The Brazilian religious diversity in focus

Abstract

This article presents the results of research on Brazilian religious diversity, viewed from an approach that values ​​the in-between places and boundaries of sociocultural processes, not limiting itself to the institutionalities and doctrinal formalities of religious groups. Methodologically, the pluralist principle was used, grouping the content into three blocks of analysis. The first points out elements that mark the diversification of religious experience, including transits and multiple participations, hybrid forms and sociocultural recompositions, and internal pluralities of different traditions and spiritualities. The second constitutes a mapping of religious diversity, with an emphasis on the differences resulting from the historical insertions of the groups, their levels of connection with the Brazilian cultural and religious matrix, the degree of community experience – taking into account the varied ideological profiles –, the forms of interaction with media cultural ans processes, and with political issues that arise in the public sphere and in everyday life, such as disputes over racial justice, gender relations and sexual diversity, and the defense of democracy, human rights, and land rights. The third block focuses on Afro-indigenous cosmoperceptions and spiritualities, with an emphasis on reviewing the modern concept of religion, which does not take into account holistic and totalizing experiences that structure lifestyles, cultures and ways of acting and thinking, such as umbandas, encantarias and candomblés, and their internal diversities.