Definition
Atheism is defined as the “absence of belief in the existence of a God or gods” (Bullivant 2009). Agnosticism is defined as the absence of knowledge regarding whether there is a God or gods, and the belief that such knowledge cannot be obtained (Cragun 2016). Other than Atheists and Agnostics, nonbelievers include other individuals and groups who do not feel comfortable with either of these labels, but share the absence of religion in their lives as well as the absence of belief in a God or gods.
Nonbelievers in Guatemala
Guatemala is a culturally diverse, predominantly Christian nation. Although there are no official census statistics available, polls from the last decade estimate that people who have no religion comprise between 10% and 11% of the Guatemalan population. It is estimated that Catholics make up between 45% and 50% of the population, whereas Evangelical Protestantism comprises between 37% and 42%; about 3% of the population profess other religions (Mayan...
References
Bullivant S (2009) Defining atheism. In: Bullivant S, Ruse M (eds) The Oxford handbook of atheism. Oxford University Press, Oxford, p 13
Contreras Corsanges G (2015) Católicos superan por poco a evangélicos [Catholics narrowly outnumber Evangelicals]. Prensa Libre. http://www.prensalibre.com/guatemala/comunitario/catolicos-evangelicos-cifras-encuesta. Accessed 3 Apr 2017
Cragun RT (2016) Sociology of nonreligion and atheism. In: Yamane D (ed) Handbook of religion and society. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 301–320
Fanjul de Marsicovetere R, Gibbons JL, Grazioso MP (2014) “No hay por qué seguir a todo el mundo:” la cosmovisión de guatemaltecos no creyentes [“there is no reason to follow everyone else:” the worldview of Guatemalan nonbelievers]. Int J Psychol 48:198–209
Orantes R (2016) Los ateos en Guatemala son una minoría incomprendida [Atheists in Guatemala are a little understood minority]. Siglo.21 http://www.magacin21.com/2016/04/los-ateos-en-guatemala-una-minoria-incomprendida/. Accessed 3 Apr 2017
Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (2005) Los múltiples rostros de la diversidad [The multiple faces of diversity]. http://desarrollohumano.org.gt/biblioteca/informes-nacionales/#. Accessed 3 Apr 2017
Rodríguez F, Madrigal J, Castro Méndez S (2003) Intolerancia en Centroamérica: ¿Límite al desarrollo de democracias más inclusivas y participativas? [Intolerance in Central America: does it limit the development of more inclusive and participatory democracies?]. Serie Cuadernos de Trabajo 2003–06. Procesos, San José
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Fanjul de Marsicovetere, R., Gibbons, J.L. (2017). Agnosticism, Atheism, Population without Religion (Nonbelievers) in Guatemala. In: Gooren, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08956-0_391-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08956-0_391-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-08956-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-08956-0
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities