<P> Except for Suriname and Uruguay, the more professed religion in the South American countries is the Catholic religion . While countries such as Paraguay, Peru, Colombia and Argentina more than three - quarters of the population is Catholic, in Chile it is 57% . </P> <P> Catholicism was the only religion allowed in the colonial era, the indigenous were forced to abandon their beliefs, although many did not abandon it at all, for example, countries with predominantly Amerindian population such as Bolivia and Peru there is a syncretism between indigenous religions and the Catholic religion, that has occurred since colonial times . In Brazil or Colombia, Catholicism was mixed with certain African rituals . </P> <P> Protestantism has been a presence since the nineteenth century, as a minority, but has had a strong increase since the 1980s . The majority of Latin American Protestants in general are Pentecostals . Brazil today is the most evangelical country in South America, where 89% of Brazilians evangelicals are Pentecostals, in Chile represents 79% of the total evangelicals in that country, 69% in Argentina and 59% in Colombia . On the other part, in Uruguay 66% of evangelicals are Methodists, while only 20% are Pentecostal . </P> <P> Practitioners of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter - day Saints and Jehovah's Witnesses religions also are exercised in Latin America . </P>

Which religion has had the greatest impact on central america and south america