Religion and Public Space:

Alternative Perspectives on Secularization and the Place of the Religious Phenomenon in Contemporary Society

Abstract

The objective of this work is to analyze some theoretical and empirical developments concerning the phenomenon of secularization in modern and contemporary society, above all, thinking not only about the limits of the classical theory of secularism, but mainly working on alternative perspectives on the theme, observing it through the religious transformations in the Western world and in Latin America. Firstly, authors that bet on the consummation of what Weber called the disenchantment of the world are worked on. Later, theoretical and analytical interpretations are approached that see religion not only as an element that is part of social life, but a phenomenon that continues to be dynamic in society, calling into question the hegemonic narrative about the advance of the secular. To corroborate the theoretical and analytical arguments presented in the paper, a quantitative survey is presented on the number of religious and non-religious people in the American and European continent in the last decade. In the final considerations, as a preliminary result, I consider that the religious element is still present and dynamic in western countries, especially in Brazil, thus converging with the narratives that move away from the Weberian interpretation of a gradual disenchantment of the world.