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state religion in Costa Rica is Roman Catholicism as mandated
by the Constitution of 1949, but most Costa Ricans are comparatively
tepid when it comes to religion. The Constitution provides for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respects this
right in practice. The Constitution establishes Roman Catholicism
as the state religion. However, persons of all denominations freely
practice their religion without government interference. Some
of the other religious groups are Protestants, Islam, Judaism,
Buddhism, etc. These sects found in many places of Costa Rica
never tend to be any kind of majority, although they are certainly
on the rise and quite uproarious compared to the traditional religions.
 The
Catholic clergy has fiercely defended its turf against Protestant
missionaries, and the Protestant evangelism so prevalent in other
parts of Central America has yet to make a dent in Costa Rica.
However the population special dislike for dictators have made
them intolerant of priests, together with the influence of secular
liberal administrations that vanished orders and deeply affected
the church's influence at the beginning of the 19th century. In
Costa Rica the church had trouble from the earliest colonial times
to take control over people minds and moral. While poor peasants
can be convinced they’ll become bourgeois in heaven, a rising
class wants its comforts on earth. Costa Rica’s modernity
and middle-class achievements have made the traditional Church
and all of its meanings superfluous for many people.
A sudden increase in the number
of religious sects might be marking a spiritual awakening of a
large non-religious population who is disappointed by the traditional
catholic church's pomposity and lack spiritual content. Unfortunately,
these new sects, are usually founded by greedy or lascivious preachers
with something other than salvation in mind. The catholic church
has already started it's counter attack in trying to recover the
souls of the people by sending nice looking priest to preach on
television and radio in a manner quite unheard of from the Catholics
before this troublesome times.
 The
smallest towns have their own churches or chapels. When you drive
by dirt roads in the more distant towns of Costa Rica, especially
on Sundays, you will see lots of people walking to the Sunday
catholic or protestant services. Older people tend to be more
pious than younger ones, but it is undeniable that even without
attending church a vast majority of the population considers itself
catholic and have an inherited respect for the church.
Much
of the information on our site as it relates to Costa Rica is:
 Courtesy
of Christopher P. Baker and Avalon Travel Publishing.
© 2004 Christopher P. Baker. All Rights Reserved.
Spanish Abroad, Inc. highly
recommends Christopher P. Baker's book: Moon
Handbooks Costa Rica. Click on the image to visit
his website where you can purchase this book or find out more
about the author.
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