Brazil is a rapidly emerging country. Brazilian theology, namely the Theology of Liberation, has become well known in the 1970s and 1980s. The politically active Base Ecclesial Communities and the progressive posture of the Roman Catholic Church contrasted with a steadily growing number of evangelicals, mostly aligned with the military regime but attractive precisely to the poor. After democratic transition in the mid-1980s, the context changed considerably. Democracy, growing religious pluralism and mobility, a vibrant civil society, the political ascension of the Worker's Party and growing wealth, albeit within a continuously wide social gap, are some of the elements that show the need of a new approach to theology. It must be a theology that is both critical and constructive, resisting and cooperative, a theology that is able to give orientation to the churches, valuing and encouraging their contribution in society while avoiding attempts of imposition. The Churches and Democracy in Brazil, the fruit of years of interdisciplinary study of the Brazilian context and its main churches and theology, makes its case for an ecumenically articulated public theology. It seeks inspiration mainly in Luther and Lutheran theology, emphasizing human dignity, freedom, trust, the disposition to serve, and the ability to endure the ambiguities of reality, as well as a fresh interpretation of the doctrine of the two regiments. These are the fundamental elements of what makes human beings full members of the body politic: citizenship, their right to have rights and to be able to effectively live them, together with their corresponding duties, in a move of growing political participation conscious of their religious motivation in view of the commonweal.

The essays in this volume assess the ways in which the Catholic Church in Latin America is dealing with these political, religious, and social changes.

In his introduction, Paul Sigmund states that the growing religious pluralism in Latin America is one of several reasons why the trend toward democracy that has marked the last two decades may endure. Nevertheless, Sigmund notes that this new pluralism, particularly the growth of Protestantism, has led to tensions that must be resolved. Religious Freedom and Evangelization in Latin America provides an indispensable resource for understanding the range of issues confronting the continent, offering Catholic as well as Protestant perspectives, and trenchant analyses of the situation in different countries, including Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Cuba.

This book represents a unique contribution to understanding the interactions between law and religion in contemporary Brazil. It analyzes how the regulation of religions according to the classical notion of secularism has become a source of tensions since the 1990s. Against this background, the respective chapters demonstrate, on the basis of various case studies, how the constitutional principle of pluralism, introduced by the 1988 federal constitution after a military dictatorship, has been addressed by new political actors, such as religious leaders, parliamentarians, influencers, state representatives, and activists. In particular, the chapters demonstrate how the mobilization of legal language, notably the language of human rights, has become fundamental to developing and consolidating new political agendas concerning secularism, tolerance, freedom of expression, gender and sexuality, family, and cultural heritage. In the authors’ approach, human rights assume a central role in social disputes as a language in which actors constitute themselves as rights subjects, form activist networks, and pursue their goals by expressing themselves in public. Given its focus and scope, the book will be of interest to all scholars seeking to understand the relationships between diversity and the regulation of religious practices in plural societies, where the classical notion of secularism continues to show its limitations.

Evangelical and Catholic groups are transforming Brazilian politics. This book asks why, and what the consequences are for democracy.

Liberation theology is often characterized as rejecting democracy and, based upon their option for the poor, advocating a form of socialism. This claim is challenged through an analysis of the works of Brazilian liberation theologians, Catholic social teaching, and studies on the base community movements in Brazil from the imposition of military rule through democratization (1964-1992). Liberation theologians initially rejected liberal democracy, but by the nineties were advocating a participatory and ecological democracy. However, they differed on how such a democracy was to be achieved in the competitive political party arena. In addition, increasing ecclesiastical opposition and the collapse of existent socialist regimes marginalized liberation theologians' vision of an inclusive, participatory democracy.