The Regional Dynamics of Anticlericalism and Defanaticization in Revolutionary Mexico

Abstract

Between 1914 and 1938, anticlericalism and defanaticization constituted central aspects of a nationwide cultural revolution that had deep roots in the Enlightenment, liberalism, the Bourbon reforms, and Jansenism. This revolution sought to forge a secular Mexican nation by deploying an intricate symbolic, ritual, and discursive matrix aimed at breaking the people’s shackles to clergy and religion.¹ As Emilio Portes Gil put it, “The struggle didn’t begin yesterday. The struggle is eternal. The struggle originated twenty centuries ago.”² Religious conflict spanned nearly a quarter century, affected most regions, and sparked widespread resistance, not just the Cristiada, but also less spectacular forms of resistance, such as clandestine masses, legal challenges, petition drives, boycotts, demonstrations, riots, guerrilla activity, and defiant new forms of popular religiosity.³