; 35% Neodoukhobor (Latin-American index for
     reincarnation); 40% Catholic; 5% Spiritism, but is also practiced by other religious groups adherents.
   - New Statistics (WVS 2000): For affiliation there was a 57.5% belonguing to the Catholic Chruch, where a 20%
     was in Baptist, Pentacostal or other Protestant churches. A 10% was Mormon or practices other cults.
 

  REPÚBLICA DOMINICANA

    - 7.900.000 inhab. Races (WVS '98): 25% White, 12% Black, 59% Mulatto.
    - Statistics: 90-95% Catholic, 2.3-6% Protestant, 1% Spiritist. Races: 74% mulatto, 15% white, 10% black.
    - Data: In the Guía Total: República Dominicana, by Joan Cabrera & Alfonso Domingo (Ed. Anaya): 45% of the population
      is rural. "In rural zones of the country, it persists certainly some magic-religious rites where it is practiced a syncretism
      of diverse beliefs with strong african influences." (voodoo)  "Assumed in Haiti, where all the social classes have
      relation with it, the voodoo in the República Dominicana is reduced above all in the rural country, where it is practiced
      secretly and it is not easy to contemplate its most pure state." The University of Michigan: practicing weekly is the
      44%, this in 1997. According to the US Department of State, a 68% says to be Catholic, a 11.3% Protestant, and a
      20.4% declares that he hasn't religion.
      By the Library of Congress (see Bibliography): " Roman Catholicism is the official religion of the Dominican Republic,
      established by a Concordat with the Vatican. For most of the populace, however, religious practice was limited and
      formalistic. Few actually attended Mass regularly. Popular religious practices were frequently far removed from Roman
      Catholic orthodoxy. What little religious instruction most Dominicans traditionally received came in the form of rote
      memorization of the catechism. Many people felt that they could best approach God through intermediaries--the clergy,
      the saints, witches (brujos), and curers (curanderos). The saints played an important role in popular devotion. Curanderos
      consulted the saints to ascertain which herbs, roots, and various home cures to employ. Witches (brujos) also cured by
      driving out possessive spirits that sometimes seized an individual. "
    - Abortions: estimation for 1990, 47 / Ratio: 27.9%. The estimates of abortions usually are calculated in countries with
      strong restrictions against the abortion or where it is definitively illegal to practice it; these estimations are made taking
      into account the number of hospitalizations due to complications in the performed clandestine abortions, and from that
      it is calculated the possible number of total of abortions.
    - New statistic: 7% Atheist; a% Agnostic; 17% Deist; 13% Christian Deist; 45% Syncretic (with reincarnation many ?);
      10% Neodoukhobor (?); 4% Catholic, 3% Protestant.
 

  JAMAICA

   - 2.500.000 inhab.
   - Statistics: 56% Protestant confessions, 5% catholicism, 5% rastafarism. // Racial composition: 75% Blacks, 13%
     Mulattos, 1.3% Indians, 3.4% Whites, and 3.4% Chineses.
   - Data: In Jamaica Animist practices are known as Myalism and sometimes as Revivalism; thier followers are known as
     Myal people, and their basic objective is the communication with spirits or deaths. This religion includes belief in the
     "shadow" or "duppy" which are the soul of a deceased person to be appeased. In fact, Revivalism has been fostered by
     local churches as the Methodists and even more so by the Native Baptist Congregations. Among their practices they
     have rituals to call ancestors conducted by Myal men at nightfall, robed in white, and generally beneath the shadow of a
     cotton tree. Fowls are sacrificed and songs sung, in the chorus of which the multitude join. Dancing then begin, becoming
     more and more weirdlike in character, until one and another fell exhausted to the ground, when incoherent utterances are
     listened to as divine revelations. Also Myalism includes rituals for exorcisism. In the other side there is the "black"
     version of Myalism, which is the Obeahism practiced by the Obeah men, persons that are believed to be able to kill or
     injure anyone by aid of spirits: "A Negro usually goes to the obeah-man to harm his neighbour, not to do any good to
     himself; and that is why the law regards the matter so seriously". According to Williams: "Obeah, as the continuation
     of Ashanti witchcraft, is professedly a projection of spiritual power with the harm of an individual as an objective. Practically,
     its end is attained through fear, supplemented if needs be by secret poisoning. The agent is the servant of the Sasabonsam
     or Devil who is invoked and relied upon to produce the desired effect. Consequently real obeah must be regarded as a form
     of Devil-worship." Regarding to its actual extent, hardly it is possible to evaluate its reach, but almost with certainty, it is
     practiced by one in four Jamaicans; and as the same as in Brazil, it is not rare to see Christians asking for its services.
     Otherwise in the books of Joseph J. Williams "Voodoos and Obeahs" and "Psichic Phenomena of Jamaica" (New York,
     1932 and 1934) we can see past extents...: Robert Renny published in London in 1807 "An History of Jamaica" where
     he stated: "A belief in Obeah, or witchcraft, is almost universal among them. The professors of this occult science, are
     always Africans, and generally old and crafty. Hoary heads, gravity of aspect, and a skill in herbs, are the chief qualifications
     for this curious office. The Negroes, both Africans and Creoles (i. e. those born in the island), revere, consult, and fear them."
     Reverend A. J. Emerick, who devoted more than a decade to mission work in Jamaica, wrote an article devoted to
     Myalism at the beginning of the XX century: "Mialism is so mixed up with Obeahism, Duppyism and other cults of African
     warp, together with whatever in Protestantism or Catholic ritual that may appeal to the bizarre African imagination, that it is
     hard to tell which is which and what is what. [...]." Claude McKay, a native poet wrote in the same epoch: "Obeah is black
     people's evil God. [...] Of the thousands of native families, illiterate and literate, in that lovely hot island there were few indeed
     that did not worship and pay tribute to Obi - the god of Evil that the Africans brought cover with them when they were sold to
     the New World."  Even in April 6 of 1934 a newspaper in the article related to Obeah poisonings, 'Obeah Case Dismissed by
     Kingston' we can read: "His Honour asked a witness: 'Then you believe in obeah?' which immediately caused laughter only
     to draw from His Honour the remark: 'And so do 70 or 80 per cent of those laughing at the back of the Court.'
 

  GUATEMALA

    - 10.900.000 inhab.
    - Usual statistics: 80% Catholic, 19-25% Protestant. Races: 55% native, 44% mestizo. 64% rural population.
    - The Annual Report on International Religious estimates that per 4 protestants there are 6 catholics.
    - New statistic (based in the surveys of Tomás Calvo of 1993 to young people aged 13-20): 1% Atheist, 3% Agnostic,
      24% Deist, 8% Christian Deist, 15-20% Neodoukhobor, 39-44% Catholic (and mainly syncrethic), 5% Protestant.
    - Commentary: The native population usually is against the new sects and Protestant organizations because these
      organizations menace its syncretism camouflaged after centuries inside of the Catholic rites. When these groups have
      converted native Americans, such tribes were previously isolated and were not affected by Catholicism, but that even
      has not prevented that they continue also with their ancient religion: Animism.
 
 

  EL SALVADOR

    - 5.800.000 inhab.
    - Usual statistics: 92% Catholic, 8% Protestant. Races: 90% mestizo. 57% rural.
    - Data: By the U.S. Department of State (Annual Report on International Religious): Poll by IUDOP - Central American
      University Public Opinion Institute in 1995, the affiliation was in 56.7% catholic, 17.8% protestant, 2.3% other,
      23.2% don't was affiliated.
    - New statistic (based in the surveys of Tomás Calvo of 1993 to young people aged 13-20): 1% Atheist, 1% Agnostic,
      38% Deist, 8% Christian Deist, 9% Neodoukhobor, 20-30% Catholic, 23-13% Protestant.
 

  HONDURAS

    - 6.100.000 inhab.
    - Usual statistics: 90% Catholic // Races: 90% Mestizo, 7% American Native, 2% Black, and 1.3% White.
    - Data: By the U.S. Department of State (Annual Report on International Religious): A poll by Le Vote co., the 60.3%
      was identified as catholic, 28.7% protestant, 6.8% other, and 4.2% don't know or don't answer. Le Vote again (in the
      newspaper El Heraldo of 24.7.98), covers the answers about god: 99% believe; or if the questioned would die, the
      41% believed that would go at Heaven, 16% at hell, and a 32% can't answer (incertity)... Pertinences: 55% catholic,
      34% evangelist, 10% in another.
    - New statistic (based in the surveys of Tomás Calvo of 1993 to young people aged 13-20): 1% Atheist, 2% Agnostic,
      30% Deist, 13% Christian Deist, 10% Neodoukhobor, 20-30% Catholic, 24-14% Protestant.
 

  NICARAGUA

    - 4.500.000 inhab.
    - Usual statistics: 89% catholic and 5% protestant. Races: 77% Mestizo, 10% white, 9% black, 4% native.
      There is a 45% of rural population.
    - Data: Annual Report on International Religious: Census of 1995 gives a 73% catholic, 15% evangelist,  1.5% in
      the Morave Church, 2% other, 8.5% is not affiliated or is atheist.
    - New statistic (based in the surveys of Tomás Calvo of 1993 to young people aged 13-20): 2% Atheist, 2% Agnostic,
      38% Deist, 13% Christian Deist, 20% Neodoukhobor ?, 15% Catholic, 10% Protestant.
 

  COSTA RICA

    - 3.400.000 inhab.
    - Usual statistics: 90% Catholic.
    - Data: Catholic religion as official. By the U.S. Department of State (Annual Report on International Religious): A poll
      of 1997 shows that the 76% were affiliated to the Catholic Church, 17.8% to a protestant church, and a 1%
      with the Jehovah's Witness.
      The paper "ESTUDIO DIAGNÓSTICO DE LA SUBREGIÓN CENTRAL ESTE: LA PROVINCIA DE CARTAGO" elaborated
      by Clifton L. Holland as member of the CENTRO DE INVESTIGACIÓN SOCIORRELIGIOSA (CISRE), reported us the
      religious panorama of Costa Rica for 1999: The population, according to Borge y Asociados for july of 1997, was Catholic
      in a 77.4%, being the Protestant population the 18.3%. The paper also confirms that American natives are syncretic: this
      minoritary population is nominally Christian but follows with its Animist practices and continues in having a strong
      dependence of its shamans, or "sukias". A form of syncretism between animism and Catholicism is practiced in the cities
      and villages where these natives dwell, even at the point that the city of Paraíso is known as "the city of the witches" (in fact
      such alias can induce us to suppose that the rest of the Costarican cities are free of witches and hence free of witchcraft).
      Other religious activity reported is that of the practice of ritual animal sacrifices among some young that belong to Satanic
      groupuscles. [paper: dead link].
    - New statistic (based in the surveys of Tomás Calvo of 1993 to young people aged 13-20): 1% Atheist, 1% Agnostic,
      18% Deist, 15% Christian Deist, 10% Neodoukhobor, 45% Catholic, 10% Protestant.
 

  PANAMÁ

    - 2.700.000 inhab.
    - Usual statistics: 80% Caholic, 10% Protestant, 5% Muslim. // Races: 64% Mestizos, 14% Blacks or Mulattos, 10%
      Whites, 8% American Natives, and 4% Asiatics.
    - Data: From The World Christian Encyclopedia (2001); Christian the 88.2%, with Catholics 71.6% + Protestants 11.9% +
      independents 2.6% + sectaries 1.5% + Anglicans 0.8%; Muslims 4.4%; nonreligious 2.5%; Baha'i 1.2%; Buddhists 0.8%;
      Atheists 0.5%; Hindus 0.3%; of Chinese Folk-religions 0.2%; and other religions the 1.8%.
    - New statistic (based in the surveys of Tomás Calvo of 1993 to young people aged 13-20): 2% Atheist, 2% Agnostic,
      30% Deist, 12% Christian Deist, 4% Neodoukhobor, 30% Catholic, 12% all Protestants, 4% Muslim, 4% other religions.
 
 

  BRAZIL

    - 161.300.000 inhab.
    - Usual statistics: 75% Catholic, 10% Other christians. Races: 54% white (in appearance min.), 39% mulatto, 6% black.
    - Data: Poll of 1991 in self identification, 72% Catholic, 20% Evangelist. In other polls of 1995-98: 80% Catholic,
      11% Evangelist, 50-68% take part in Afro-American spiritists cults (among they, the reincarnation is much
      believed), 21-36% practicing weekly, and 54% monthly. The 98% believe in some fashion in god. IBOPE poll:
      the 91% of the brazilians are in favour of the anticonceptives, and only there is a 7% that admit only the natural
      methods. By the poll of 1.98: 75% identified as catholic, 9% as evangelist (Pentecostal), 5% as evangelist
      (no Pentecostal), 5% without religious orientation, 3% spiritist, and a 1% in umbanda or candomblé
      > http://www.ibope.com.br/ . In the Noroeste News on line of 20.8.98, appears the results about the belief in the devil:
      58% (Instituto Soma Opiniao & Mercado).
      Datafolha.com.br conducted a survey in february 1997 related to family standards; it can be seen that those Brazilians
      who would see as very grave that their daughter would abort were a 61%; those that would see as very grave that their
      daughter would be involved in homosexual relations was 74% (77% is being a son); in the other side only a 17% would
      see as very grave that their daughters would be engaged in pre matrimonial sex (a 39% did not see any problem with that).
      In fact there is a survey about the participation of the Brazilians in syncretic cults; the opinion research institute
      "Sócio Estatística Pesquisa & Consultoria Ltda." [link] conducted a sort of polls on religion in the cities of Ilheus
      and Itabuna (Bahia state, with 223.000 and 185.000 inhabitants each one) in the period 1999-2000. An 8.4% recognized
      there to have visited a "terreiro" (place or temple in the Afro-american cults) in the last twelve months, but in the other hand,
      the people that answered they visited a terreiro at least once in his life was a 26.1%. These low percentages can be
      somewhat underrepresented and to be not general:

       # Racial make-up in cities is different, so religious involvement also.
       # Umbanda and Candomblé have been anathematized by the Catholic Church as demoniac practices and has became
          taboo. So in Ilheus and Itabuna, there was a 36% that said that knew of a "Pai" or "Mãe de Santo": Umbanda priests.
          A 59.5% said to believe in charms.
       # Religious beliefs are less represented in cities due to secularization, dehumanization, stress, etc. Per example, in the
          above referred cities, the religion professed was a 44.5% as Catholic no practicing, 29.5% as Catholic practicing weekly,
          a 14.5% being Protestant, a 4% in other religions and being a 1.5% no believer; no answered the 6.5%. But where urban
          people differs most is in core beliefs, as the Hell: a 62.6% believe, or the Purgatory with a 47.3%, or the Heaven with a
          80.8%; for life after death a 27% believe in the Resurrection, a 19.5% in the Reincarnation, other alternatives were
          exposed by the 9%, and a 30.5% said that death is the end of all; no answered - no chose the 14%.

      In the other side, the activists in Afroamercan religions could also oversize their influence within society, failing
      so calculations... There is a positive correlation between black race and practice in syncretics religions, which anyway
      each day is less noticeable since the racial correlation is falling: there are more and more non-black practicioners.
    - Abortions: estimated in 1.444.000 for 1991, being it 40.8 abortions per each 1000 women aged 15-44 / Ratio: 29.8%.
      According to the OMS, every year would die 3.000.000 babies (1st mundial position with the ten percent
      of the total international). In 1989, a 28% of the mothers were spinsters; the great majority were aged less than
      20 years old (IBGE). There are too 3.000.000 of "meninos da rua" or roving kids... The sociologists find the cause in
      the familiar instability: the young single or young married mothers get divorce or separation and after they get married
      legally or by deal (with more frequency) > the temporal step-father is alcoholic and he ill-treat and/or sodomize his new
      parents > family's destruction > "meninos da rua" > to sniff glue in order to evade from reality and to mitigate the interior
      uneasiness > thefts > squadrons of the death... and the cycle is repeated in arriving at the adult age following or worsening
      more the panorama.
    - New statistic: 1% Atheist or Agnostic, 18% Deist, 14 Christian deist, 5-9% Protestant, 26% to 57% Syncretic
      (Candomble with beliefs on transmigration), 1 to 5% Catholic (!); 0-31% Neodoukhobor.
    - Explanation: The great majority of syncretics are usual clients of the "terreiros" or idolatric temples (love, work, health,
      hates...), only a minority are polytheists in the active way.
 

  COLÓMBIA

    - 39.300.000 inhab.
    - Statistics: 95% Catholics. Races: 58% mestizo, 20% white, 14% mulatto, 4% black, 3% indoafrican, and a 1% native.
    - Data: The last elections for the senate, gave at the Liberal Party the 50% of votes, the Conservative Party a 25%,
      and the rest of votes went to the little forces of left and right (26%). The next text appears in the review Número, 7
      wrote by William Ospina: "If there are the impunity and the misery, if the fields are in hands of the "guerrilla", the
      towns in hands of delinquents, the economy in hands of "narcos" and the relations with the world in hands of
      imperial delegates, [...] So we follow gaming the game that we are a white, catholic and liberal nation, although our cities
      are an example of amazing mix of races; although our religious life is the most amazing mixture of spiritism,
      santeria, witchcraft, animism and hypocrisy that somebody could discover: although our politic [...]".
      Encarta98: 70% urban -30% rural ( a 30% of active population work in the first sector too).
      By the Library of Congress (see Bibliography): " Religious beliefs and practices in the rural peasant communities reflected
      centuries of geographic isolation and a lack of formal religious training. People in these areas were said to be more devout
      than those in the cities, but their Catholicism was often very different from that of the urban upper and middle classes.
      Fusion of Catholic practices and beliefs with indigenous, African, and sixteenth-century Spanish ones was widespread in
      the countryside. Traces of the rural folk religions also were found in urban lower-class communities, particularly those with
      many rural migrants. " [...] " The nation's black: population also was nominally Catholic, although vestiges of African
      religion and beliefs survived in some communities." . And more: "In the lower class, consensual union, in which both the
      religious and the civil marriage ceremonies are foregone, was common. In rural communities with traditional lower-class
      standards, formal marriage was regarded as neither important nor essential."
    - Abortions: estimated for 1989, 36.3 / Ratio: 26%.
    - New statistic: 1% Atheist or Agnostic; 19% Deist; 13% Christian deist; 10-40% Neodoukhobor; 1-27% Catholic;
      30% witchcraft's followers (calculated with the total of rural population and agrarian sector. With reincarnation many ?).
 

  VENEZUELA

    - 22.300.000 inhab.
    - Usual statistics: 90% Catholic. Races: 67% mestizo, 21% white, 10% black, 2% native.
    - Data: The religion of María Lionza (Spiritism + Polytheism + native syncretism ) is spreading in all urban areas. The
      black population haven't  a syncretic religion like in Brazil or Cuba... although they own certain unique rites and
      a exacerbate devotion to certain saints. Principal parties in the '90s: COPEI christian democrat (center) and
      AD (social democrat). Lastest government figures: 75% Catholic, 18% Protestant.
    - New statistic (approximate): 1% Atheist or Agnostic; 11% Deist; 26% Christian deist; 26% Neodoukhobor (based
      in the survey of Tomás Calvo of 1993 to young people aged 13-20 in Venezuela and that believed in another life but
      not in hell), 3% María Lionza religion (?); 2% Animist (WVS '98: 3% of respondents feeling as an american native);
      20% Catholic; 11% Protestant.
 

  ECUADOR

    - 11.600.000 inhab.
    - Usual statistics: 93% Catholics. Races: 40% native, 40% mestizo, 10% white.
    - Data: SIL.ORG (Anthropologue): 2,300,000 speakers of American Indian languages (Adelaar 1991), but there are a total
      of ethnic Quichua in Ecuador with 4,320,000, or 41.3% of the population (1987). Central highlands, Chimborazo and
      Bolivar provinces.
    - New statistic (based in the surveys of Tomás Calvo of 1993 to young people aged 13-20): 2% Atheist, 3% Agnostic,
      31% Deist, 18% Christian Deist, 16% Neodoukhobor, 27% Catholic, 3% Protestant. In the three last groups a majority
      could be Native Americans and also syncretists.
 

  PERU

    - 24.300.000 inhab.
    - Usual statistics: 89% Catholic, 3% Protestant, 1% Animist. Races: 45% native, 37% mestizo, 15% white.
    - Data: U.Mich.: 43% weekly, 64% monthly min. Annual Report on International Religious estimates that the catholic
      practicings are a 14%; In census of 1993, 89% declared themselves to be catholic + 7.3% protestant + 1.4%
      atheist or agnostic.
    - Abortions: estimated (1989) a 56.1 / Ratio: 30%.
    - New statistic I (estimation): 2% atheist, 1% agnostic, 16% deist, 12% Christian deist, 40% syncretic, 2% protestant,
      4% catholic, 25% neodoukhobor.
    - New statistic II (based in the surveys of Tomás Calvo of 1993 to young people aged 13-20): 2% Atheist, 3% Agnostic,
      29% Deist, 11% Christian Deist, 13% Neodoukhobor, 42% Catholic or Protestant but being those orthodox a minority
      as the Native Americans are mainly syncrethic.
    - New Statistic (WVS 2000): 1% Agnostic, 0.5% Atheist, 0.5% Pseudoatheist, 17% Deist, 14% Christian Deist,
      3% Jehova Witness, 1% Mormon, 5% Evangelical, 20% Neodoukhobor (stimation), 38% Syncretic.
 

  BOLIVIA

    - 7.500.000 inhab.
    - Usual statistics: 90% Catholic. Races: 75-65% native, 30% mestizo, 5% white. Rural population, 55%.
    - Data: Annual Report on International Religious gives a 60 -70% catholic. Cults of Pachamama and of Akeko.
      Library of Congress (see Bibliography): 25% speak Aymara, 30% speak Quechuan (1989). - Permanence of the indian
      language equal to permanence of polytheism ? -.
    - New statistic (based in the surveys of Tomás Calvo of 1993 to young people aged 13-20): 2% Atheist, 4% Agnostic,
      33% Deist, 19% Christian Deist, 11% Neodoukhobor, 31% as Catholic or as Protestant (but as the Native Americans
      are syncrethic most surely such Catholics and Protestants are also syncrethic).
 

  PARAGUAY

    - 4.900.000 inhab.
    - Usual statistics: 94% Catholic. Races: Majority mestizo... but the 50% is bilingual guarani-spanish, and the 40% is
      monolingual guarani !
    - New statistic: Perhaps 10-50% Catholic, 40-90% syncretic (no informations if the fact to speak Guarani mantains
      also old customs and the old religion). But a better insight based in the surveys of Tomás Calvo of 1993 to young people
      aged 13-20 leaves: 1% Atheist, 2% Agnostic, 16% Deist, 7% Christian Deist, 14% Neodoukhobor, 60% Catholic
      (but as said, it is not known if there is also blended).
 

  URUGUAY

    - 3.200.000 inhab.
    - Usual statistics: 66-78% Catholic, 2% Protestant. Races: 96% white.
    - Data: The church attendance is 31%. Surveys of the center Equipos in the newspaper El Observador (1997): Ideal
      number of children, would be one (56%), two (33%), and three or more (4%); A favour of the anticonceptives the 76%,
      a 8% would be a favour depending of the case, and a 10% against. A favour of the euthanasia: 49%.
      According to the data of the site Radio El Espectador www.espectador.com/factum/, the surveys of
      1996-98 show that in politics, the 8% of the Uruguayans is located in the extreme left, the 15% in the left, the 32% in the
      center, the 14% in the center right, and the 15% in the right. From the scale left - right (1 - 10), the voters of the respective
      parties located its own party in the scale 3 (Frente Amplio), 5 (Nuevo Espácio), 8 (Partido Nacional - blancos), 8 (Partido
      Colorado - rojos).
      The next surveys were carried out by the institute Opinión Pública Factum along 1997 for the radio station El Espectador
      (program En Perspectiva), but it has been sintetized and summarized here in this way: those believing in God 84%, where
      a 16% no (only absolute answers); Uruguayans believing in a life after dead: the 50%. In reincarnation believe the 25% of
      the surveyed; being the Catholics of low religiosity the group with the most strong reincarnationist adhesion. To highlight
      that between the non believers in God, a 17% expressed belief in life after dead, the majority of them preferring reincarnation
      (88%). About pertinence, a 57% expressed to be Catholic, another 8% as No-Catholic Christian (Protestants or without
      religious affiliation),  a 17% as believers without religion, and finally the 16% said to be non believer. The religious participation
      gave the next result: 11% going weekly at the mass, along with a 12% monthly. On 2003 this same company carried on
      a new survey related to abortion laws, so that those favouring a law with unrestricted abortion were a 63%, against that
      was a 29%; about beliefs (polled in march 2001) half of Uruguayans think to have an immortal soul (55%), but are a 63%
      who affirm that after death it continues life (a 7% with human or animal reincarnation, and a 22% thinking there is
      Heaven or Hell; and the rest has no idea how).
    - New statistic: 11% Atheist, 2% Agnostic, 3% Pseudo-atheist, 19% Deist, 18% Christian Deist, 22% Neodoukhobor, 24%
      Catholic, 1% others.
    - Commentary: The "American Switzerland" is the unique country in America comparable in secularization with Europe...
 

  ARGENTINA

    - 35.200.000 inhab.
    - Usual statistics: 91% Catholic, 7% Protestant, 2.3% Muslim, 2.0% Jew // Races: 98% white.
    - Data: U. Michigan, the 25% practicing weekly, or 43% monthly min. In a poll in the Region de la Plata
      (where lives 1/3 of the Argentines) of 1994: 94% believe in god, (but among them, 8% don't profess religion,
      22% don't practice, 65% practice once at month min. The 80% say to be catholic, 8% evangelist. About the
      reincarnation, the 33% as possible, 19% doubt, 50% not. The 20% practicing weekly. State against the
      sects ? Banning them, 22%; the religion is necessary in order to an optimal function of the society ? 22% Yes.
      Affiliation in 1999 (Gente magazine): 70% Catholic, 8% Protestant, and 800.000 Muslims.
    - New statistic: 4% Atheist; 19% Deist; 6% Christian Deist; 4% Protestant; 43% Neodoukhobor; 1% Muslim, 1%
      Jew, the rest is Catholic surely (= 21%).
    - New Statistic (with WVS 2000): 1% Agnostic, 3.5% Atheist, 19% Deist, 20% Christian Deist, 5% Evangelic,
      1% Jew, 2% Muslim, 33% Neodukhobor, 15% Catholic.
 

  CHILE

    - 14.000.000 inhab.
    - Usual statistics: 77% Catholic, 13% Protestant
    - Data: In '92, 7% No religious or/and Atheist, 1% Animist (Shamanism), 13% Protestant. U.Mich.: 25%
      of weekly attendance, 45% monthly min. The Center of Public Etudes polls '97-'99: The pre matrimonial relations
      are unacceptable for the 36%. Self positionament in: Left 12% - Center 34% - Right 17%. Civil status: separated
      5%, living with a partner out of matrimony 5%. In beliefs, there is not a great difference between young and
      old people, nor because the social class, nor in education; a 80% believes in god with certainty, 10% believes but with
      doubts, 4% sometimes believes, 3% believes in a cosmic or impersonal god, 1% is agnostic, and a 2% is atheist.
      Other questions as the afterlife is believed per the 75%, the Heaven per the 81%, in the miracles the 79%, and
      the Hell per the 57%. There is a god that help the persons ? Answered to be agree or very agree a 73%, but only
      a 48% answered that life has sense because there is a god. In the self religious identification, is a 72%
      catholic, 16% evangelist, 4% other, and 7% none. Those that answered that have full or great confidence in the
      religious institutions were the 51%; if the question is if the churches haven't right to influence the vote or the government,
      there is a 17 - 18% that is disagree or very disagree. Other ciphers are: 63% pray one time per week minimum;
      the 38% go to the church once time per month at least, or 18% per week ( - 9% four years ago).
      Who is syncretic ?: Syncretism in Patagonia does not exist since there is no native population left there which could
      mix their old Animism with Christianity, the tribes which inhabited the area (Onas, Yamans, Cholos, etc.) have disappeared
      as the area was previously scarcely inhabited by them, or by means of new deceases carried there, or by means of interracial
      marriages. Similar situation occurs in the desertical northern Chilean regions, where only some foreign Quechua and Aymara
      have retained their languages and religious mix (as they had in fact a more developed culture to maintain). The situation for
      the North and the South is then similar at that of the native Americans who dwelt in east USA (as per example the Mohave),
      who have in fact disappeared by similar happenings; really for an European it is possible to distinguish some non-European
      treats among some nominal white Americans linked to native treats. About Central Chile, it was/is inhabited by Mapuche
      peoples (Araucanians), but where those who occupied the region of Santiago have been assimilated (their descendants
      being Mestizo nowadays), those that inhabited south of the Bio Bio River have retained mainly their language and religion.
      That is logic if we know that such south Mapuches were unconquered yet by the XIX Century. Nowadays, the Mapuche use
      to dwell in rural areas between the Bio Bio River and Chiloé Island, and in ghettos around Santiago: half there, half here.
      On Mapuche's cosmology and rites, to say that Wemapu is the place were the gods use to inhabit: there is a sacred family
      of gods (father, wife, son, and the son's wife, where Elchen is the father and the maker). The Gen are spirits of the Nature
      (forests, rivers, rocks, etc.); and the Kolkas are evil spirits which capture the souls of the recently deceased. Cult to Mapu
      [Earth Goddess]. The Machis are the shamans among the Mapuches; they heal with the aid of their gods by means of prays
      and animal sacrifices [Machitun], they recite good or evil spells, and they can foretell the future. All their powers can be
      exercised only when they enter in trance by means of the repetitive rhythm which is produced by a sacred drum [kultrun].
      Also they were who directed the collective sacred ceremonies (nowadays are directed mainly by the local cacique,
      the "lonka"). The machis request in their healings the aid of the divinities to fight against the devil spirits [wekufe] which
      cause the illness; after some research on shamanism it is clear, of course, that illness take place by bacterial activity
      or by body's deficits, and that healing is done by means of the plants' chemicals used. The spirits or gods which
      the shamans believe to see as aiding them to choose or to confirm among the different plants the right one, and
      fighting against the evil spirit/s which causes illness don't appear if propitiatory sacrifice or offer does not take place,
      and it is to think that the same entity that the shaman thinks is helping him to combat the evil spirit/s might
      be in fact the same entity that the shaman sees as the cause of the ill, but unrecognizable to the shaman in such case,
      so then, in this way, everything related to health depends on spirits in Animist cultures. Similar false dependency have
      Pakistani sorcerers of their spirits to cause harm. Among Mapuches, the Nguillatun ceremony takes place in each change
      of season, where it is requested to their principal god (Nguechen) or to other gods the fertility of the fields and to have a
      propitiate good weather; an animal sacrifice is dedicated to the gods also to propitiate them (or to bribe them one could
      say). This rite could be in some way also accepted by committed Christian Mapuches as Nguechen might be identified
      with Yahve.
      Next are some polls that are related with racial and ritual issues (DT353 and DT339 - 2003, DT300 - 1999, DT317 - 2000 )
      by CEP. Which is the religion more close to you ? Catholic 71%; 3% Methodist; 5% Pentecostal; 6.5% other Protestant
      (total Protestant = 14.5%); 2% non-Trinitary Christian; 1.5% other religions; has no religion, or is agnostic, or atheist: 7.5%.
      About de facto beliefs, there is a 89% believing in God, a 3% believing but doubting, a 4% believing in a "concept-god",
      a 1.5% being atheist, and a 1.5% being agnostic. The practice is weekly among a 21%, and monthly or with more frequency
      for a 16%. Issues related to moral: abortion might be freely allowed for a 10%, allowed only in exceptional cases for a 35%,
      and for a 55% it might be forbidden always; a 88% find that homosexuality is morally incorrect, but lower percentages feel
      that pre matrimonial sex is not moral (24%), or that anticonceptives are not acceptable to them (18%), or that are in
      disagreement with unmarried couples living together (18%). Ethnic variants: self-defined as native a 8% (says Mapuche
      a 6.8%); thinking that has much native blood a 8.3%, some a 40.4%. If the surveyed was asked about to mention how many
      Mapuche surnames had his/her parents, a 20.6% said four, a 5.2% said three, a 8.7% said two, a 28.7% said one, and a
      34.6% said none. About Mapuche language, a 2.8% speak it better than Spanish, a 4.1% equal to Spanish, a 9.2% worse
      than Spanish, and a 18.4% only understand it (total people with a Mapuche cultural milieu = 1/6 of Chileans). If asked on
      Mapuche's rites, those who answered that frequently or that sometimes attend them were for Machitun a 9.4%; for
      Nguillatun a 20%; around a 10% attend the Mapuche's new year [Wetripantu], or watch Palin [Mapuche game], or
      asks counsel at the tribal cacique [lonka]. Such data would confirm a positive relation between those that maintain
      their native language, and those who tend to mix their traditional religion with Christianity.
    - Abortions: for 1990 were estimated in a proportion of 50 / Ratio: 35.3%. Data obtained in the article "The Incidence
      of Abortion Worldwide", by Stanley K. Henshaw, Susheela Singh and Taylor Haas; available in The Alan Guttmacher
      Institute [site]. If you wish, click here to display too much explicit images of aborted phoetus.
    - New statistic: 3% Atheist, 3% Agnostic, 10% Deist, 10% Christian deist, 41% surely neodoukhobor,
      19% Catholic, a 5% Protestant, 9% Animist.
    - New statistic (WVS 2000): 2% Atheist, 1% Agnostic, 1% Pseudoatheist, 20% Deist, 33% surely neodoukhobor
      (stimation as for Argentina), 25% Catholic, a 8% Protestant, 9% Animist.