Geography of religion in Portugal: minorities and religious diversity

Abstract

The geographic study of minority religious groups in Portugal is of particular importance today, a period
in which the country consolidates the image of a postmodern society, increasingly open, hybrid and plural, but also fragmented. The changes that took place in the national territory, especially after the Revolution of the 25th of April 1974 and the integration of Portugal into the European Union on the 1st of January 1986, with the consequent changes on the structures and in many sectors of society, showed a more diverse and multicultural country, result of a more permeable internal society, endowed of a wider freedom of expression, association an manifestation. In this context, the country became more open to other identities and cultures, as well as the sharing of values, behaviors, attitudes and religious beliefs. Nowadays, the problematic of spatiality(ies) of religion is equally important when it is intended to understand, in a more comprehensive way, the structuring questions of Portuguese society, being evident the integration of Portugal in the great cycles or migratory movements of the 21st century.