Suchergebnisse

Over the past century, Latin America has witnessed dramatic growth in religious pluralism. The dynamic of increased competition between the Catholic Church & evangelical Protestants has prompted a number of important political changes in the region. Protestants competing for the souls of the poor in many countries motivated the Catholic Church to adopt a "preferential option for the poor" strategy that entailed opposing military dictatorships in the 1970s & 1980s. Under today's democratic regimes Protestants have been strong advocates of civil rights for religious minorities. Finally, the increased level of church participation spurred on by Catholic-Protestant competition has helped to strengthen civil society & bodes well for the consolidation of democratic regimes in the region. 2 Tables, 36 References. Adapted from the source document.

"Im letzten Jahrhundert hat in Lateinamerika der religiöse Pluralismus auf dramatische Weise zugenommen. Die Dynamik eines zunehmenden Wettbewerbs zwischen der katholischen Kirche und evangelikalen Protestanten führte zu einer Reihe wichtiger politischer Änderungen. Protestanten, die sich vorwiegend um das Seelenheil der ärmeren Schichten kümmerten, brachten die katholische Kirche dazu, sich eine Strategie der 'Option für die Armen' anzueignen, die sich auch gegen die Militärdiktaturen in den 1970er und 1980er Jahren richtete. In den heutigen Demokratien der Region haben sich Protestanten als gewichtige Fürsprecher der Menschenrechte und religiöser Minderheiten etabliert. Schließlich trug die zunehmende kirchliche Vitalität, die der Wettbewerb zwischen Katholiken und Protestanten hervorbrachte, auch dazu bei, die Zivilgesellschaft zu stärken und die Konsolidierung der demokratischen Regime in der Region zu fördern." (Autorenreferat)

Although scholars tend to downplay the role of religion in political life, the vast majority of people in the world profess a strong allegiance to some spiritual faith. Secularization theory has long held that religion would become irrelevant, leading many comparative scholars to ignore this potentially significant variable. A recent resurgence in religious fundamentalism and "new religious politics" has led more scholars to consider religious actors as important. However, research in this area befalls many of the same problems inherent in earlier secularization theories. A new body of scholarship, known as the "religious economy" school, seeks to address these problems by developing theories built on solid microlevel foundations of human behavior. This line of research holds great promise for the study of religion in comparative politics.

Discusses historical patterns of church-state relations, Salinas de Gortari's political strategy towards religious organizations, and events from late 1960s up to 1992 reforms that reversed over a century of officially sanctioned hostility to religious organizations.

Nowhere has the relationship between state and church been more volatile in recent decades than in Latin America. Anthony Gill's controversial book not only explains why Catholic leaders in some countries came to oppose dictatorial rule but, equally important, why many did not.