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Latin America was the one place in the world that European imperialism completely destroyed and replaced local religions and culture.The Catholic confession dominated Latin America, but there were demographic differences. In the cities Catholicism dominated in a largely Eurropean form. In many rural areas, however, a kind syncretism between the Native American religions and christianity
And while they incororated superficial aspets of the old religion, it was a huge and massive change. Catholcism became a major part of Latin American culture. And because the Reformation began as the Spanish and Portuguese were building their empires, the Inquisition went to great lengths to keep Protestaants out of the New World. The Church worked to limit the brutality of the Conquistadores and resulting Repartimiento/Encomienda. On the other hand the Church supported the Spanish/Portuguese social order and the subgegation of the Native American peasantry. Even after the Latin American Was of liberation, Protestants made little inroads in Latin America.
The Catholic Church dominated religious life in both the Spanish Empire and the Portuguese Empire (Brazil). There is more than just a theological dimension to the Catholic domination of the continent Also importnt was the idea of freedom. Nothing until the advent of the great totalitarian powers of the 20th century is more antithetical to the idea of freedom than the Inquisition. Catholcism like Protestantism had both political and economic aspects. Notice that it was Protestabt northern Europe that invented both democracy and capitalism as well as brought science to its ultimate development. And we see that even today with Latin America lagging behind not only Europe, but now Asia as well. And notice how Pope Benedict, the first Latin Amerivan primate and an undeniable humanitarian, is deeply suspious of capitalism. And this even though the only prosperous countries in the world, unless they sit on a pool of oil, have core capitalist economies. It is notable that there are no Latin American Tiger Economies.
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