The True Story of Cristiada, the Catholic War Against Atheist Mexico Last Century

Mexican Catholics waged a war against the atheist Mexican government in the early 20th century (e.g. last century). It was named the Cristero War.

A film was recently made about the war: For Greater Glory: The True Story of Cristiada (2012) | Free Films org

The war raged for three years claiming the lives of 90,000 people: 56,882 on the federal side, 30,000 Cristeros, and numerous civilians and Cristeros who were killed in anticlerical raids after the war ended due to Mexican officials in several localities continuing persecution of Catholic priests based on their deliberate misinterpretation of the new understanding. It wasn't until 27 June 1929 that church bells rang in Mexico for the first time in three years.

It wasn't until 1992 that the Mexican government amended the Mexican constitution granting all religious groups legal status, conceding them limited property rights, and lifting restrictions on the number of priests in the country!

Here is a story few U.S. citizens know about.

To this day, the Mexican constitution prohibits outdoor worship, which is only allowed in exceptional circumstances, generally requiring governmental permission. Religious organizations are not permitted to own print or electronic media outlets, governmental permission is required to broadcast religious ceremonies, and ministers are prohibited from being political candidates or holding public office.

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It's sad when Catholicism is the only choice a society offers for being a Christian.

It's even sadder to realize how many pagan indians the Conquistadores had to kill to bring catholicism to Mexico in the first place.

In Mexico, Catholicism is NOT the only choice a society offers for being a Christian. The Mexican constitution grants ALL religious groups legal status since 1992. I have been in a large evangelical church in Ensenada before.

It was the only choice in the 1920's. All of Latin America has been a major battleground for Catholic vs. protestant, especially pentecostal, denominations since about 1970. In the 1990's, it was almost routine for a Catholic man taking a managerial job for a corporation from the US, Canada, Britain, etc., to convert to Pentecostalism. I recall studying the social psychology underlying the change. The Catholic Church, in my opinion, made a major mistake in outlawing the right of South American priests to establish communes in the 1980's. They just got around to trying to fix it by choosing an Argetinian pope; at least I assume that is part of their thinking. I spent a couple years working in a Hispanic church a couple years ago, trying to help them get an English ministry going. The church was pentecostal, and the battle lines were clearly drawn, and very obvious, in families, in public in the newspapers, and in attitudes.

Not quite right but your point is misplaced as the topic is about a revolution against an atheist government that was going through the villages of Mexico murdering priests. Not Protestant versus Catholic.

My point was in response to yout response to my original point. The intention was to say that I believe that had Mexico been open to Protestantism in the 1700's-1800's, as was America, there would have been less chance that an aggressively atheistic government would have been established, as there would have been more options, and the pendulum would have not to swing back so strongly against God. You are correct that the situation has changed since then, and my new observation was then, that a battle is still going on, although no one is dying over religion, as it is far less aggressive.

The same Christian=Catholic thinking in the middle ages produced devil worship (as opposed to wicca which is way older) in the Middle Ages, and the resulting Inquisition. Once the right of the individual to choose how to worship is recognized, the likelihood of open warfare pro and against God seems to decrease.