Research On Religion

Category: Brazil

Andrew Johnson on Pentecostals in Prison in Brazil

Tags: authenticity, Brazil, brothers' cell, drug gangs, evangelical Protestantism, favelas, fieldwork, Macumba, Pentecostalism, police brutality, prison, prison riots, soccer, violence

Life in prison can be quite difficult and violent, especially within the Brazilian penal system. Dr. Andrew Johnson at the Center for Religion & Civil Culture discusses his extremely innovative work on the role of Pentecostalism in Brazilian favelas and prison. His research had him actually living among inmates for several weeks in a Rio de Janeiro prison. We talk about the relationship that Pentecostals have with drug gangs with poor neighborhoods in Brazil and the role that religion plays within the cell block.

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Brian Grim on Religious Liberty & Business

Tags: Abercrombie & Fitch, Brazil, business, butter rum toffee, Cadbury, China, Fighting Blue Hens, Ford Motor Company, hijab, Indonesia, interfaith marriage, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, religious freedom, religious liberty, sectarian violence, Uyghurs, Y.W. Junardy

Is religious liberty good for business? Brian Grim, president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, explains why rights of conscience are good for commercial businesses and how individual enterprises can be encouraged to support basic human rights. We discuss the creation and role of his organization as well as some specific instances where businesses around the globe — from Brazil to Indonesia to Europe — have helped create a more peaceful and spiritually pluralistic environment.

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Daniel Philpott on Religious Resurgence & Democratization

Is the global resurgence in public religiosity over the past 40 years linked in any way to the increase in democratic governance over the same period of time? Prof. Dan Philpott (Notre Dame) covers the historical trends of church-state relations and discusses how changes in political theologies and the increasing independence of religious organizations have provided a fertile ground for political democratization in some corners of the world. We examine how and why some religious traditions have been involved in promoting democracy under authoritarian conditions. Our discussion turns toward some speculation about the future of the “Arab Spring” at the end of our interview. This is the first part of a discussion of the book “God’s Century: Resurgent Religion and Global Politics.”

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