Sociedade Aberta e tentações do oculto: de alguns desafios pandémicos ao Estado de Direito

Just like tradition, belief «is no longer what it was». In this article we expose some of the anxieties about the paths of belief, latissimo sensu, shared by philosophers, scientists (doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, for instance) and religious men from classical or traditional religions. Everyone poses a diffuse question, but one that we can translate, legally, like this: what is the role of Law and the State in the proliferation of metamorphosed and hyperactive beliefs? How can we safeguard religious, educational, association freedoms and similar, on the one hand, and the normal functioning of institutions and the rights of each citizen, on the other? How to comply with the Constitution, in times of pandemic, in the face of potential fanaticism and mystification? As in the health preparation for the new virus, Law, as the «medicine of culture», needs to be prepared for radicalisms of a «numinous» nature: not everything will be a mere renewal of spirituality. Probably it will be very little...