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Introduction to Topical Issue “Latin American Perspectives on Religion”

The aim of this topical issue is to present theological and philosophical reflections on religiosity in Latin America. The influence of churches and religions on the daily lives of the people and the great variety of religious and spiritual manifestations of Latin America cannot be denied. In Latin America, in addition to the Christian majority, we find religions of African origin, religions of Native Americans, Judaism, Islam, Spiritualism among others. This diversity cannot be taken as only a variety of dispersed groups that never dialogue. In many cases, we find extremely syncretic religious expressions that involve elements of various religions in order to create a new and rich expression of faith. Given this diversity, it is almost impossible to make a complete map of religiosity in Latin America. So what this topical issue proposes is to advance some theological and philosophical discussions, in order to present a little of this Latin American religious variety and the challenges it brings. In addition, we propose to discuss some thoughts and philosophies about religion proper to Latin America. We understand this topical issue on religiosity in Latin America to be important both to get a little more knowledge of Latin American religions and to know a little more about the academic discussions about religiosity that are taking place in this part of the American continent. In this sense, the articles presented in this issue are not merely descriptions of Latin American religiosity, but discussions from within them or from Latin American thinkers who have religion as the major theme in their discussions. In the first article, Pluralism With Syncretism: a Perspective from Latin American Religious Diversity, Marciano Adilio Spica presents a type of pluralistic philosophical theory that addresses the specific characteristics of Latin American religious diversity. He understands syncretism as something natural to all religions. He explores this idea from a Latin American perspective; discussing how religious diversity necessarily invokes the concept of syncretism and how this concept can be understood within the debate about diversity. From a political philosophy perspective Silvana Rabinovici’s article entitled Resistance and the Sacred: An Approach to the Various Meanings of the “Right to the Sacred” in Mexico Today, works on the Mexican indigenous issue and the role of religiosity in it. She analyses the interpretation of “the sacred” by examining native world views of indigenous peoples in the American continent and by the colonial political theory of the State. Rabinovici contests the idea that the sacred has only one meaning. She argues that “sacred” concept is heteronomous and that the attempt to reduce it to a merely legal explanation is guilty of reductionism. She shows how the sacred is used by the state in different ways with different interests and how the appropriation of this term by the natives is used to appeal to a sort of “right to the sacred” against a colonial politics of the State. For Rabinovici, to understand the multiple meanings of “sacred” is extremely important in the field of politics because it forces an understanding of the antagonisms arising from different uses of the term in the real life where political disputes take place.