LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue XXX, Vol. XX No. XXX, Month 201X, 1–16 DOI: 10.1177/0094582X15623771 © 2016 Latin American Perspectives 1 Religious Pluralism and New Political Identities in Latin America by Cristián Parker Translated by Margot Olavarría The role of religion in Latin American politics can no longer be interpreted with reduc- tionist schemes. The faithful—citizens—are combining faith and politics in unprecedented ways, and churches and denominations are no longer factors of political identity. The reconfiguration of new social and political movements interweaves complex linkages with the religious. The transformations of the political field and especially of democratic pro- cesses have reshaped identities in a context of increasing religious and cultural diversity with relatively less Catholic presence and greater Evangelical presence. Institutional secularization and religious pluralism seem to go hand in hand with a new cleavage between religion and politics. La presencia de lo religioso en el campo político latinoamericano ya no puede ser inter- pretada con esquemas reduccionistas. Los fieles—ciudadanos—entremezclan fe y política de maneras inéditas, y las iglesias y denominaciones ya no son factor de identidad política. La re-configuración de los nuevos movimientos sociales y políticos entretejen vinculacio- nes complejas con lo religioso. Las transformaciones del campo político y en especial de los procesos democráticos han redefinido las identidades en un contexto de diversidad religi- osa y cultural creciente con menor presencia relativa católica y mayor presencia evangé- lica. Secularización institucional y garantía del pluralismo religioso parecen ir de la mano con un nuevo clivaje entre religión y política. Keywords: Religion and politics, Religious pluralism, Latin American religions, Politico-religious identities, Faith and politics The relationship between religion and politics has been altered because the twenty-first century has not seen the privatization of religion that the theory of secularization predicted. Religious currents have reemerged in the public sphere, being compatible with a democratic system (Casanova, 1994). The dif- ferentiation between the religious field and the political field has been main- tained, and religious practices and beliefs interact with politics in new ways. Cristián Parker is a Chilean scholar and senior lecturer in the Americas Studies Ph.D.Program at the Instituto de Estudios Avanzados, Universidad de Santiago de Chile. He is a coauthor and edi- tor of Religión, política y cultura en América Latina: Nuevas miradas (2012) and the author of Popular Religion and Modernization in Latin America: A Different Logic (1996). He thanks the editors of this issue and all the reviewers for their valuable comments. Margot Olavarría is a political scientist and translator living in New York City. 623771LAP XX X 10.1177/0094582X15623771Latin American PerspectivesParker / Religious Pluralism and Political Identities research-article 2015 at UNIV CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA on February 17, 2016 lap.sagepub.com Downloaded from