【2009经济学人杂志双语阅读】Separated brothers分离的兄弟

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Latinos and religion

拉美人和信仰

Separated brothers

分离的兄弟

Jul 16th 2009 | LOS ANGELES
From The Economist print edition

Latinos are changing the nature of American religion

拉丁人正在改变美国宗教的本性

THE church of La Placita, “the little square”, formally called Nuestra Señora Reina de Los Angeles, was founded under Spanish rule at around the same time as the pueblo bearing the same name, the future Los Angeles. As the land on which it stood became first Mexican and then American, it always stayed Latino in both look and character, says Father Richard Estrada. Catholicism and Hispanic culture seemed inseparable there.

Placita小广场教堂，也就是洛杉矶Reina圣母教堂在西班牙的制度下建立，当时洛杉矶市还是一个小镇并刚刚被命名为洛杉矶。神父Richard Estrada说，这片土地先成为墨西哥的一部分，然后又成为美国的一部分，但在这里一直生活着土生土长的拉美人。那时，天主教和西班牙的文化在这里似乎 是不可分离的。

They still largely are. Virtually all Father Estrada’s parishioners教区居民 are Hispanic, most of them of Mexican extraction. When Guatemalan and Salvadorean refugees showed up in the 1980s, it was natural for them, as good Catholics, to find sanctuary at La Placita, where they slept on the pews and Father Estrada gave them food. It was natural again in 2006, when the country went on an anti-immigrant binge, for many of the Latino counter-marches to start from La Placita. Latinos still come from all over southern California for baptisms and prayer, social services and a sense of community.

他们现在也大致是这样的。在Richard Estrada神父教区的所有居民都是说西班牙语的人， 大部分是有墨西哥血统的人。在上世纪八十年代，危地马拉和萨尔瓦多的难民出现在这里的时候，作为良好的天主教徒，他们很自然地在小广场教堂找到的庇护。他 们可以睡在教堂的长凳上，神父Richard Estrada向他们提供食物。所以在2006年，当全国掀起一场反对移民的大浪潮时，很自然的，小广场教堂也成为了许多拉美人反对游行开始的地方。为了 洗礼、祷告、社会活动和社区归属感，许多拉美人还是不断地从加州南部的各个地方不断来到这里。

But more and more grandmothers also come to Father Estrada with worries about children or grandchildren who have become hermanos separados, separated brothers, after defecting to an evangelical church, usually one with a Pentecostal flavour. The converts may have followed one of the evangelicals who come to La Placita to recruit, or friends whom they met at a spiritual rock concert or picnic. “I don’t worry, but I find it to be challenging,” says Father Estrada.

但是，许多祖母年纪的人来到Richard Estrada神父这里，表示对自己的子孙的担心，因为他们已经变成了分离的兄弟。他们中的许多已经转投了信福音主义教堂（evangelical：信福 音主义，们强调个人只要皈依就可改变信仰并获得拯救），一种和圣灵降临节集会有关的信仰（Pentecostal：圣灵降临节的：属于、关于或是基督徒通 过在祭祀中模仿基督使者降临,祈求圣灵充满内心的各种宗教集会）。那些皈依者可能是通过接触来小广场教堂征募信徒的信福音主义中的一个分支而转变了信仰， 或是通过朋友一起参加精神摇滚音乐会和野餐等接触而转变了信仰。“我不担心，但是我发现这会变得有挑战性，” Richard Estrada神父说。

Some 68% of Hispanics in America are still Catholic, according to the Pew Research Centre, a think-tank, and their absolute number, thanks to immigration and higher birth rates, continues to increase. But about 15% are now born-again evangelicals, who are fast gaining “market share”, as Gaston Espinosa, a professor of religion at Claremont McKenna College, puts it. He estimates that about 3.9m Latino Catholics have converted, and that “for every one who comes back to the Catholic church, four leave it.”

根据智囊团皮佑研究中心的数据显示，大约68%的在美的说西班牙语的人还依然是天主教徒。而且因为移民和高出生率，绝对的数量还继续上涨。但是， Claremont McKenna大学的宗教学教授Gaston Espinosa指出，现在大约有15%的信徒是再生的信福音教徒，他们正在快速的占领“市场”。他估计有大约390万拉美裔天主教徒已经转变了信仰， “每有一个人回到天主教堂，就有四个人离开”。

The main reason, he thinks, is ethnic identity. Evangelical services are not only in Spanish, as many Catholic sermons are nowadays, but are performed by Latinos rather than Irish or Polish-American priests, with the cadences, rhythms, innuendos and flow familiar from the mother country. The evangelical services tend to be livelier than Catholic liturgy and to last longer, often turning into an outing lasting the whole day. Women play greater roles, and there are fewer parishioners for each pastor than in the Catholic church.

他认为，这种转变主要的原因是种族的同一性。像很多天主教的布道一样，信福音教的活动不仅用西班牙语，还更多的是由拉美人的牧师布道，而不是爱尔兰裔或波 兰裔美国人牧师，用着来自西语国家本土的腔调、韵律和表达方式。信福音教堂的活动也要比天主教的礼拜活泼很多，并持续时间更长。他们的活动经常成为一整天 的外出活动。女性在活动中也占更重要的地位，而且每位信福音教堂的牧师管理的社区居民也要比天主教牧师的少。

The evangelical churches are also more “experiential”, says Samuel Rodriguez, a third-generation Puerto Rican Pentecostal pastor and the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, an evangelical association. In the Catholic church, a believer’s relationship with Jesus is mediated through hierarchies and bureaucracies, he says, whereas the evangelical churches provide direct access to Jesus. The Pentecostals go one step further, with the “gifts of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians) letting believers speak in tongues and pray for divine healing.

波多黎各第三代五旬节教派牧师、全国拉美裔基督教徒领导人会议（一个新福音主义协会）主席Samuel Rodriguez说，信福音教堂也更有“经验”。他说，在天主教堂，信徒们与上帝的联系中间是有等级层次的，要通过官僚机构来作用。然而在信福音教堂， 信徒能够与上帝直接地联系起来。带着圣灵的礼物（一种柯林斯式），五旬节教派能够进一步让信徒与上帝倾诉，并祈祷神的治疗。

“This is the first group in America to reconcile both the vertical and the horizontal parts of the cross,” says Mr Rodriguez. By this he means that the Latino evangelical churches emphasise not only “covenant, faith and righteousness” (the vertical part), as white evangelicals do, but also “community, public policy and social justice” (the horizontal part), as many black evangelicals, but fewer white ones, do. To Latino evangelicals it is all one thing, he says, and the social outreach the church provides goes far beyond any
government programme, with pastors snatching young men away from gang life and fighting to uphold the rights of immigrants.

Rodriguez先生说：“在美国，这是第一个教会能同时顺从十字架的水平和垂直的部分。”他的意思是，拉美人的信福音教堂强调的不仅是“契约、信仰和 正义”（垂直部分），同时还像白人的信福音教堂一样，强调“团体，国家政策和社会公正”（水平部分），这一点像很多的黑人信福音教堂，但很少白人教堂两者 兼备。他说，对于拉美人的信福音教堂来说，这是一件事。牧师让年轻人远离黑帮的生活，并为支持移民的权利而战斗，这些都让教堂所触及到的社会范围远远大于 任何政府政策所能做到的。

This also means that Latino evangelicals as a political force are distinct from white evangelicals. Many of the whites have veered hard right, hating abortion and gay marriage and reliably voting Republican, though less so very recently. Latinos tend to be even more pro-life and traditional marriage than whites, says Mr Rodriguez, but only because they know that “mom and dad in the home is the prime antidote to gangs and drugs.” That same pragmatism makes them believe in government services and the taxes that pay for them, and of course in immigrant rights. As voters, he reckons, Latino evangelicals are therefore the quintessential independents, up for grabs by either party.

这也说明作为一股政治力量，拉美人的信福音教堂较白人的信福音教堂特点突出。许多的白人已经坚定地转向右派，痛恨堕胎和同性恋婚姻，并是可靠地共和党投票 人，尽管最近情况有所转低。拉美人较白人更加反对堕胎，更倾向于传统的婚姻，Rodriguez先生说，正是因为他们知道，“在家里的爸爸妈妈才是使孩子 远离黑帮和毒品的最有力的解药”。同样是这样的实用主义使拉美人相信政府公职，相信他们所纳的税是为了他们自己，当然同时也相信移民的权利。他认为，因 此，拉美信福音教徒是无党派人士中的精华，等着被某一个党派全部拿走。

But it may be American Catholicism that changes the most. About a third of American Catholics are Latino now, and their share is growing. Their influence is not only physical and linguistic, with more of them turning up at church. They are also different Catholics, with more than half describing themselves as “charismatics”, according to the Pew report. Charismatics remain in their traditional denomination, but believe in some aspects of Pentecostalism, such as the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially the speaking in tongues.

但是，也许美国的天主教才是改变的最多的。现在大约有三分之一的美国天主教徒是拉美人，而且他们的比例还在增长。随着越来越多的拉美人进入教堂，他们的影 响不仅是肉体上和语言上的。据皮佑的报告，他们同时又是不同的天主教徒，其中有一半以上形容自己为“有神赐能力的人”。这些“有神赐能力的人”依旧在传统 的教派中，但是也信仰五旬节教派的一些方面，如圣灵的礼物，对上帝的诉说。

Latino charismatics see themselves as a renewal movement within Catholicism, as it converges with other churches. And in general all churchgoing Latinos tend to see themselves as renewing Christianity in America. That makes them a powerful force as demographic changes turn America ever more Hispanic, and increasingly different from secular Europe.

拉美的“有神赐能力”的人视自己为天主教中的复兴运动，因为他们与其他教堂有了交合点。并且大体上，所有去教堂的拉美人都视自己为美国天主教的复兴力量。作为人口统计上的变化，这也让他们成为了一股强大的力量使美国比以前更加的拉美化，并且不同于世俗的欧洲。