Is Religion Being Politicized? And Other Pressing Questions Latin America Poses
Author(s)
Levine, Daniel H.
Abstract
Questions about the politicization of religion arise from longstanding intellectual traditions which make religion secondary to supposedly more immediate, real, or rational social, economic, or political forces. When religion as an issue or religiously inspired groups do appear in political arenas, they are seen as interlopers, aberrant and likely short-lived phenomena. From this vantage point, religion appears mostly as a survivor from the past, doomed to privatization and ultimate disappearance. This paper argues that much of the theoretical and practical import of religion and politics lies less in conventional short-term outcomes, than in the way changes in religion are associated at once with new kinds of social organization and with the legitimating of new ideas about activism, power, and governance in ordinary life. It questions if all this add up to politicization of religion. The paper argues further that in Latin America, religion and politics have been joined ever since the Conquest: sometimes in opposition, more often in mutual support, but always together.
