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Jehovah’s Witnesses in Mexico

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Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions

Part of the book series: Religions of the World ((REWO))

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Statistics

2016 Jehovah’s Witness average publishers: 829,793. Congregations: 13,237. Baptisms: 17,190. Memorial Attendance: 2,262,646. Preaching hours: 204.9 million.

Culture and Background

The Aztecs and other Native Americans inhabiting the lands of Mexico were forcibly converted to Catholicism by the Spanish conquistadors after the Aztecs surrendered to Spain in 1521. Indigenous religions were gradually replaced by Catholic practices, although some indigenous beliefs and syncretic practices persisted.

In 1859, the Leyes de Reforma (Laws of Reformation) were implemented to separate church and state and confiscate church property. Following the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920), new restrictions limited the influence of the Catholic Church.

Early History

In 1893, a man named Stephenson in Mexico wrote to the Watch Tower Society and ordered literature to share with others (Yearbook 1995). In 1917, Abel Ortega learned of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Texas where he had traveled to study...

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Correspondence to David G. Stewart Jr. .

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© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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Stewart, D.G. (2019). Jehovah’s Witnesses in Mexico. In: Gooren, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions. Religions of the World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27078-4_455

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