# New Research Directions on Faith, Politics, and the Future of Democracy August 27, 2026 ![Professor Zegarra](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/2026-08/PUCP5.jpg.jpeg?itok=I3Fc8Dar) What happens when religious faith enters the political arena? For Raúl Zegarra, Assistant Professor of Roman Catholic Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School, the answer is more complicated than conventional narratives about religion and politics might suggest. Professor Zegarra’s research explores how religious beliefs shape political choices in Latin America, from voting and support for political candidates to broader debates over democracy, authoritarianism, and social justice. “I have been interested for years in how people who are religious people interact with their own political decisions,” he explains, including how they understand their faith as calling them to act in the public sphere. Trained in philosophy and theology, he brings those fields into conversation with political science and sociology to understand not only whether religion influences political behavior, but how people make sense of the relationship between their faith and their political commitments. One insight emerging from Professor Zegarra’s research is that religious political mobilization is rarely as straightforward as it appears. Political movements may elevate particular positions on family, gender, or sexuality as defining expressions of Christian identity, even when those issues represent only a small part of a much broader religious tradition. “It’s actually a very particular emphasis on certain identity elements,” Professor Zegarra says, rather than a comprehensive expression of Christian belief. At the same time, Latin American history offers a very different model of faith in political life: religious leaders and communities have also mobilized in defense of democracy, justice, and resistance to authoritarian rule. As Professor Zegarra puts it, “you also have that other story” of religion being mobilized “for democracy, for justice, against dictatorship.” With support from DRCLAS, Professor Zegarra traveled to Brazil and Peru to advance this research and build connections with scholars studying these questions across the region. In northeastern Brazil, he participated in the World Christianity Conference, an international gathering that brought together scholars from across the Global South. The location was particularly meaningful: the conference took place in a region closely associated with Brazilian liberation theology and the legacy of Bishop Hélder Câmara. The gathering also offered what Professor Zegarra described as a visible illustration of Christianity’s changing global center, with participants predominantly from Africa, South Korea, and Latin America. In Peru, Professor Zegarra worked with colleagues at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and Universidad del Pacífico to organize conversations examining Catholics, evangelicals, and politics in the country. Presenting his work to an interdisciplinary Peruvian audience brought perspectives that could not be replicated from Cambridge. Professor Zegarra described that contact with people “on the ground” as essential: conversations with scholars and people directly engaged in the country’s political life helped him identify religious dimensions of Peru’s recent political crises that he had not previously considered. “It’s not going to go away,” he said of the relationship between religion and politics. “So we need to continue trying to understand it.” Those exchanges are already generating new directions. Professor Zegarra is exploring comparative work with scholars in Peru, Brazil, and the United States to examine how the relationship between faith, democracy, and political mobilization differs across national contexts. His work from the trips is also contributing to a forthcoming book chapter, an academic journal symposium, and a larger book project tracing the complex relationship between Christianity, colonization, and political resistance in Latin America. At the center of that project is what Professor Zegarra calls a “fundamental paradox” of Latin American Christianity: a tradition deeply entangled with empire and colonization that also developed “creative forces and forces of resistance” from the beginning. The research is also making its way directly into the classroom. At Harvard, Professor Zegarra has designed courses including *Liberation Theology and Decolonial Thought: A Comparative Approach* and *Catholicism and Democracy*, using his research to invite students to grapple with the complex and sometimes contradictory role religion has played in Latin American political life. For Professor Zegarra, examining those tensions across disciplines is essential because these questions are “too complex to be understood by just one discipline alone.” For Professor Zegarra, being physically present in Latin America is essential to understanding those complexities. DRCLAS support allowed him to participate in conversations, listen to scholars and practitioners on the ground, and develop relationships that will shape his research agenda for years to come. That proximity matters, he explains, because it provides “a level of closeness and being in touch with the problem” that statistical or macro-level analysis alone may not capture. Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)