Beyond religion: the new projects from Universal Church

Abstract

This project discusses the production of docile bodies by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God , through various technologies of power not considered a priori religious such as : literacy projects and training courses , workshops , courses for maintenance marriage , etc. . This " power engineering " , mixing media, politics , and culture tour , is concerned with the " governmentality ", ie with the government of persons , by means of pastoral power , Foucault's call for the government of the everyday concept through a pedagogical reason. Concomitantly, the Universal Church removes the term " Church " from its logo, denying itself as religion and treying to occupy more and more space in social organization and everyday life , asserting itself as culture and claiming the mythical Hebrew ancestry as his . The organization as "culture " implies new practices and possibilities for participation in the public sphere . In this process , the agents of Universal bearing a variety of discourses acquired in their life and formations, are forced to make them intellectually accessible to persons who are outside the religious' universe. On the other hand, it's necessary to them to incorporate clichés truths (from other universes of knowledge, consensually accepted by broad social layers such as the importance of religion as a cultural heritage , the need for sustainable development , the need to combat " religious intolerance " , the defense of the right to " free choice " , etc) to their arguments. For this goal, categories like " religion" and " culture" are operationalized in very specific contexts , increasing the capacity of participation in new projects .