Protestantism in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

officially was introduced in 1872 when the first

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

church in the Anglican tradition was established on the island. Before the islands of

came under

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

sovereignty in 1898,

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

was suppressed under Roman Catholic Spanish rule.

History

In Montaña,

Aguadilla Aguadilla (, ), founded in 1775 by Luis de Córdova, is a city and municipality located in the northwestern tip of Puerto Rico, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, north of Aguada, and Moca and west of Isabela. Aguadilla i ...

, a group called "Los Bíblicos" met clandestinely under the direction of Antonio Badillo. Many freethinkers and Protestants belonged to

Masonic Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

lodges, as many in the older generation still do. In 1872, the first Protestant church was established in Puerto Rico, when Bishop William Walrond Jackson, from the Anglican Diocese of Antigua provided for the creation of the Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Ponce, followed several years later by All Saints Anglican Church in

Vieques Vieques (; ), officially Isla de Vieques, is an island and municipality of Puerto Rico, in the northeastern Caribbean, part of an island grouping sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands. Vieques is part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, ...

. Soon after the change of sovereignty, United States

denominations agreed to divide the island in order to facilitate

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

penetration. The two existing Anglican churches in Ponce and Vieques served as the basis for a new diocese of the

Episcopal Church of the United States The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop of ...

which has since had seven diocesan bishops.

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

s, Baptists, Congregationalists and Disciples of Christ started the missionary work. While the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

appointed the

governors A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, these denominations were influential in government policies. After the 1940s this changed; nevertheless Protestantism kept growing, particularly

Pentecostalism Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

, which grew mostly among the poor and the rural.

Institutions

Mainline Protestants started educational and health institutions. Presbyterians founded in 1912 the

InterAmerican University The Inter American University of Puerto Rico (Spanish: ''Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico''; often abbreviated to ''UIPR'' or ''Inter'') is a private Christian university with its main campus in San Germán, Puerto Rico. It also has ...

, with 11 campuses and 40,000 students, and established in 1904 the Ashford Presbyterian Hospital in San Juan.

Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...

s founded Adventist University in 1961 and Bella Vista Hospital in 1954 near Mayagüez. In 1907, the Episcopal Church established St. Luke's Hospital in Ponce, the centerpiece of a multi-hospital health services organization today. An interdenominational Seminary,

Seminario Evangélico de Puerto Rico The Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico —or Seminario Evangélico de Puerto Rico (SEPR) in Spanish language, Spanish — is a private mainline Protestant seminary in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico. It offers graduate studies in religion. It ...

was begun in 1919. There is a Council of Churches, founded by the cooperating denominations of the original community agreement. In 1940, Juanita Garcia Peraza and her followers founded the "Mita" congregation, the only Protestant religion of Puerto Rican origin.

Present situation

Estimates of the Protestant population vary greatly. The CIA World Factbook estimates that 85% of the population is

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

while the remaining 15% are Protestants and other religions.

Pollster An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions ...

Pablo Ramos stated in 1998 that the population was 38% Roman Catholic, 28% Pentecostal, and 18% were members of independent churches, which would give a Protestant percentage of 46% if the last two populations are combined. Protestants collectively added up to almost two million people. "The conclusion is that Puerto Rico is no longer predominantly Catholic." Another researcher gave a more conservative assessment of the proportion of Protestants: "Puerto Rico, by virtue of its long political association with the United States, is the most Protestant of Latin American countries, with a Protestant population of approximately 33 to 38 percent, the majority of whom are Pentecostal. David Stoll calculates that if we extrapolate the growth rates of evangelical churches from 1960-1985 for another twenty-five years Puerto Rico will become 75 percent evangelical."Ana Adams: "Brincando el Charco..." in Power, Politics and Pentecostals in Latin America, Edward Cleary, ed., 1997. p. 164. Guatemala and Honduras have similar proportions of Protestants, with Guatemala probably being the highest.

References

Bibliography

*Cardona, José A. Breve historia de la Iglesia Presbiteriana en Puerto Rico. Río Piedras, 1976. *Rodríguez, Daniel R. La primera evangelización norteamericana en Puerto Rico, 1898-1930. México, D.F.: Ediciones Borinquen, 1986. *Silva Gotay, Samuel. Protestantismo y Política en Puerto Rico. San Juan: Editorial Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1997.

External links

Puerto Rico's Protestantism Data on Joshua Project

{{North America topic, Protestantism in Christianity in Puerto Rico