A new legal framework has set the scene for the expression of the faith in the twenty-first century. Since the promulgation of a new Constitution in 2009 and the passing of the Law on Religious Freedom, Religious Organisations and Spiritual Beliefs in 2019, the Bolivian state no longer has an official religion and has clarified the status of the various religious confessions. In turn, religious freedom favours the development of Indigenous religions and spiritualities that are widely practised among the Bolivian population. However, census results demonstrate that the majority of Indigenous people also profess Christianity, mostly Catholic, but with a trend of Evangelical growth. This essay provides a description of the Christian confessions, which, in addition to carrying out spiritual work, develop social services, though in recent years these have gradually been assumed by the state. This scenario poses new challenges to Christianity, or to the various Christianities, providing space for future discussions on religious inter-culturality.

Legal Background

Bolivia was constituted as a republic on 6 August 1825 with an official religion, Catholicism. The first Political Constitution (1826) recognised the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church as the official religion, excluding all other public worship. The category of ‘other worship’ included Protestant religious organisations and religious manifestations of Indigenous people, which were treated as if they were nonexistent.

However, in 1826 President Antonio José de Sucre invited immigrants to settle in Bolivia, offering to respect their civil liberties and promoting an attitude favourable to religious tolerance. In turn, Simón Bolívar declared himself in favour of a Constitution that did not prescribe a religious profession, on the grounds that religion was not included in civil and political rights, but rather in the dimensions of intimate conscience or intellectual morality.

Despite constitutional restrictions, several daring Evangelists sought to enter various regions of Bolivia. The Protestants who managed to enter promoted an evangelisation different from the existing one, for example by promoting direct access to the Bible. Prominent figures included: the Scottish missionary Diego Thomson, who did not enter Bolivia but influenced Vicente Pasos Kanqui, theologian and politician, defender of the Peru–Bolivia Confederation; the British missionary Lucas Mathews (1827), who introduced the Spanish translation of the Bible, the Reina Valera Version of 1569 and 1602; Allen Gardiner (1846); Jose Manciardine (1879); Adolfo Henrikesen (1883); Francisco Penzotti (1883); and Andrés Milne.