“I Have Apostatized”: Self-Narratives of Catholic Apostasy as Resources for Collective Mobilization in Argentina

Hugo H Rabbia

doi:10.3390/rel13020181

Abstract

Since 2009, the Collective Apostasy Campaign in Argentina has mobilized some people who are opposed to the political interference of the Catholic Church through the formal act of apostatizing. The politicization of sexual and reproductive rights, and, especially, the fight for the legalization of abortion, led to the campaign that acquired great public repercussions between 2018 and 2020. This paper analyzes 13 self-narratives of apostasy publicly available since 2009, digging into its plot, motives to apostatize, and motivation for its publicizing. Through a thematic analysis, the diverse self-narratives show similar motivations (to promote social debate on political secularization in the country), although they differ in the centrality of their personal, sociopolitical, and procedural motives to apostatize. The stories that apostates tell are resources for social mobilization as they seek an increasingly broad audience and serve the pedagogical function of sharing arguments against the political role of the Catholic Church and in favor of personal ideological coherence.

Highlights

Have Apostatized”: Self-NarrativesIn 2018, days before the Argentine Senate rejected a bill to legalize abortion, a wave of outrage swept through the streets and on social media
The Collective Apostasy Campaign has been a dynamic force to promote an effective political secularization, by seeking to challenge the supposed social majority represented by the official position of the Catholic Church through the formal disaffiliation of those who are already estranged from the religious institution
The author builds a plot where his criticisms toward the Catholic Church and religions in general are increasingly channeled through a stimulating cause of political commitment that transcends the virtual space; the significance assigned to these new face-to-face demonstrations is suggested in the numerous photographs that the author shares about several actions of collective apostasy portrayed both in his city and in other cities

Summary

Introduction

In 2018, days before the Argentine Senate rejected a bill to legalize abortion, a wave of outrage swept through the streets and on social media. They have opposed and mobilized against the approval or implementation of laws that consider to be based on a notion of ‘gender as a social construct’, such as the sex education law (2006), same-sex marriage (2010), self-perceived gender identity (2012), or the legalization of abortion (rejected in 2018, but approved in 2020), among others In this sense, as in other Latin American societies, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church has been configured as an antagonist in the sexual rights politics promoted by feminism and LGTBIQ + movements (Pecheny and Dehesa 2011). The Collective Apostasy Campaign has been a dynamic force to promote an effective political secularization, by seeking to challenge the supposed social majority represented by the official position of the Catholic Church through the formal disaffiliation of those who are already estranged from the religious institution

Stories Apostates Tell

Self-Narratives of Apostasy in Argentina’s Blogosphere

Self-Narrative of Apostasy in Books

Narrating One’s Own Apostasy in a Documentary Film

A ‘Foretold’ Collective Apostasy in a Digital Magazine

Discussion