Comissão pastoral da terra: agroecologia e simbologia político-religiosa no norte de Minas Gerais e no Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

This is a comparative study on the development of two projects in the agri-ecology area, located in the North of Minas Gerais and in Rio Grande do Sul. These projects are attached to the Comissões Pastorais da Terra and both of them present mutual influences between religious and ecological understanding. From the projects emerge a kind of “ecological Catholicism” whose main assumption is the necessity of increasing the fraternal relationships between men and environment. Meanwhile, a religious language based on Christian symbols and myths as Creation, Exodus, Promised Land and Apocalypse is spreaded among the agronomists and the labor unionists. The analysis of these research´s data point out the way how specific political-religious structures become significant despite their historical and cultural ambiance.