Baptist Press: 'Mexico Protestants march against forced displacement, church burning'

Christian families protest Aug. 19 outside the municipal offices of San Juan Lalana, Oaxaca, where Protestant communities including Baptists have faced ongoing persecution because of their faith. Additional protests were expected Aug. 22, CSW said. 

CSW photo (Baptist Press)

By Diana Chandler - Posted at Baptist Press:

Published August 22, 2024

OAXACO, Mexico (BP) – The last Protestants in an indigenous Mexican community where Catholicism is the only religion allowed were forced from their homes Aug. 6, their lone church set ablaze, CSW reported Aug. 22 ahead of Protestant protests in the street.

Members of the Protestant Interdenominational Christian Church (ICIAR) and their supporters were expected to protest in the main square of Mexico City and in the city of Oaxaca Aug. 22, CSW said, calling out serious religious freedom violations in the community of San Isidro Arenal in San Juan Lalana Municipality, Oaxaca State.

There, members of the ICIAR have been subjected to discrimination, violence and arbitrary detention since November 2023 and face imminent forced displacement from their homes due to their religious beliefs, CSW said. Previous protests were held in Oaxaca Aug. 19.

“We stand with those who are raising their voices today across Mexico in support of freedom of religion or belief for all,” CSW’s Head of Advocacy Anna Lee Stangl said in a press release. “It is imperative that the governments of the San Juan Lalana Municipality and Oaxaca State, and at the federal level, take urgent action to uphold the Mexican Constitution and ensure that freedom of religion or belief is a right enjoyed by all, regardless of where they live or their ethno-linguistic identity.”

Oaxaco is just 2 miles from Hidalgo, where Baptist worshipers in several indigenous villages have endured similar persecution, driven from their homes and churches unless they observe Catholic customs and rites, or convert to Catholicism.

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