Chile

Ok so a couple of posts ago I said that "People value harmonious relationships over being honest about and working through issues. It is loving to endure". I've since found out that, while this may be true for some Latin American countries, it's not true of Chile. Chileans are passionate and opinionated and happy to share their views. I've been advised not to talk about politics or controversial religious topics...

Here's some other things I've found out:

Religion

• Catholics are nominal and there is widespread involvement in witchcraft, of one sort or another, as people turn to whatever might aid them in life. Yet for all this, Catholicism runs deep in people's hearts.
• The Pentecostal church has thrived, especially among the working class. The ugly 'prosperity gospel' is everywhere found.
  
• The Anglican denomination is seen as being very similar to the Catholic church (except there's no Mary and saints and the priests can marry), and as a church for the rich. Yet there is a lot of good, Gospel stuff happening in the denomination.
• There is poor understanding and application of, and even belief in the relevance of, the Bible amongst pastors and congregations. This is especially true of the working class Pentecostal churches where not many pastors have not been well educated.
• People dislike Pentecostal churches because they see through the prosperity gospel, and because of scandals where pastors have made off with lots of money. Rich people don't want to become Evangelical Christians because they think they would have to drop a social class to associate with working class Pentecostals.

Society

• Chilean society is tainted by lust for people and possessions. Unfaithfulness and teenage pregnancies are rife.
• There is a definite rich/poor divide.
• Chileans are fiercly patriotic, yet they also long to be like the US and to relocate to a more prosperous country.
• Relationships with people are prized above completion of tasks.
• No-one seems to talk about Pinochet.

Prayer

• Please pray that I will be gracious, gentle and patient when I'm speaking with Catholics (a critical attitude will only serve to get their backs up and turn me bitter), and that I will have the discernment to judge if people (read: men) are trustworthy or not.

P.S. I hope I haven't made Chile sound like an awful country when actually it's a prosperous, spectacular country full of warm, vivacious people. My friends who were there recently said that even the security guards are friendly and obliging!