The Opium of God’s People: Latin American/Hispanic Theology, Popular Religiosity, and the Challenge of Narcotrafficking

The manipulation of popular religiosity by drug trafficking at the epicenter of the world drug market represents a challenge for Latin American theology. How might it reflect on popular religiosity in areas replete with cartels? How might it help popular religiosity to become the fruit of true justice without imposing the judgmental worldview of enlightened elites? This article will attempt to answer both questions over the course of four sections. First, it will describe the history of Latin American revaluations of popular religiosity as a theological starting point. Second, it will demonstrate the conceptualization of popular religion by Latin American and Hispanic scholars and theologians in the United States. Third, it will analyze how drug trafficking permeates popular religiosity in Latin America. Finally, it will propose an appropriate pastoral and theological approach to popular religiosity in areas affected by drug trafficking.

U.S. Hispanic Theology

A new theological voice is growing increasingly more articulate in the United States—the voice of U.S. Hispanic theologians. In this article Arturo Bañuelas surveys the work of seven major U.S. Hispanic thinkers, sets forth twelve characteristics that are common to this emerging theology, and presents six points of assessment. Even though it is in its nascent stages, Hispanic theology is being done with maturity and depth, and with a sense of urgency arising out of U.S. Hispanics' experience of suffering and marginalization.