Despite their being hailed by some as a victory for indigenous rights, a number one international charity has warned that latest reforms to Mexican law that can allow indigenous communities to implement local customs and traditions as an alternative risk escalating the persecution of Christians.
Open Doors, which works to support believers facing persecution across the globe, has warned that the laws passed in September could see Christians who refuse to take part in traditional rituals and festivals – some involving practices resembling animal sacrifice – face legal repercussions.
“In many indigenous communities, religious customs are inseparable from community life,” Liz Cortés, a partner of Open Doors working in Mexico, said. “Christians who select to not take part in these rituals are sometimes seen as outsiders, disrupting the social order.
“This latest reform essentially legitimises this persecution by empowering local authorities to implement these traditions as law, leaving Christians vulnerable to harassment and violence.”
Religious practices that mix pre-Hispanic beliefs with Catholic traditions are sometimes considered communal obligations in indigenous communities across Mexico, and Christians who refuse to participate, or contribute to community funds for them, recurrently face hostility. Even before the brand new laws got here into effect, Christians often faced fines, imprisonment, and expulsion.
“Christians are sometimes cut off from essential services resembling water and electricity,” Cortés said. “Their children are denied education, they usually are barred from accessing health services.”
“In some cases, pastors are usually not even allowed to enter these communities to supply spiritual support.”
This social ostracism may also see the kids of Christians face bullying at college, and even instructions to teachers from local authorities to disregard them in school.
Advocates fear that the brand new reforms won’t only embolden the persecution of Christians, but that the increased autonomy it grants indigenous communities in enforcing their law free from external oversight will undermine the power of Christians to appeal to the nation’s legal protections of spiritual expression and belief.
“By recognising indigenous customs as public law, the federal government has essentially created a ‘fourth level’ of governance, making it difficult for Christian minorities to defend their rights under national law,” Jorge Jiménez, a researcher for Open Doors in Mexico, said.
“Indigenous courts, which could also be biased against Christians, could handle these cases, complicating legal recourse.”
The latest laws will even make it harder for groups like Open Doors to advocate on behalf of local Christians. In the past, rights groups have relied on the Law on Religious Associations and Public Worship which upholds freedom of faith in indigenous areas.
However, they worry that its protections could also be weakened within the name of respecting the worth and importance of indigenous traditions, and are calling on the Mexican government to be certain that cultural preservation doesn’t come on the expense of fundamental human rights, including freedom of faith.
“We respect the traditions of those communities,” Cortés said, “but we cannot stand by while Christians are forced to surrender their faith or face imprisonment, fines, and social exclusion.
“It is crucial that the Mexican government safeguards religious freedom alongside the autonomy of indigenous peoples.”
