"Receiving the Body of Christ in the Morning and in the Evening Getting Rid of His Mother": Collective and Religious Identity in a Belgian "Pro-Life" Group

This presentation aims to contribute to the updating of the study of ‘pro-life’ movements from a sociological perspective. Using the Belgian ‘pro-life’ group Clara as a case study, this presentation participates to the study of activism and management of religious identity in ‘conservative’ social movements in secular societies. It aims to answer the following questions: what place does religion occupy in a group of Catholic activists trying to exist in a secularised and pluralist society? How can we explain that a group of activists is trying to assert itself as ‘non-religious’, even though it is recruiting from and taking roots in Catholic circles? How can the individual identities of ‘pro-life’ activists be reconciled with the collective identity of the organization Clara? Above all, what are the consequences of this identity on mobilisation and individual commitment: does this mode of internal regulation of individual identities manage to mobilize activists and make itself heard?

The paper will first look at the importance of Catholicism in the activists’ commitment, before showing a universalist strategy relegating religion to the background of the movement. Finally, the paper will interrogate the paradox of an internal religious homogeneity in a pluralistic society that the group has to deal with.

This study is based on 17 interviews with ‘pro-life’ activists involved in the Belgian movement, participant observations of the 2021, 2022 and 2023 ‘Marches for Life’ and ‘pro-life’ public events (Vigils for Life, Conferences) in Brussels.