(RNS) — The number of Latin Americans who say they are not affiliated with a religion has long been steadily increasing. And over the past decade, according to a 2024 Pew Research Center survey, the percentage of those known as “nones” roughly doubled in Argentina (to 24% in 2024), Brazil (15%) and Chile (33%); tripled in Mexico (20%) and Peru (12%); and almost quadrupled in Colombia (23%).
But for many, that label doesn’t mean a rejection of faith. Across Brazil, Colombia and beyond, people continue to pray, meditate and participate in rituals drawing from Christian, Indigenous, African and Eastern traditions in deeply personal ways, so-called nones told RNS. Their beliefs and practices may reveal a blind spot of such surveys in how they rely on Christian and Western frameworks to define what counts as religion.
For Camile Coutinho, a 28-year-old dietitian who lives near Rio de Janeiro, a typical week involves attending a Sunday service at a Baptist church, taking part in ritual baths and cowrie-shell divination with a Umbanda priestess, and going to Deeksha meditation gatherings. She recites the Hail Mary and Our Father Catholic prayers and uses Japamala prayer beads. She keeps incense and crystals in her home to attempt to cleanse negative energy. However, she identifies as religiously unaffiliated.
“I believe in the Bible, in Christianity,” she said, “but today I also believe in spiritism and in Umbanda. I’ve …