Exploring the Nonaffiliated in South America

Abstract

This work explores the phenomenon of the "nonaffiliated" in Latin America and presents partial results of a qualitative research project that included in-depth interviews with fifty-eight nonaffiliated in Cordoba (Argentina), Lima (Peru), and Montevideo (Uruguay). After analyzing the main differences between nonbelievers and believers who have no religious affiliation, we propose a typology for understanding these two groups, which display great diversity within themselves while adopting characteristics of the cultures of their own countries. Three large groups are identified: atheists, nonconfessional, and indifferent. Among the atheists, we find two emphases: militant and indifferent. Among the nonconfessional believers, three groups are identified: those who engage in individual practices related to transcendence, those who engage in collective practices, and those who abandoned Christianity yet express their religiosity in the same keys. The indifferent are those to whom religion deserves no attention.