Abstract
This book is the result of collective research that focuses on analyzing the way in which the framework of pluralism, whose legal reference is the Constitution of 1988, gave rise to conflicts surrounding the classic notion of secularism. This framework, in force until very recently in Brazil, prescribes the formal separation between the State and religions and the State’s neutrality in the face of religious practices. This collection of studies indicates that attempts of regulating religion anchored in this framework became the object of growing tensions and disputes from the 1990s onwards. In particular, the right to religious freedom has become especially controversial topic when it comes to religious organizations actions in the public arena. The same can be said about the principle of “tolerance”, understood as a normative ethos of the relations among religions, which grants religious groups their autonomy to self-regulate.
The texts that comprise this collection are the result of the project “Religion, Law and Secularism”, coordinated by Paula Montero and financed by São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) (2015/024975). We would like to thank FAPESP for the funding.
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Notes
- 1.
Cefai (2017, p. 200) defines public arena as a social arena in which actors “define their problems as public and feel, act and speak accordingly”. Inspired by this concept that aims to overcome the limitations implicit in the theoretical models that treat religious pluralism as a “market,” as in the utilitarian view, or as a “field” in the approach that emphasizes the relations of power and domination between religious groups, we use this term in the articles presented here to describe the variety of scenes in which the actors interact in the name of something defined as a subject of public interest. The arenas can be of a legal nature (such as public hearings, meetings of jurists, police stations counters), political (such as parliamentary debates, public policies, guardianship councils) or civil (network of religious activists, religious rituals, civil associations). We emphasize that this approach, by privileging relationships and not established groups, enables us to observe connections between different social and institutional worlds.
- 2.
Lawsuits that comprise the control of constitutionality in the Brazilian legal system.
- 3.
The Civil Code of 2002 (Law 10,406) had already changed the legal personality of churches, making them equivalent, regardless of their constitutions or internal forms of government, to civil associations governed by private law. Through Law 10,825 enacted the following year, they were, however, differentiated from political parties and other civil societies and associations. Defined as “religious organizations”, they gained autonomy to manage themselves. This legal personality, which recognizes churches as associations, makes them able to enter into partnerships with the public administration. For a good example of how these changes are expressed in evangelical organizations, please see Cleto Abreu (2021).
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Montero, P., Nicácio, C., Fernandes Antunes, H. (2023). Introduction: Religious Pluralism and Law in Contemporary Brazil. In: Montero, P., Nicácio, C., Fernandes Antunes, H. (eds) Religious Pluralism and Law in Contemporary Brazil. Law and Religion in a Global Context, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41981-2_1
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