Democracy, gender and secularism: contributions of feminist theology

Abstract

In view of the advancement of Christian religious conservatism in the Brazilian political sphere, it became necessary to look at feminist movements and theories about this phenomenon, since they are considered a threat to society, morals and the family by religious people. In this sense, this article aims to present some contributions from Feminist Theology, which has been a pioneer in studies on gender and religion, for reflection and for the fight against religious fundamentalism and for the secularity of the State. Therefore, in the first moment, the understanding of gender and sexuality of Catholicism will be briefly analyzed, which is based mainly on the so-called natural law. In the second moment, the emergence of Feminist Theology in Brazil will be presented, which had its terrain prepared by Liberation Theology. Finally, this article will reflect on the relations among democracy, gender and secularism based on Feminist Theology.