397.1
Religion In Public Space: Laity and Religious Pluralism In Italy
The role of religion in the public sfere is growing in the last years (J. Habermas, J. Casanova, ecc).
The face of religion in the public sfere (laity) in laity in Italy is very complex. This paper wishes to analyse the conclusions of the research, carried out by C. Canta, which explored the various forms of Italian laity.
Laity in Italy is declined in different forms in relation to the migratory process, to the phenomenon of 'de-secularisation' and 'post-secularisation', the emergence of a new consciousness of citizenship, the phenomenon of democracy, the growth of cultural and religious pluralism and the construction of new 'scenarios' of cultural and religious pluralism in the social institutions.
The arguments about this theme in Italy are very lively and are connected to questions which are becoming ever more important in the public debate: every day there is a dialectic between believers and non-believers, between different churches and religious denominations and between science and faith. It continues between those who assign to the politician a role limited to dialogue and mediation and those who would want, instead, its presence in the 'political sphere', between those who are the spokesmen of the relational instance and those who, instead, propose a separatist and 'ideological' prospective.
The subjects of the research were the accredited representatives and protagonists of society: intellectual, politicians in the Italian Parliament, leaders of the religious communities in Italy and young people belonging to religious associations. Thus there are four social and different worlds which influence each other (not always directly and consciously) and which bring with them various instruments to form the common images of laity in its different concepts and in its many narrations.