The Religious Politics of Argentine Nationalism: Contrasting Catholic and Protestant Stances in 1930-1940s

The 1934 International Eucharistic Conference in Argentina signified decades of advocacy and work by Catholic Nationalists to perpetuate the mythos of the "Catholic nation." Around these years, we can see a proliferation of Protestants combatting their Catholic opponents with rhetoric around notions of citizenry and patriotism. This period saw the pitching of nationalism from both ends, one with a rigid integralist/conservative Catholic vision and the other espousing a Protestant civic liberal position. This paper takes the period of the 1930-1940s as a critical point to understand these two positions that articulated their disparate visions through the language of patriotism and nationalism. Through a reconceptualization of the past, Catholics and Protestants sought to establish themselves as proper "heirs" to the construction of the Argentine political project. Thus, Nationalism becomes the center point of these contested visions of democratic common life.