‘‘Religious Politicians’ ’ and ‘‘Secular

were religious before becoming politicians. The main question involved under-standing the ties which these men held with politics and religion, immanence and transcendence. Key words: immanence. transcendence. religion and politics. Brazil L’auteur présente les résultats d’une recherche menée auprès de 55 députés du parlement de l’État du Rio Grande do Sul, au sud du Brésil, dont six étaient reli-gieux avant de devenir politiciens. La question principale était de comprendre les rapports que ces hommes publics entretiennent avec la politique et la religion, l’immanence et la transcendance. Mots-clés: immanence. transcendance. religion et politique. Brésil This paper presents the results of research undertaken among members of the Chamber of Deputies of the State of Rio Grande do Sul1 in Porto Alegre,2 southern Brazil. In the Legislature for the years 2002–2006, there were 55 deputies, six of whom openly declared themselves religious: four Pentecos-tals (three pastors3 and one member of the Assembly of God), one Capuchin Catholic and one Spirit Medium. All six exercised religious functions before entering politics. They were elected thanks, in part, to the support of the faithful. During the exercise of their mandates they held onto their religious identity, at least to some extent. These six are designated as ‘‘religious poli-ticians’’. The remaining politicians also had religious beliefs and convictions, but it seems that these were not brought to the forefront prior to their entry into politics, and they did not openly express their beliefs and convictions during their respective mandates. Therefore these politicians are designated as ‘‘secular politicians’’. One of the subsidiary questions in this research concerned finding out to what degree the classification ‘‘religious and secular politicians’ ’ translates into differing political practices. However, the main question, linked to the DOI: 10.1177/003776860708385