A church for the voiceless? Religion, politics and social justice in Latin America

PUBLIC EVENT organised by the CLACSO-CROP Programme, NorLARNet, UiB Clobal and Department of Comparative Politics, University or Bergen.

As part of the seminars on poverty and religion in Latin America held in Scandinavia, a public meeting was organized in cooperation with the Norwegian Latin American Researchers Network (NorLARNet). The meeting addressed the fact that Latin America is the most unequal region in the world in terms of income and living conditions, but also one with strong religious traditions and churches. There are some important currents within these traditions that have historically promoted social justice, and given a voice to marginalized groups. In particular the meeting looked at questions like: How does religion, and more precisely, Latin American religiosity, think about and promote equality and social justice today?; Is the reproduction of inequality and poverty an unintended result of religious world visions, ethics, and pastoral strategies?; Do religions play a role in politics and policies fighting or reproducing inequality and poverty, on an individual, community and national level?

The panelists included Einar Berntzen, Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen, NORWAY; Emilce Cuda, Department of Theology, Pontificia Universidad Católica, AGENTINA, Hans Egil Offerdal, UiB Global/CLACSO-CROP, NORWAY and and Genaro Zalpa, Department of Sociology, Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes, MEXICO. The panel was moderated by Benedicte Bull, Director of NorLARNet and Erik Berge, coordinator of NorLARNet. The event was co-sponsored by the CLACSO-CROP Programme, NorLARNet, UiB Global and Department of Comparative Politics, the University of Bergen.