Considered the debate of the past millennium, The Valladolid Debate (1550–1551) concerned the treatment of natives of the New World, the region where nowadays the South American countries are located. As a result of this debate the papal bull Sublimus Dei (1) was established in 1537, an instruction that gave the Indians “the status of rational beings”. This bull that came from the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century sounds like a contradiction for a religion that professes “love thy neighbor as thyself” (2) . However, that was true. So, “allowing” the Indians to be rational beings, the Catholic Church continued evangelizing the New World and the result is an important number of Latinos (more than 80% in some cases) that believe in the Catholic principles nowadays. The institutionalization of the Catholic Church, consequently, have had a tremendous influence over the collective unconscious (3) of Latin America.
On the contrary, as compare to Latinos, almost 24% of North Americans are Catholics and there are not more than 43% in Canada (CIA Factbook). Nonetheless, the economic development of the US and Canada is evidently superior to Latin countries. Curiously, Brazil has one of the lowest amounts of Catholics (65%) and has the most buoyant economy of Latin America. In fact, Brazil is currently the sixth economy in the worldwide ranking. These are examples of big economies (US is the first one in the globe) where the freedom of religion is an important actuality.
This comparison does not pretend to create a statistic correlation between religions and economics, but to provide an overall idea about how the freedom of religion allows a society to create wealth. We can infer, just based on objective facts depicted before, that the more freedom of religion, the more wealth would be created by a society.
The main constrain that depicts religious people in Latin America is a sort of worship to poverty. On the flip side, in North America and Canada, wealth is a value that is supported by many religions. It is the case of the Protestants, which in the US represents more than the 50% of the population. That reality is supported by Max Weber´s thesis (4) that expresses the Protestant world is more successful economically than the Catholic world due to its members´principles: love to work, honest behavior, savings culture, and material attachment´s tolerance.
Without any doubt, religion impacts the collective behavior of a society. Those societies that have achieved economic successful based on their spiritual believes (i.e. North Americans or Europeans), demonstrate the previous statement. Therefore, we have to understand the profound effect that freedom of religion has over the entire economy. The more religiously restricted a society is, the more limited its economic performance.
On the contrary, as compare to Latinos, almost 24% of North Americans are Catholics and there are not more than 43% in Canada (CIA Factbook). Nonetheless, the economic development of the US and Canada is evidently superior to Latin countries. Curiously, Brazil has one of the lowest amounts of Catholics (65%) and has the most buoyant economy of Latin America. In fact, Brazil is currently the sixth economy in the worldwide ranking. These are examples of big economies (US is the first one in the globe) where the freedom of religion is an important actuality.
This comparison does not pretend to create a statistic correlation between religions and economics, but to provide an overall idea about how the freedom of religion allows a society to create wealth. We can infer, just based on objective facts depicted before, that the more freedom of religion, the more wealth would be created by a society.
The main constrain that depicts religious people in Latin America is a sort of worship to poverty. On the flip side, in North America and Canada, wealth is a value that is supported by many religions. It is the case of the Protestants, which in the US represents more than the 50% of the population. That reality is supported by Max Weber´s thesis (4) that expresses the Protestant world is more successful economically than the Catholic world due to its members´principles: love to work, honest behavior, savings culture, and material attachment´s tolerance.
Without any doubt, religion impacts the collective behavior of a society. Those societies that have achieved economic successful based on their spiritual believes (i.e. North Americans or Europeans), demonstrate the previous statement. Therefore, we have to understand the profound effect that freedom of religion has over the entire economy. The more religiously restricted a society is, the more limited its economic performance.
Works Cited: 1) Pope Paul III. Bull Sublimus Dei. June 2, 1537. 2) The Bible. Mark 12:31. 3) Carl Jung: "In Jungian psychology, a part of the unconscious mind, shared by a society, a people, or all humankind, that is the product of ancestral experience and contains such concepts as science, religion, and morality." 4) Max Weber. “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” (German: “Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus.“) 1905.