In the Name of Christ: Violence, Religion, and Politics in Post-Revolutionary Mexico (1930-1960)

Gema Kloppe-Santamaría, The George Washington University

In this paper, I explore the political and cultural drivers that contributed to shaping Catholics’ understanding of violence as a legitimate means to defend their religious practices and beliefs in post-revolutionary Mexico. In particular, I focus on the 1930 to 1950s decades, a period marked by the end of the Cristero War (1927-1929) - Mexico’s armed conflict over the religious question - and the so-called détente between the Mexican state and the Catholic Church. Despite the Church’s official rejection of the use of violence amongst the faithful, during this period Catholics continued to engage in belligerent and violent forms of religious militancy in the name of Christ and religious freedom. This, I argue, reflects the weight that non-canonical understandings of martyrdom, sacrifice, and redemptive violence, had in Catholics’ exercise of religion. Catholics’ aggressive defense of religious symbols and places, together with their attacks against individuals perceived as “polluting” or “impious,” further show that moral and symbolic considerations were deeply intertwined with uncompromising political ideologies and long-term intra-community conflicts.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 178. Politics and Social Change in Catholic Contexts