Latin America as a Region of Religious Transformations in the 21st Century

Abstract

The main objective of the study is to identify, in a broad sense, the changes taking place in the religious sphere in the Latin American region, with particular emphasis on the legal aspects of this phenomenon. The different parts cover separate problem areas which will need to be addressed by the legislators in the near future. This problem is a major research thesis. Interdisciplinarity is justified by the subject of the research undertaken. It remains at the junction of law, political science, sociology and history, as well as the religious studies. The legal and religious relations are presented on the basis of a comparative legal method and a historical-legal method. Despite the clear decrease in the number of people identifying themselves with the Catholic Church, they still constitute the majority in the region. Two tendencies can be noticed: Catholics change religious affiliation, leaving the church in favor of Protestant communities, especially by neo-Pentecostal groups; the number of people who do not identify with any institutional form of religious association increases. The phenomenon of religiosity has changed significantly compared to the last century. More and more people choose beliefs and evaluate them according to subjective criteria. They choose values in spiritual life, without the need to participate in an institutionalized religious organization.