The State and Religion: An Approach to Contemporary Conceptual Trends which Affect the Perception of Religious Practices in the Public Sphere/Estado y religión: tendencias conceptuales incidentes en la apreciación pública del fenomeno religioso/Estado e religiao: tendencias conceituais presentes na apreciacao publica do fenomeno religioso

Based on the renewed interest in the public impact of religious practices, this article spotlights and analyzes some significant contemporary trends in the way they are seen in the public sphere which affect their legal recognition by legal systems in the West. Our analysis mainly focuses on a review of current doctrines in this area, whose influence is widely acknowledged in Latin America, and it is undertaken from a socio-legal standpoint. Among other aspects, it addresses the dominant trends in the institutional approach to religious practices, the leading role they have again assumed in the public sphere, their political-legal recognition, the place which communities of worshippers hold in secular systems, the overriding importance in legal systems of the principle of religious freedom and the status of religion in a laical State. KEYWORDS | Thesaurus: religion; religious institutions; religious freedom. Author: international and national law; secularism; State and religion Asumiendo el renacimiento del interes sobre la presencia publica del hecho religioso, el articulo propone reconocer y analizar algunas tendencias contemporaneas relevantes en su visualizacion en la esfera publica, incidentes en su recepcion juridica en los sistemas normativos contemporaneos occidentales. Para tal efecto, considera doctrina preferentemente contemporanea, cuyo influjo es habitualmente reconocido en el medio iberoamericano, analizando en clave sociojuridica las tendencias en las posiciones dominantes en el analisis organizacional de la religion, el renovado protagonismo del fenomeno religioso en la dimension publica, su recepcion politico-juridica, la posicion de las comunidades de fieles en los ordenamientos seculares, la primacia de la libertad religiosa como principio informador del orden legal y el lugar de la religion en el Estado laico. PALABRAS CLAVE | Thesaurus: religion; instituciones religiosas.Autor: Estado y religion; derecho internacional y nacional; secularismo; libertad religiosa Assumindo o ressurgimento do interesse sobre a presenca publica do ato religioso, este artigo propoe reconhecer e analisar algumas tendencias contemporaneas relevantes em sua visualizacao na esfera publica, incidentes em sua recepcao juridica nos sistemas normativos contemporaneos ocidentais. Para isso, considera doutrina preferivelmente contemporanea, cuja influencia e habitualmente reconhecida no meio ibero-americano, analisando, em termos sociojuridicos, as tendencias nas pos