Reflection of the Virgin. The mural of the Virgin of Guadalupe is located next to a gas station in the Lower Valley of El Paso. (Cynthia Carol Almodovar/Borderzine.com)

El Paso follows national trend of decrease in religious affiliation

Although Catholicism is still the most prominent faith in the El Paso region, it is following a national trend of declining numbers of adherents, particularly losing its hold on younger people who now tend to prefer personal expressions of faith rather than institutionalized religions. According to the website thearda.com in 2000 the number of Catholics in the border city was 349,866 or 51.5 percent of the El Paso County Population. Over the last 10 years, that number has steadily decreased and now stands at 43.2 percent of the population. In addition, the number of local residents affiliating with any religion has dropped dramatically during that same time, from 27.9 percent of residents identifying as non-religious in 2000, to 42.3 percent of the El Paso population not affiliating with any religion in 2010. The number of those not identifying with a religion is near the amount of Catholics today.

Does a Buddhist temple have a place on a college campus?

EL PASO — Separation of church and state, unless we’re talking about a Buddhist temple at the University of Texas at El Paso? To celebrate its centennial, UTEP is undergoing a major physical transformation and a very visible part of the makeover is the placement on campus of a Lhakhang, or Buddhist temple. The temple was given to UTEP by the people of Bhutan after it was built for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival that took place in Washington D.C. in 2008. It was later shipped to El Paso and kept in a warehouse until money was raised to place it on campus. The Bhutanese architecture at UTEP is undeniably beautiful and so is Bhutan, it’s people and culture.