From The Herald Tribune:

As a child in Guatemala, Mr. Chilín attended Mass every Sunday. But after immigrating to the United States 25 years ago, he and his family lost the churchgoing habit. "We pray to God when we feel the need to," he said, "but when we come here to America we don't feel the need."

A wave of research shows that increasing percentages of Hispanics are abandoning church, suggesting to researchers that along with assimilation comes a measure of secularization.

"They come, they adopt the American way, and part of the American way is moving towards no religion," said Ariela Keysar, associate director of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College in Hartford.

I'm not Catholic, but I think it's sad to see how Latinos are abandoning their traditions. In Latin America, religion is a very important part of the daily life. Of course, the number of people leaving church is a global problem, and it has profound and complicated roots: the church's failure in adapt itself to modern life and thinking, the seduction of pop/secular culture, and so on.

I'm not a big fan of church; but I believe religion is important. The belief in something sacred, bigger than us, is a vital guidance in the awful times we're living. And Latinos in the US are not just abandoning church; they are loosing this vital guidance, in favor of a materialistic conception of life. That's not good for anyone.

Read the entire article at The Herald Tribune.