This article studies the Mexican cristero rebellion of 1926–9. While scholars assert that the rebellion was the product of a clash between ‘modern’ liberal and ‘traditional’ Catholic mentalities, it is argued here that Ladislao Molina was an astute political actor who embraced a liberal ideology in order to establish a cacicazgo in his home region of Michoacán. When Molina was threatened by state encroachments and agrarian demands, he, like other members of the middling rural strata, promoted a Catholic rebellion not because of religious piety but in order to protect his sphere of influence.