Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Religions of Brazil
Few countries in the world can match Brazil for
religious diversity. A typical São Paulo or Rio
neighborhood will be home to Catholic and
Evangelical Protestant churches, Buddhist temples,
synagogues, mosques, Spiritist churches, Afro-
Brazilian ceremonial centers, as well as a range of
smaller religious institutions. The practice of black
magic is not uncommon, even in business and
politics, and soothsayers and witches hand out leaflets
on the streets. Only atheists are largely absent in
Brazil; those who believe in nothing are looked upon
with a mixture of incredulity and pity.
The church establishment
in Brazil did little to criticize
the treatment of the indi-
genous people, or the slaves
from Africa who replaced
them. Churches were divided
along strict social and racial
lines. The poorest churches
were reserved for Afro-
Brazilian slaves and were
often dedicated to the black
Madonna, Nossa Senhora
do Rosário dos Pretos.
Latin American churches
were instrumental in
influencing Pope John
XXIII and Pope Paul VI's
groundbreaking church
reforms of the mid-1960s,
known as Vatican II and
promoting a more egalitarian
Catholic Church throughout
the world. Vatican II led
to the most important
movement in the Catholic
Church in the 20th century,
Liberation Theology.
Churches in Brazil today
are largely apolitical
and gregarious, and are
increasingly influenced
by Evangelical preaching
and musical styles.
Igreja Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Pretos in São Paulo
State) and factions who
campaigned on behalf of
the oppressed. One of these
factions was the Jesuits who,
while treating the indigenous
people as objects of pro-
selytization, nonetheless
fought doggedly against their
enslavement and murder by
the bandeirantes and the
settlers on the Amazon. The
Jesuits began to be seen as
a threat to the Portuguese
Crown and were expelled
from the colonies in 1757.
CATHOLICISM
Catholicism arrived with the
Portuguese, and Catholics
remain Brazil's dominant
religious group. Brazil has
the largest number of
Catholics of any country
in the world.
From its earliest days, the
church in Brazil, as in most
colonies, was divided into
an establishment linked to
the Crown (and later to the
Emperor and the Republican
Evangelical Protestants at Igreja
Universal do Reino, São Paulo
LIBERATION THEOLOGY
In the 1970s, groups of Latin
American Catholic thinkers
preached what they called “a
preferential option for the poor.”
In Brazil they were led by
Leonardo Boff, Hélder Câmara,
and Pedro Casaldaliga. They cam-
paigned against the rich establish-
ment and the dictatorships. Many
of the priests involved were
murdered or tortured and the
movement was suppressed by the
established Church.
EVANGELICAL
PROTESTANTISM
The Evangelical movement
emphasizes the Protestant
beliefs in the authority of the
Bible and of every person's
right to interpret the
Scriptures for themselves.
Services are emotive, with
pastors making use of fiery
language, and often strongly
encouraging their congre-
gation to donate a dízima
(usually 10 percent of any
monthly salary) to the
Leonardo Boff presiding
over a service
 
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