Juan Cruz Esquivel

What do Argentine people believe in? Religion and social structure in Argentina

This article analyses Argentina’s contemporary religious field. On the basis of a statistical study on beliefs and religious attitudes, the authors reflect on a wide range of issues. They address the consequences of secularization in Argentine society, new configurations in how people believe and practise religion, shifts in religious identification, the religious diversification process, in which believers fall off the institutional frame, and, finally, people’s on religious intervention in public issues (such as education, sexual health and family planning).

Notas sobre las Esferas Diferenciadas de Valor en Max Weber

El trabajo examina algunas cuestiones que definen la metodologia weberiana para la comprension del mundo moderno; principalmente, la caracterizacion de las esferas de valor como ordenes autonomos en tanto sus fundamentos emanan de su propia legalidad interna. Desde esta perspectiva de analisis, intenta desentranar los fundamentos exclusivamente religiosos presentes en la pretension de las autoridades de la Iglesia Catolica argentina de renunciar a los aportes economicos provenientes del Estado Nacional. Por detras de tal proposito, es posible vislumbrar una confrontacion entre las esferas en pugna por instalar sus valores y cosmovisiones en la sociedad. De esta forma, se podra evaluar el alcance del esquema interpretativo propuesto por Weber en cuanto a su aplicabilidad a una situacion determinada del mundo actual.

Religious Actors and Discourses in the Public Sphere: Controversies Around Sexual Education in Argentina

This chapter proposes an in-depth analysis of the complex connections between religion and politics in democratic Argentina by focusing on the actions of political and religious leaders with respect to the approval of legislation on sexual education in 2006. Based on a reconstruction of the parliamentary defeat and the tedious path towards the effective implementation of sexual education in the education system, I examine the active negotiation between politics and religion in the public sphere, as well as the intervention strategies and discursive foundations of the religious institutions—principally the Catholic Church—that frequently influence legislation and governmental policies. I analyze the interaction between political culture, ecclesiastical power, and citizens’ rights in order to rethink national public administration and the possible conditions for guaranteeing an inclusive democracy.