Apostles of Change: Radical Politics and the Making of Latina/o Religion

In my presentation I place the occupation of the Spanish Methodist Church in East Harlem in its broader context by examining it in relation to other church occupations and disruptions across the U.S. in 1969. I do so as a way situate my argument that Latina/o religious politics and culture are rooted in the radical politics of Brown Power groups such as the Puerto Rican Young Lords, the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO), and Católicos Por La Raza (CPLR). This foundation does not suggest that Latina/o religious politics have a history of being revolutionary. On the contrary, I characterize these movements as uneven, complex, and more reformist than anything else. While historians have pointed to the importance of Vatican II and the Civil Rights Movement in shaping Latina/o theology and religious activism, my presentation will take a closer look at how religious outsiders and radical activist groups (through occupations) buoyed the work of Latina/o clergy and leadership in the 1970s. My analysis not only covers the role of theology and faith—a story common to other Latina/o religious narratives—but centers radical politics as fundamental to understanding Latina/o religious politics in the United States, a theme that the literature on Latina/o religion has for the most part ignored. My presentation is rooted in the idea that studying Latina/o religion from the outside-in (with a focus on non-religious activist engagements with the church) can help us better understand why Latina/o religious politics—from theology to activism—flourished in the ways that it did in the 1970s.