Name: Bruno Curtis Weber
Type: PhD thesis
Publication date: 16/11/2022
Advisor:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| Marcelo Fetz de Almeida | Advisor * |
Examining board:
| Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| Gerardo Caetano Hargain | Advisor * |
| Luís Gustavo Teixeira da Silva | External Examiner * |
| Marcelo Fetz de Almeida | External Examiner * |
| Marcelo Martins Barreira | Internal Examiner * |
| Ricardo Mariano | External Examiner * |
Summary: The thesis examines the place of religion in contemporary societies by using comparative
method applied to Brazil and Uruguay. To this end, it revisits the classical concepts of
secularism and secularization and their social contexts configurations as well as guided by
the action of social actors. In order to test the relevance/pertinence/utility of these concepts,
it points to the need to the identification of empirically observable indicators, following the
suggestions of current literature (Billiet et ali.: 2003; Vilaça: 2004; Dobbelaere:2007;
Inglehart & Norris: 2011; Blancarte & Esquivel: 2017) that were updated by contemporary
issues common to both research universes. It is also suggested that it is only possible to
evaluate the place of the religious and the configuration of the secular using a comparative
perspective, allowing an analysis without essentialist biases. A survey of indicators that
were susceptible to the influence of religious values incorporated by social actors was
developed. The following indicators were considered plausible: homosexual marriage;
voluntary interruption pregnancy; religious teaching and the influence of religious values
in the provision of public education; and religious freedom itself, interpreted as the
definition of the spaces in which the manifestations and interference of beliefs are
legitimated. The national legislative houses were considered as privileged loci for the
treatment of these indicators. In this context, it was possible to verify if and how specific
religious axiologies contribute to the conformation of norms that have repercussions for
the whole society. At the same time, it was possible to understand whether and how social
actors invested in official positions use their own axiological perspectives in their public
functions and affairs. The theoretical analysis of the subjective (micro) dimension on the
religious in official affairs was based on the concept of compartimentalization, defined as
secularization in the minds of social actors (Dobbelaere: 2008). If in Dobbelaeres original
understanding this concept is related only with religious axiologies, field research findings
in the Uruguay shows that it is necessary to include the secularist axiology (which denies
religious participation in public spaces) in its analytical scope. Finally, it is suggested for
future studies to pay attention to: 1st) there is a tendency of increasing participation of the
religious in the construction of the norms that govern societies as a whole. 2nd) Despite
the disparate historiographies regarding the religious participation in the construction of
national identities, the Christian perspective has taken the lead in the claims for the
participation of the religious in public affairs. 3rd) In practice, the demand for religious
freedom does not embrace the respective pluralisms existing in each universe, since
Christian axiology tends to reproduce its own perspective and not that of religious plurality.
4th) Based on the defense of religious freedom, Christian leadership authorizes itself (it
proposes its own laws that give them legality) to build norms for the whole of society. 5th)
Legal-political structures tend to absorb the axiologies embraced by the actors.
Keywords: secularization; secularism; religious freedom; comparative study; Brazil;
Uruguay.
