Ethnopolitics of the Gypsy Evangelism and Public Sphere. Transversality, Power and Ethnicity

Abstract

The economy of Gipsy identity is sustained at present by the most active and influential sectors of the evangelical churches, acting through their social arm: FACCA (Federation of Anda-lusian Cultural Christian Associations). Religious ideas and ritual spaces have become as well a matter of ethnopolitics. Our obsession with religion has made it into a problem difficult to handle; in fact, many thinkers these days are supporting the idea that within the public sphere we should use exclu-sively the language of secular reasoning, because religious language only works outside our secular world and its use introduces premises which are acceptable only for the believers. The case we analyze here shows that (1) contemporary ethnogenesis processes like this one, in witch we can find political actors from the religious leadership, are processes linked to public policies; (2) public administrations must dialogue with these new political subjects, religious leaders and evangelical ministers, if they want these public policies to reach gypsy population; (3) secularised governments should be able to give reasonable answers to all forms of diversity in modern society, including the plurality of religious conceptions within the public sphere. In our case, these religious plurality interfaces with political recognition, ethnic minorities cultural rights and their access to public resources. As Taylor has noted, secularism (and laicism) is not about the confrontation between State and Religion, but about the response of the democratic state to all forms of diversity.