Abstract

MONIZ, Jorge Botelho. Covid-19 in Portugal: Religious freedom in the secular age. Forum Sociológico [online]. 2021, n.39, pp.9-17.  Epub Dec 07, 2021. ISSN 0872-8380.  https://doi.org/10.4000/sociologico.9832.

This paper analyses the impact of restrictions on religious freedom, caused by the state of health emergency, related to the COVID-19 pandemic, during the first period of lockdown in Portugal. Against the theoretical backdrop of the secular age and secularism, this research allows for the interpretation of the place of religion in societies marked by cultures of secularity through a qualitative, hypothetical-deductive, analysis. It concludes that the normalisation of the subordination of religious values and practices to those of the political sphere, highlighted by the hierarchization of essential and non-essential activities, and its promotion through self-secularity empties the presence of religion in the public sphere and helps the development of a culture of secularity.

Keywords : secular; secularity; religious freedom; Covid-19.

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