Religion and political participation: religious institutions and the development of civic skills

Abstract

The political sphere is currently going through a time of public religious expression, phenomenon that has attracted the attention of several researchers, particularly regarding to the impacts of the religion on the electoral behavior of individuals. However, despite its pertinence, voting is not the only way of political participation in the democratic system. From that, this study aimed to contribute to the identification of the influence of religious institutions on Brazilian politics, checking to what extent the main Brazilian religions are related to political participation, not only regarding the electoral forms, but also extending the unconventional or protest forms. The empirical data used in the study was produced by the Public Opinion Project of Latin America (LAPOP) of 2012. The results indicate that religious activism has a positive effect on civic engagement in Brazil.