Rethinking the Role of Religion in Latin America: Alternative Approaches toward Justice and Inclusion

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

After the turbulent times of the 20th century, new visions of inclusion and social justice began to emerge around the globe and in “Nuestra America.” To be sure, the unprecedented violence of this era confronted us with a moral crisis that not only urged us to not repeat past horrors, but also to rethink the meaning of justice, inclusion, community, religion, and humanization in order to build sustainable and fair democracies.
In Latin America, the integration of the tradition and the voices of “others” has been at the forefront of ongoing social, political, and religious tensions and transformations. Interestingly, the very antistructure that has been perceived as a crippling weakness in Latin America, may be the very source for creative tactics of resilience, resistance, and moral agency. In this vein, the interest of this panel is to explore and bring visibility to the role that religion plays in enabling and/or restricting the processes of justice and inclusion in the region.
This panel offers a diversity of analyses that provide alternative ways to approach the dynamics between the persistence of injustice and exclusion and the religious phenomenon in “Nuestra America.” From an interdisciplinary perspective, we will pose questions that deal with secularization, intrareligious conflict, civic engagement, feminism, sexual minorities, conservative and progressive religious movements, liberation theologies, religious and social interpretations on poverty, violence, memorialization, and trauma.

Sub Track

• Religions and Spiritualities

Session Organizer

• Stephanie Londono

Chair

• Ernesto M Fiocchetto, Florida International University

Discussant

• Ana Maria Bidegain, Florida International University

Individual Presentations

• Catholic Tensions in the Latin-American Societies: The poor in the demand for Justice - Ernesto M Fiocchetto, Florida International University

• Tensiones entre la comunidad LGTB y los sectores conservadores cristianos de Colombia - Bibiana A Ortega Gómez, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana

• Explicando la ampliación del derecho al matrimonio en el nivel subnacional en México - Carlos Martínez, Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales UNAM