Religion, politics and Theology of Liberation: history and challenges

The relationship between religion and politics goes in with the history of Christianity from its inception. Through the persecution of the early centuries, Christianity is forged with Constantine and the entry of the State as mediator of the relationship Church/society. A few centuries later, the Church plays a central role in power by crowning kings. It fights for power, gets restored, goes through the medieval crisis, and faces schisms and the modern change, regarded as anathema. In the context of the Vatican II and Medellin changes, in the 1960s, in Latin America, the Theology of Liberation (TL) arises. Another history emerges with regard to the relationship between religion and politics, with implications and transformations on the continent and the world society. Knowing this pathway and the connections between history, TL, and their consequences helps thinking of the current prospects and challenges for this relationship, with another consciousness and horizon of rights, in the expanded public sphere, especially for the new generations.