Religious Beliefs and Actors in the Legitimation of Military Dictatorships in the Southern Cone, 1964?1989

CATOGGIO, MARÍA SOLEDAD

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES

Sage

Lugar: Riverside; Año: 2011 vol. 38 p. 25 - 37

0094-582X

The military regimes of 1964?1989 in Chile, Argentina, and Brazil implemented acode of legitimacy that appealed to various secular beliefs rooted in civil society at thesame time that they fostered a common myth of religious legitimation?that of defending?Western Christian civilization.? It was under this umbrella that military groups andreligious actors faced each other and/or established alliances. In this cultural politics,religious actors that had previously been excluded from the power game sought to supportand/or be recognized by the state as allies in the construction of a belief in thelegitimacy of the dictatorships.