Religious intolerance in Mexico has its origins in the Spanish colonization and in the Catholic Church-State relations implementing a policy that forged a Mexican identity with repulsion towards Protestants. This intolerance is widely recognized and most severely manifested in indigenous communities. The indigenous' legal system, Asamblea Comunitaria, facilitates an effective execution of decisions against Indigenous Protestants. This situation violates their human security, the right to live in freedom and dignity, free from fear and want (CHS, 2003), and the ontological security that allows them to feel secure in who they are. The Catholic majority exercise violence primarily with a religious motive, which aims to force their neighbors to deny their adopted Protestant way of living. The caciques use their power to profit from the conflict and help to expel indigenous Protestants from the communities. The testimonies of the victims and independent religious freedom advocates share how the Mexican state has contributed to the problem by not punishing the attackers and pleasing their demands. Indigenous Protestants living as IDPs in the city are deprived of the essential elements for their indigenous identity. Unable to continue living on subsisting farming surrounded by nature in their ancestral lands, they become saddened and lowly waged servants in a city that does not speak their language. Against all odds, Protestantism continues to expand and becomes a weapon of the weak that provides an alternative source of hope for the next generation that witnessed their faith and resilience.
Silvia Luz González Márquez (Thu,) studied this question.