Religion in South America

Religion in South America is characterized as a continent where the majority of the population professes the Catholic faith, with a notable increase of Protestants and people without religion.

Currently, all countries in the region in general are separate of the Catholic Church and declared laic states, which guarantees freedom of religion for its inhabitants. The last country to approve the freedom of religion was Bolivia (since 2008).

According to the Association of Religion Data Archives 91.9% of the South American population is Christian, although less than half of them are praticant.

Except for Suriname and Uruguay, the more professed religion in the South American countries is the Catholic religion. While countries such as Paraguay, Peru, Colombia and Argentina more than three-quarters of the population is Catholic, in Chile it is 57%.

Catholicism was the only religion allowed in the colonial era, the indigenous were forced to abandon their beliefs, although many did not abandon it at all, for example, countries with predominantly Amerindian population such as Bolivia and Peru there is a syncretism between indigenous religions and the Catholic religion, that has occurred since colonial times. In Brazil or Colombia, Catholicism was mixed with certain African rituals.

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