Fourteenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

This research examines the participation of religious organizations and leaders in Brazil, especially Pentecostal evangelicals, in disputes over the State. The evangelical-Pentecostal presence in the Brazilian Congress reveals that its agents act in different trenches and fronts, including against each other, whether defending the right to religious freedom, social rights and the rule of law, or opposing them and demands for sexual and reproductive rights and the Human Rights of minorities, whether disputing the definition and legal-political interpretation of the principle of constitutional secularity and its application in government guidelines, public policies, legislatures, public schools, and so on. This research seeks to understand how this relationship between religion, secularism, and politics occurs in Brazil.