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Much like the human tail bone or wisdom teeth, it seems that religion has become a vestigial structure, unneccessary for the continuance of human growth and development in this day and age. The article Hispanic immigrants out of religious practice touches on this concept, using data collected from religious census groups to confirm the notion that religion has lost favor in many americanized latino households. I took an interest in this article, as my family seems to contribute to the statistic of long-gone catholic church attenders. However, the true evolution of this development lies with my grandmother, my father, and his siblings.

As a family of plantation workers in Puerto Rico, my grandmother and my grandfather found hope in the sermons of the Catholic church. During a time when food and money were scarsely available, they looked to God to protect them and their children from the hardships they would surely face. If one believed that God would favor them by attending church on a weekly basis, then they were convinced of a better tomorrow. Undoubtedly, my grandmother and her 8 children attended mass every Sunday until she had the opportunity to move to the Bronx, NY in 1950. By this point in her life, she was alone in providing for her family and had to work 7 days a week, including Sundays. When times were hard, she would pray, because God seemed like the only answer in a country where everyone spoke English (something she didnt' understand).  

Christianity alone seemed to be a universal language.

As my father and his siblings grew older, they too faced the burden of daily work, in addition to constant schooling. Church was always held in high regards, but God seemed to become a go-to guy as things fluctuated between bad and worse. As my family gained their foothold in American society, its members began to attend Protestant churches. My father explained to me that Catholic masses seemed to treat God as a burden, whereas Protestantism allowed average every-day people to rejoice in his presence (allowing his family to feel no shame when taking credit for their successes and hard work). Over time, my family assimilated into American culture and religion lost the appeal it had once offered. However, many continue to attend church on a weekely (or, atleast bi-weekly) basis.

 It is my belief that religion is a very large cultural aspect of the totality of latino communities. Though our faith in humanity seems to have outgrown our faith in religion due to the secularity of American ways, our cultural roots dictate that we alone are not responsible for the success we gain. So, we may not always go to church, but we frequently look to God when we alone are out of answers. This is not unique of Latino peoples. In fact, it is my personal opinion that it is simply human nature to look away from oneself in a time of distress, for comfort. Perhaps, as Latino immigrants have continued to prosper in America, we have slowly lost our need to look up.