Mexican town expels 10 Baptist families for refusing to deny faith

Ten Baptist families were abandoned in a pickup truck and left in the mountains by their townsmen after the group refused to deny their faith.

The 10 families, which consist of 18 adults and 10 children, were expelled from the small town of Tuxpan de Bolanos, within Jalisco state, in Mexico. According to a report by the International Christian Concern (ICC), the town called for a meeting to agree to the eviction of the baptist families from the community.

Currently, the regional president of the Baptist community, Omar Rodriguez, has made arrangements with the city goverment of Guadalajara to house the expelled families, as well as police to transfer them to safety.

The expulsion of the 10 Baptist families is the latest in a decades-long system of persecution of evangelical Christians in rural Mexico, as well as further evidence of the continued reluctance by the state and federal government to protect religious minorities.

Back in June, the ICC estimated that there were about 70 cases about religious persecution in Mexico, particularly in the states of Chiapas, Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Puebla, Guerrero, and now Jalisco.

Nate Lance, the ICC's Advocacy Manager, said that the group is disturbed that there are more people who are being persecuted because of their faith. However, Lance said that another equally disturbing thing is that the authorities in Mexico do not seem to care.

"In the strongest terms, we demand that the government of Mexico intervene and reinstate the freedom of worship that their constitution is meant to guarantee," he added.

Mexico is home to 122.3 million people, and most of them have embraced Roman Catholicism, which was brought by European travelers centuries ago.