Church and State

This is the view from atop the Iglesia Xalteva, the majestic old church where we attended our first mass over the weekend. Spanish was the language of choice, so we didn't necessarily understand a whole lot of the service, but the people were friendly, we felt welcomed, and best of all, there was some beautiful praise music from a Mariachi-style band. 

I also had an interesting conversation this week with a native Nicaraguan and a Brit about religion at the English school where I help out. Our three countries offer some stark contrasts when it comes to faith and religion: Nicaragua, where most people are Catholic by birth and tradition but not in practice; Britain, where churches struggle to fill even one service each month; and America, where religion so saturates everything that a staunch creationist can gain the vice-presidential nomination. I have a feeling it was the first of many such conversations, so I'll keep you posted . . .

Back to mass: towards the end of the service, the voice of the priest was drowned out by the sound of hundreds of political paraders outside in the streets. There are city elections here in a few weeks, and if Nicaragua is lukewarm about its religion, it really pours its excess fervor into politics. 

As we've grown more comfortable with our native friends and Spanish teachers here, we've asked more questions about politics and the revolution of the late-1970's. It's a terribly complex and messy history, but we've learned that not everything we had heard in the states really represented the reality of the way things were here. While the US-backed contras were certainly not sweethearts, most people here recollect the brutality of the Sandinistas as well: sons taken from home in the middle of the night and taken north into the jungle to fight and die. It sounds like there were no winners, only losers, and the people continue to struggle in the face of corruption, joblessness, and lack of opportunities to escape a subsistence lifestyle.

Here's a picture of the political rally near the front steps of the church: