Evangelicals (religious right) flex growing clout in Nicaragua's election

[arcos]

Evangelicals flex growing clout in Nicaragua's election

MANAGUA, NICARAGUA – When Nicaragua passed one of the strictest abortion laws in the hemisphere last week, critics charged the Catholic Church with flexing political muscle ahead of next week's presidential election.

Yet, to lobby for the bill, Catholics invited evangelical Protestants to join a massive protest last month - a rare act of collaboration and a window into evangelicals' growing political sway in this predominantly Catholic country.

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Evangelicals in Guatemala and Brazil also possess notable political influence. But Mr. Cortes says he believes that evangelicals in Nicaragua, one of the poorest nations in the Western hemisphere, have had success in politics because American missionaries overlooked this country throughout the 20th century.

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In the past year, Osorno has traveled to Peru and Ecuador to help evangelicals create political parties modeled after his own. He says he is planning a trip to Bolivia and hopes that evangelicals will increase their political clout across the region. "It's the only way Latin America is going to really change," he says.

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http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1102/p01s02-woam.html

This is happening all over Latin America, in my country, Costa Rica, there are 3 religious parties (2 evangelicals, one catholic). Although they elected only one congressman in last February's election, they nearly won 4 seats out of 57. The congressman they elected has been pushing to ban adoptions by gay people (not only gay couples, but gay people in general), banning "witchcraft" and "erotism", etc. These parties are in part modeled after the religious right in the US, using some of the same tactics and certainly the same fundamentalism.

[Kerrytravelers]

1. Ah, how nice to see the American influence abroad.

Our apologies to everyone affected by our homegrown idiots.

[Joanne98]

2. The "Evangelical MENACE" is a global problem!

They've been creating colonies all over the world.

[tanyev]

3. Just wait until the Fundie Christians and the Fundie Muslims

change tactics and join together in order to wipe out the demonic threat of Moderates, Atheists, and any other assorted Liberals. It won't be pretty.

[IndianaGreen]

4. The Evangelicals' bogus religion cannot feed the hungry, clothe the needy

or get social justice. They are peddlers of deception and protectors of the ruling class.

Viva Ortega!

[Judi Lynn]

5. Everyone different from them is simply a filthy heathen.

They do NOT see people of other cultures as their equals. Noteable racists.