Portugal

Abstract

Abstract This chapter examines the muted political role played by religion for much of the post-1974 democratic period in Portugal, a pattern that belies historical precedent and the country’s comparatively high levels of religious vitality. Previous research has explained this as a result of the deactivation of the religious divide during the country’s revolutionary transition to democracy. The chapter expands on this research in two key aspects. First, it examines how religious deactivation occurred, specifying its processes and mechanisms—how it prevailed when it was not necessarily a unanimous position. Second, it considers the open-ended nature of deactivation. If elites can deactivate religious issues, by the same token they can subsequently activate them, providing cues for greater religious voting. By providing a longitudinal analysis, the chapter assesses how the growing politicization of religious issues from the mid-2000s has contributed to a reactivation of religious voting.