ABSTRACT
The article addresses the theme of the laicization of the State based on the actions and speeches of the Protestant missionary George William Butler (1853-1919) in the first days after the proclamation of the Republic. The objective is to evaluate how this character experienced and participated in this process. By analyzing his reports, the local political conflicts and the missionary’s relations with agents who drafted a law of church-state separation in Maranhão, his life appears as a form of access to understand this process and the meanings that Protestants wanted to imprint on it. Thus, the importance of micro-historical analysis stands out to perceive individuals not only as receivers of macro-social transformations, but as agents of these changes.
Keywords:
George William Butler; Protestantism; Laicization; Public Space