Protestants in Mexico Persecuted for Refusing to Renounce their Faith
By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent
MEXICO CITY (Worthy News)– Last month in Mexico’s Chiapas state, the village of Buenavista Bahuitz reneged on an agreement to allow 47 expelled evangelicals to return to their homes, according to Morning Star News.
After being expelled for their faith by Catholics in 2012, village leaders refused to allow the Protestants back until they converted to Catholicism.
The expulsion of evangelical families is just one of 30 current cases of faith-based persecution in Mexico; these persecutions include denying children the right to attend public school, banning Protestant public worship, forbidding home prayer gatherings and damaging churches not belonging Catholics.
Violations of religious freedom have been ongoing concerns in Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Hidalgo and Puebla states where local authorities often misuse Mexico’s “Law of Uses and Customs”. Originally intended to prevent government interference of indigenous customs, some Catholics have used the law to compel evangelicals to participate in Roman rituals, thereby violating the religious rights guaranteed in Mexico’s own constitution.