Networks, Society, and Polis: Epistemological Approaches on Mediatization

Magali do Nascimento Cunha 148 pearance, in the broadest sense of the word, that is, the space in which I appear to others and others to me; where men assume an explicit appearance, instead of being content to exist merely as living or inanimate things (ARENDT, 2009, p. 211). It is here that the place of media and society’s process in mediatization stands out. We recognize that it is not possible to understand the de-privatization of Brazilian evangelicals and the construction of public religion by this Christian segment without considering the accelerated and diverse dynamics of in- teraction between different evangelical groups with each other and with others (religious and non-religious) through different media. To paraphrase José Luiz Braga (2012, p. 37), we see the mediatized interactional processes stimulating how evangeli- cals communicate, and, consequently, tentatively organize them- selves in the public space, in a movement that takes them out of the seclusion of the temples dedicated to the visibility of the mediatized polis . II – Evangelicals in politics: from temples to polis The close relationship between religions and politics is nothing new. It is enough to resume in history the Roman- ization of Catholicism and its constitution as a cultural and political power; or the cultural and political disputes involv- ing Islam and Asian religions; and the emergence of contextual theologies that seek to respond to the demands of social iden- tity movements (black theologies, feminist theologies, libera- tion theologies – Latin American, Dalit, Minjung, African, for example). In the Brazilian case, besides being important to con- sider the power of Catholicism and the place of contextual the- ologies, it is necessary to recognize that there is a consolidated place of religions in the public space, which delineates forms of relationship between religion and politics in the country, and in- cludes political party participation but goes far beyond it. We could list several elements that demonstrate this: