The present work purports to contribute to a better understanding of the contemporaneous changes of the relationship between Politics and Religion, through the lenses of the growing social action undertaken by religious actors and the increasing account Governments are taking of it via the establishment of “public-religious partnerships”. At a time when the crisis of welfare statesrequires of them to rethink their models and social practices, the religious entities, more and more diverse and committed, not only to the salvation of souls, but also to their material and physical welfare and security, offer a credible alternative to Governments which have become more “supervisors” rather than “providers” of social goods and services. The Brazilian case – which will here command our attention –, where the “flexible separation” between State and Churches allows the instauration of successful win-win collaborations, witnesses the emergence and the proliferation of those “public-religious partnerships” that this work will attempt to define and typologize. These forms of collaborations between the State and the historical Catholic entities of course, but also increasingly with Evangelical, Spirit-Kardecist, Mormon or even Afro-Brazilian actors, offer a relevant framework of interpretation for the transformations of the State and the public action, and also of the evolutions of the religious sphere. Thus, the “public-religious partnerships” reflect in a symptomatic way the actual reshaping of the spheres and the relationship between Modernity and Religion in the global era, which the present study will attempt to portray.
