In 1976, journalists writing about presidential candidate Jimmy Carter’s religious faith often felt obliged to define the meaning of the phrase “born again.” The fact that the concept was quite familiar to millions of Americans didn’t matter; it seemed exotic to some in government and media. In 2016, evangelical Christians may have to explain “born again” makes perfectly good sense, whether in English or in Spanish.
Last week in Houston, several thousand Hispanic evangelicals gathered to worship and to discuss matters such as the sanctity of life, racial justice, economic growth and the values of hard work. A few weeks ago, a thousand or so Latino evangelicals in the broadly Calvinist tradition met in Orlando to speak about theology, evangelism and church-planting. The conferences reflect an underappreciated demographic fact: Born-again Protestant Hispanic congregations are growing quickly. One recent study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that 16% of the nation’s Hispanics identify as evangelicals—and that number is steadily on the rise.
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