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Whatever Happened to What Used to Be the Largest Catholic Country in the World?

Author(s): Patrcia Birman and Mrcia Pereira Leite Reviewed work(s): Source: Daedalus, Vol. 129, No. 2, Brazil: The Burden of the past; The Promise of the Future (Spring, 2000), pp. 271-290 Published by: The MIT Press on behalf of American Academy of Arts & Sciences Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20027637 . Accessed: 05/04/2012 03:06
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Patricia Birman and M?rcia Pereira Leite

Whatever

Happened

to

What Used to be the Largest Catholic Country in theWorld?

Originally Portuguese crown of when the

called

the

"Land

of

beginning and the cross. country the last until

of

of Brazil colony the sixteenth century Catholicism the Dom was Catholic 1990s Pedro last decade of

came

the Holy into under

Cross," at

the

remained II, was

the being the aegis of the the official religion sent into century exile and its ascen and the as the

the nineteenth

a republican Even so, over dancy ruled. Catholic remains rapid As

emperor, constitution hearts

the Roman the late as the

promulgated. Church maintained of was both the rulers

and minds Brazil

in the world. We country such Doubts abound today. of alternative of Pentecostal Church to

recognized do not know as we now and movements

largest it whether the

witness

proliferation number burgeoning has led the Catholic recapture formation, ally meant

religious churches

(led by a sects), which

lost ground. To it is necessary to be Catholic

to intended adopt measures to trans this dramatic begin interpret to understand it has tradition what in Brazil and and to set this against context. after its the "dis

contemporary cultural, economic, The Catholicism that was practiced became distant covery" progressively gins. During was engaged the sixteenth

political in Brazil

from its European ori the Catholic Church century European in the Counter-Reformation. In Brazil, however,

Patricia sciences M?rcia sciences

Birman is an anthropologist at the Universidade do Estado Pereira Leite is a at the Universidade sociologist do Estado

and do and do

in the professor Rio de Janeiro. in the professor Rio de Janeiro.

department

of

social

department

of

social

271

272

Patricia Birman and M?rcia Pereira Leite


that developed values. paid less attention to the dis

the Catholicism semination

to the beliefs it adapted Instead, of Amerindians, and practices of the local population, composed and exiled who African heretics, slaves, criminals, Portuguese what inhabited many contemporary observers, Je principally of Christian suits, sisted one Brazil official cate of denominated the Jesuit the "Tropics of Sin."1 This population priests, church re and missionaries, corrupted of the parish the colonial

refused to be intimidated by the Inquisition. The result was


the permanent was its inability to state characteristics

that
in

conversion

its doctrine.

religion, values non-Christian to argue that the

to bring about and exclusive effective In spite of enjoying the status of the was to eradi unable Church the Catholic practices. was Catholicism that the and This a kind country all manner has of led some

historians

"varnish," giving but in effect Catholic belief The and

impression merely

concealing

superficial was largely of religious

practice.2 Church Catholic

secured of the local up and could belief

the colony because partly out than carrying rather accommodate Catholicism devotion maintained practiced men. In sought turning of the itself with that grew

its religious status its official religious belief

over preeminence but also because, and moral reforms that

the Jesuits had propounded,

it preferred
and

(or was

obliged)
The kind

to
of

practice.3 a sort of popular be considered

religion in which
a close mainly?but this way,

formal dogma

lived side by side with


in magic and witchcraft. cults and the to the possession

strong
It also

to the saints

relationship not slaves exclusively?by of the Eurocentric hierarchy its place of a blind and in the eye local structures to the non-Christian

that were freed church by

to maintain something landowners

of power practices as Gilberto

Portuguese in particular the sugarcane domain, the From of view of most the point participants, plantations.4 at ease with to be quite the innumerable God seemed Catholic were attrib saints and other myriad beings who supernatural dominant order in the slave uted with the power to intervene in their lives. The relative

the Freyre has argued, to the representatives time

in general. the people Thus, remained subordinate church of the

crown

for a long and the

The Largest Catholic Country


unimportance in which order of

in theWorld?

273
ethical Saints

the basis of an rigor was theological were not defined. and evil clearly good of these spirits to resolve and

and demons
tance was

lived cheek by jowl and the only matter of impor


the capacity day-to-day

problems. This religious a form resents tholicism?a it has been seen

this flux of beliefs mixture, of religious tolerance under characteristic of national as yet another values relations of unequal instance

rep practices, of Ca the mantle

valued

that cordiality are different and

identity. As such, of the myth of Brazilian of proximity between those who masters and slaves, whites

status:

and blacks, Catholics

and the followers

of cults of African

would be receptive and toler The "Brazilian origin.5 people" ant. They would avoid political clashes and exclusive affirmations a and would unchal of identity syncretism practice religious

lenged by the Catholic Church. Just as this myth has allowed


Brazilians fest allowed to avoid for in racist racial resolving and practices profound a relatively conflict-free which antagonism, social inequality, religious is mani so it has

syncretism.

PENTECOSTALISMS, INTOLERANCE, THE CONTEMPORARY SITUATION As we upon move into the

AND VIOLENCE:

twenty-first

commemorating status quo is under serious threat from years ago, the religious as such Oriental various forms of alternatives, mysti spiritual cism spreading But by the urban middle classes. among apace to Catholic is the far the most threat significant hegemony multitude land. of Pentecostal In contrast with churches the Catholic from mushrooming Church, the bottom the throughout which has always up: of the pastors the popu same basic

celebrations

enters and as Brazil century its "discovery" five hundred

mirrored
Pentecostal and lation,
values.

the social and political


churches converts the spring belong same

hierarchy of Brazil, the new


segments share the

their

speak new

to the poorer and language, churches religion refuse under

The

Pentecostal and syncretic

a minority

to accept the status of the protection of a wide

274

Patricia Birman and M?rcia Pereira Leite


Catholic same identity, as the possession reject the values virtues with are this cults did in the

and powerful past. By the

this reason, a to among single God is the unending battle all other Exor against spiritual beings. cism is their most The Pentecostal weapon. groups powerful of their members. demand the exclusive dedication also They cult demand a new form ful coexistence of religious Rather than a peace pluralism. of various under the overall groupings religious

token, they since these tolerance, supposed connivance ceal an unsuspected the preferred practice religious

of cordiality and to con considered For

the devil.

authority
rights of

of the Church
all religions

of Rome,
the state,

they appeal for the equal


with access to the same

before

social and political privileges that had hitherto nopoly of the Catholic Church.

been the mo
doubts Brazil social against

Brazilian both reaffirms and society Contemporary to govern the myth of cordiality. The myth continues to concrete ians' self-image, but it does not correspond new This this battle intolerance, experience. religious

spiritual beings
become identified

identified with
with a more

the devil and his works,


secular battle social

has

evil against one in various Can the forms of urban violence. and, particular, remain of the with the emanations virtuous, living pacifically the way clear for the tribulations devil and thus leaving of the now seem round? and violence, poverty daily Unemployment, a less conciliatory to demand From the strategy. religious point of view of the of for life.6 the Pentecostals, in the world. the devil reenchantment of people. Pentecostalism explaining and of has of these afflictions to are manifestations of moral appeal the religious revival to and The preachings seem the world

growing

numbers

It would

that appear become the most with the

dealing

pervasive of afflictions

language instrument day-to-day

THE SECULARIZATION AND THE THEOLOGY To be able

OF CATHOLICISM OF LIBERATION the growth preeminence, of Pentecostalism it is necessary to and take the into

to understand to Catholic

challenge

The Largest Catholic Country

in theWorld?

27S

account changes in the theology and politics of the Catholic Church that began in the 1950s but were intensified during the 1960s and 1970s after the Second Vatican Council (1962
the hierarchy these years, 1965). During once to bring in Brazil again attempted of the Catholic Church reli of a Brazilian on popular the basis

gion
Council

in line with Catholicism


aimed to "modernize"

in Europe. The Second Vatican


the church in the world, and the society the traditional

of the religious situation sociological diagnosis a to which secularization of growing pointed renew state. to It was considered necessary

Catholicism
in the during context the

of Latin America, which


of wider the 1950s

seemed doomed
tendencies.7

to decline

secularizing church encouraged

Accordingly, the members of the

Catholic University Youth Movement (JUC) and the Catholic to Workers' Youth Movement (JOC) develop an ambitious
education popular cism of miracles more means, In place of the traditional Catholi project. were to be given and devotions, the people tools to change their social condition.8 "earthly" By these cease to it was that would be dominated hoped religion and supernatural of social change. a stron bishops and more

to intervene in the realm of the by attempts more a would become instrument conventional With ger and social priests, the Second Vatican on commitment the Brazilian engaged in favor of

which Council, encouraged the part of Latin American church became increasingly

radically tice and "theology

in the political struggle of human under rights After the meeting

social against injus the banner of the of Latin even American

liberation."9

bishops
church began

in Medellin

in 1968,

the lay movements

within

the

social became and against stronger inequality to promote as such trade nonreligious organizations, residents' and the like. The ideal of the unions, associations, was to church have into liberating people organized participa tory communities were a new called called "ecclesiastic base communities" (CEBs).

Itwas hoped that by participating


by what develop

in such communities,

guided

the "people" agents, pastoral (povo) would kind of church. would participation Religious

take the form of the discussion of social problems, which would thus be perceived as having both religious and political import.

276
Each

Patricia Birman and M?rcia

Pereira Leite

parish was of CEBs. number organized hierarchy It was in the among through during form of of

the largest possible with generating charged In this way, the new church would be formed, into the overall and linked the povo, religious parish the 1970s, structures. when CEBs. Brazil At was ruled same by a military

dictatorship,
members ments?thus that and ence time

that the theology of liberation began to bear fruit


innumerable the the church to began themselves join political to political and more Catholics time, important move resistance repression. the joined From social

exposing more onward,

The National Confer the regime. battle against political went the of Bishops, created 1950s, during systematically in liberties and those of threat civil about general, defending in particular. and priests the ened individuals Bishops occupied of politi the assassination front line of protest torture, against cal and activists, the the death penalty, and arbitrary arrests.10 was The not into military guerrilla the only of a

church was

just about the only public voice that could be heard

institution threatened, that, although only It became transformed the attacked military. by directly to rule. the resistance When for sanctuary military in and succeeded government left-wing eliminating was in the 1970s, Church the Catholic groupings institution citizens' The did not in a position rights. activities work between of with to negotiate the church local with the state

in defense

public

in defense communities

of human on the

impede

part

rights of

priests and lay people


the mid-1980s, been formed,11 intellectuals ing about up. It was and

inspired by the theology of liberation. By

CEBs had thousand sixty and eighty Catholic and non-Catholic there were many were that the base communities who believed bring a revolution in Brazil?a revolution from the bottom

action had been that a new form of political thought more more and autonomous, conscious, born, more closely to trade unions and local protest movements. related Surely this

political action was


it was tures about thought and political a change

inspired by the institution of the church, but


less beholden It was parties.12 and to traditional hoped religious that power it would struc bring of

to be

in the political

consciousness

The Largest Catholic Country


people, doing would the workers, bring Indians, about the

in theWorld?

277
in so

and women, and Blacks, of Brazil. transformation

TRANSFORMING the

SOCIETY OR CHANGING idea of

LIFE ITSELF the transforming which seemed has not who been the new were at until country so close totally mil most same

Although

revolutionary

rational political through at the beginning to success it has certainly abandoned, lennium. from time, within During the 1990s,

intervention, of the 1980s, been

postponed and bishops priests the Vatican, began

closely identified with


growing more conservative the Brazilian the criticism

the theology of liberation began to suffer


from tendencies Meanwhile, while, to gain in society began by to the prominence at large, the

church. base

heroic days of the battle against the dictatorship


Concomitantly, new social while governmental this is the supposed to began Pentecostal The movements movements supported

had passed.
non

lose momentum

international

And organizations gained ground.13 finally?and were bitter of who very povo irony history?the to have been the architects of their own liberation abandon the Catholic Church in favor of the new is, the theology churches.14

changes. to religion to find and why have the middle looked classes we answer to their lives? To these for try meaning questions How

we must ask is just how these povo?that question were in who the principal poor target of the general, of liberation?have and understood these experienced

will

look more
of Rio

closely at the political


one of de the principal

and religious
centers of

life of the
the coun in

inhabitants

urban

try?namely, The inhabitants Brazil, religious day-to-day daily They do not

Janeiro. of Rio de Janeiro, often talk about religion arise

like most in abstract

other terms. for the

people Rather, concrete

interpretations

But problems. we meet actors we life, religious are the men and women who of as "lesser" prayer spaces groups, of

to provide meaning we enter into when have occupy not

of sphere mentioned. yet are often what as neighbor associations

thought hood networks,

sociability?such or neighborhood

278
that these members session tive

Patricia Birman and M?rcia


operate far from of social party structures find life, we Pentecostal

Pereira Leite
and state institutions. Catholics, In

regions of the new

nonpracticing

"charismatic" cults, "Oriental" These religions. people, are about widespread mously, bringing transformations now and again, social through particular movement the daily aspects in which of

in pos churches, participants and members of alterna Catholics, most of them and make. anony religious Every religiosity participate. political choices they this quotidian individuals

gain the kind of public visibility


the wider

that allows us to understand


these

What
When or

to Do about Evil in theWorld?


faced with the immense that occur on

of a great metropolis, problems an even wider often choose scale, people an evil to which 1990s attribute blame. the the During they came see to of Rio de Janeiro violence and the drug people as in the shantytowns the evil.15 business (favelas) quintessential those Discussions took and on about urban violence religious connotations, within groupings. By looking specific religious we can to social violence, understand then, begin lost and credibil interpretations meaning religious soon the drug business a series of projects producing and

aspirations at the field of certain

why

ity?and, offered

in particular followers?while those others, therefore, more became and churches, by the Pentecostal plausible numbers of attracted increasing adepts. of these churches, the Universal Church The most important

of the Kingdom of God


Edir Macedo.

(IURD), was founded in 1976 by Bishop


of time, Macedo and television had radio built chan

Within period with up a religious empire complete in all the Brazilian nels and temples in Latin America, countries Europe, a serious threat to the previously

a short

as well as in other states, In it now and Africa. Brazil solid preeminence of the

poses

Catholic
basis

Church. Bishop Macedo


of a relentless prefers emanates saints cults.

designed
attack to

his proselytizing

strategy on the

coincidence, cities.16 Evil the Catholic

evil, which, against by an unhappy territories inhabit the poorer of the above all from the devils that hide behind African divinities grew that most populate rapidly the in

and

possession

The

IURD,

therefore,

The Largest Catholic Country


just more saved spirits. these areas of of so, members from damnation

in theWorld?

279

the city by attacking Catholicism and, even the spirit-possession cults who could be exorcism the of their through possessing

The Catholic Church and the Brazilian elite in general have


attacked himself exploiting prosperity, lem with with content members. Macedo's was empire on a number accused of dodging taxes, of grounds. laundering The money, above bishop and

all miracles, popular credulity by offering in exchange for cash gifts to the church. The prob to terms these accusations is that they do not come success able that the IURD has the in attracting its They of the are not church's strong Utopian Pastors claim that each preachings. with the miraculous of his or repayment to understand

the undoubted

be blessed person will her donations, and that this is clear evidence of the commitment to has each of the faithful. The members of the church Jesus dream of prosperity in the family, with attacks and their on

Furthermore, that their growth,

the critics

the ousting of the evils that beset them in the workplace.17 loved ones, and of the IURD do not seem to be aware far critiques his from from its impeding the outside

actually persecuted

the movement, it.18 Such strengthen

merely
citadel

consolidate

the belief within


by the devil and

that the IURD is a holy


emissaries.

Fighting Against
The terms.

the Spirits of Evil

cults do not define and evil in absolute possession good are to The win their for the spirits support worshipped are to valued for their power resolve living; they specific prob lems rather than for any moral virtue It is may possess. they for obtain of rival example, that this supernatural of the drug the and protection against police accuse Pentecostals the leaders is how members

assumed, business members of

organizations. the possession cults of complicity with the drug traffickers and therefore find them largely responsible for the violence that arises from conflicts between rival drug gangs and from police In these situations blitzes. are exposed all favela to the dwellers or a of death As members of consequence, danger disability. are believed to "work with these cults, who as devils disguised divinities" and "to work to do good," are evil when professing

280
treated rence of the

Patricia Birman and M?rcia


with increasing in the Pentecostal Lord Jesus," at repeated mistrust. churches. and each "leave street

Pereira Leite
are

Exorcisms

occur a daily name in the devil, "Depart, are the life of this person" by the members of the

phrases

corner

IURD. The exorcism of the malignant

spirits believed to be the

cause of the evil of the drug business and its associated prime one of the most of methods has become violence significant most ritual in and the with the evil popular favelas dealing first inducing Exorcism involves possession by the evil activity. or to announce his her malignant is encouraged spirit, who name of the Holy in the forever intentions before being expelled the individual exorcism, Through Spirit. of all "cleansed" that he or she has been concerned that might believes hurt.

The open hostility


possession cults and tion. lently The cults

between

the Universal

Church

and the

these between alliance the ancient is destroying interven forms of religious traditional with breaking a benevo turned which face of Catholicism, occult

to is losing cults, eye to the possession ground, more base with the associated its with face, public gether as at best, is perceived, Church The Catholic communities. violence to deal with of urban the causes quite helpless being is as In the church at with them. fact, worst, and, conniving blind seen to utilize as refusing in favor of it continues the Instead, discourse developing of citizens the civic consciousness toward awakening to draw Church state. But these efforts of the Catholic to denounce to the causes and of violence police are the seem to those who for example, inadequate that continues unabated.19 The refusal of the on Church violence of act of to bring its has the effect exorcism powers supernatural the of strengthening to have to bear exorcising effects. with the its divine and saintly powers. a more rational

directed and attention

brutality, victims of violence Catholic urban furor The Proffering of Jesus

the Pentecostals. is believed immediate devil, evil spirits words the performative "depart, the the pastor the Lord," expels in the name

power
saints confront

of Christ, which
and the the divinities with spirits

is recognized
of African the

by both

the Catholic

origin. of confidence

Just as the pastors the superior power

The Largest Catholic Country


of Jesus themselves so they Christ, in their hillside also seek out fastnesses.

in theWorld?
the

281

They even that they command the respect strong tives of evil, the drug organizations, without themselves contaminated. These becoming ures than from able and have become recognized as possessing and as being

traffickers drug are spiritually so of the representa the risk of

the Catholic priests, the malignant forces of the cults of possession. They to interrupt the flow of violence two weapons: utilizing revolvers the fire and machine of weapons. guns: the

running new religious fig more much power dissociated radically

are the of

rituals of exorcism and the word of God. They bring the Bible
to combat prayer the Holy Spirit against fire

The warring
contrast to the

spirit of the Universal


strategy of more

Church

is in marked
in

traditional

Pentecostalism

Brazil. The first missionaries

of the Assembly

of God arrived at

the beginning of the twentieth Pentecostal denomination until of God sembly set apart from preached the evils the

and became the largest century the rise of the IURD. The As of a Christian world

construction

moral

mundane and politics, from the world, the permissiveness.20 By withdrawing never a of God to serious threat the Assembly represented status as we Catholic have quo. The seen, IURD, however, on instead of excluding to itself from the attack evil, went exclude evil that from the world. This factory are themselves in the world.21 the Assembly of God to exorcism turning has proved strategy and other smaller to root out the causes so satis churches of evil

of Catholicism,

A Civic and Religious Alternative


The wealthier business citizens in the of Rio same drug and the poorer suburbs do. Rio's the classes"?who by "dangerous voked by de Janeiro do not the inhabitants way privileged are in a classes state look of the upon the favelas

the drug traffickers?and fear areas to the violence of the city where live. they themselves more These whose rationalist ethos the denies of elites, efficacy as a way exorcism of dealing with the evils of the drug wars, are nevertheless to moralize attracted initiatives by religious public space.

feel besieged of war pro the expansion of urban

282
And leaders for

Patricia Birman and M?rcia


so we of return to our youth

Pereira Leite
the former

the Catholic education exiled

of discussion previous movements who were in into the exile 1970s.

popular leaders were

projects or went to Brazil

Many the during

responsible of these of years of these

rule, military was Herbert

returning de Souza

in the mid-1980s. became

One

of the campaign symbol tion of for the return opinionmakers tional campaign Misery more and affluent in Rio de

who (Betinho), for a general democracy

Janeiro. to fight hunger called for Life," which appealed

an important as a precondi amnesty of the principal and one a na In 1993 he organized "Citizens' to the moral Action sense against of the

to provide that would gifts of food and clothing to the poorest idea was The basic the of country. regions the to eliminate civic participation and foster poverty through a "Christmas million of poor spent Thirty charity. practice be sent symbolic in the efficacy of ideas and believe individual. actions of each the responsible The Hunger." function But this in the campaign sense that also had an it encouraged the transformative important to citizens power of

without

into action entered and concrete of conviction strength some what of the city, producing ethos the civic and political soon a "civic debate which called have engendered religion," on the evils associated and its concomi with the drug business as tant violence.22 the violence The Catholic bishops interpreted in a consequence therefore of social They preached inequality.23 favor reform, between many. of human for rich With rights and that But the structural would this growth solution of reforms the seemed example) and poor. the and areas fear in reduce (such as enormous ineffective and denizens and "bandits" state by areas a sense of land gap to of the

continued

violence,

insecurity middle-class ments military city. The

in their

city, the municipal supported to exterminate the attempts of of to came the death the the favelas of innocent war extremes from and

the wealthy

govern staging of the as a

invasions inevitable

peripheral was victims the

seen

evil" "necessary An alternative and Viva all-out Rio war

all-out

against of vague

drug structural

business. reform

pologist

(Live Rio), and former

a nongovernmental organization, an anthro C?sar Fernandes, led by Rubem had been brought exile who up in a Pr?s

The Largest Catholic Country

in theWorld?

283

a young and Caio F?bio, pastor. Presbyterian family, byterian was for the "progressive" the The pastor leading spokesman while the anthropologist of the Evangelical churches,24 wing was Rio to various in related nongovernmental organizations a Protestant two leaders within de Janeiro. These tradition to abandon the generic and abstract of structural aimed goals a movement civic and religious reform them with and replace in intervene that could affairs. Under the banner of city directly well they organized a veritable crusade to responsibility felt necessary among to offer At the the citizenry. education and work in order and to to be able incorporate

and peace fraternity, a sense of mobilize same time, it was

opportunities to lure them them Caio up into into

to the poor from away

youth of the favelas the drug business a sense

society. F?bio lent the movement the to convert

favelas a project to provide organized out business and adolescents, and sought and artists, people, to get involved in the civic cause of bringing intellectuals good ness and peace to Rio de Janeiro. In a gesture of great media efficacy nists of contact he managed the drug war: with both to convert the most in his the governor important and protago the most

He climbed of urgency. to traffickers the gospel, drug to children skills professional

palace

dangerous
mediator

drug traffickers locked up in the city jails. In close


between

soon became the pastor the principal sides, the besieged of the wealthy suburbs and the no bound of the drug barons. Since the gospel fortresses knows it into the ideal instru able to transform aries, Caio F?bio was In 1995 to promote in the city. peace a demonstration Viva Rio organized against of city. the violence

ment

in which
Kingdom pants mental estant

all churches?except

for the Universal Church of the


The areas majority of the partici Nongovern and Prot the liberal

of God?participated. came from the wealthier organizations, youth groups, business alternative artists, people,

Catholic religions, of members teachers, a small

professions, the march

joined but significant violence, number of people from the favelas and representatives of their associations. residents' The ideal of solidarity between the op as a to "two cities" had emerge posed begun possibility. against

intellectuals, as as well

and housewives

284
The some

Patricia Birman and M?rcia Pereira Leite


was campaign that there was The idea the most to a growing The successful an took root to the extent that war it convinced the against in action to all-out of

alternative

"bandits." constituted

that moral strategy in the of

conviction civic

effective belief

participation. power of to

Thanks
gave way religion. gained

to this movement,

disbelief

in the efficacy of politicians


transformative this Presbyterian pastor

credibility

evangelical preaching to give in its capacity

religious

significance

the public world, which had until then been monopolized by Catholic bishops. The Catholic Church had been up to then the
in the public voice only one to have political into competition and his church thus entered and the Pentecostals Church of the Universal of the middle class, which had are to Protestantism, pervious to the evangelical of preaching WHATEVER CATHOLIC We have HAPPENED COUNTRY seen how and previously today more world. with Church. been Caio F?bio the Catholic Segments im somewhat

likely to be receptive innumerable churches.25

TO THE LARGEST IN THE WORLD? two segments the middle of Rio de the population to new came mean lend class, the importance of Protestantism or more Even traditional forms. of religious to the destiny changes of we Brazil have

Janeiro, In both cases, ing to religion. in its Pentecostal either grew, initial about the so, our question cannot be satisfactorily answered. The Catholic Church has

the poor

reacted

described,

and bit by bit it has changed

its proselytizing

strat

movement that allows for the expres egy. A strong charismatic to in sion of emotion and sentiment similar the Pentecos ways tals has larly more arisen within the the Catholic and Church. the It is popular active support the Vatican among conservative young church enjoys particu of the

even of itself. hierarchy, in honor At the same time, cults of God, and the Holy Jesus, not to mention and mystical the emotional traditional Spirit, are de are receiving to the Virgin, These cults cults support. to bring Catholics signed This form of Catholicism times. It makes use of back seems such to the more true as source of with charisma. the new and in tune

concepts

"spirituality"

The Largest Catholic Country


"energy," alternative attract sharing Following priests who which cults. attract The

in theWorld?

285

so many middle-class Church makes Catholic

young people, of faith and the

encounters promoting are the principal vivre attraction. de joie are Catholics of the Universal Church, example

to the people a special to effort the during which

filling football
are

stadiums with
committed

hymns of praise,
to renewal. A new

led by young

of category is the filled with apace: who, growing "singing priests padres," and dance direct lead bands of musicians, charisma, shows, to in the television order bolster their way programs through and of Christ the young Jesus praising participation people and boisterous meetings Virgm.26 Mystical of of the somber discussion groups place concerns. and their political this moment, version of the poor At shows the base now take the communities

it is becoming clear that the con therefore, to Pentecostalism of Rio de Janeiro does not to it was At orthodox adhere first, necessarily procedures. a meant to conversion commitment Prot also the that thought estant ethic with its moral respon rigor and sense of individual sibility. signaled gious events It was the felt, demise that the growth also, of "tradition"?that with an of Pentecostalism the is, the magico-reli From world. enchanted

we have seen that changes described, however, in these two directions in what was have been relative. Religion even as in the it chang?s, the largest Catholic country world, with continuity Catholicism and the the values and the ethos associated cults. We

practices we have

associated

maintains with

therefore may possession a of which reinvented Pentecostalism," "syncretic magic speak in its own way.27 The losses suffered and possession by the

Catholic Church have apparently


of experimentation, Ideals which of gious term of

led to the opening of a field


to the new birth of new the reli long forms

is leading

groups, projects. fraternity inspire of whose ethic and new significance participatory are difficult to predict. civism religious

ACKNOWLEDGMENT We are greatly indebted to Peter Fry for his kind help in giving suggestions and in
translating this essay from Portuguese.

286

Patricia Birman and M?rcia

Pereira Leite

ENDNOTES
*As Ronald program Church Vainfas for Catholic with the the observed, reform there is an "insoluble the colonization contradiction process the same within the

in Brazil:

on operating Christianization

to expand at abroad, opportunity basis of slavery and cultural miscegenation, so successful in Europe." of the masses

the provided time in which, it negated the Vainfas,

Ronaldo

Tr?pico dos pecados: Moral, sexualidade e Inquisi?ao no Brasil (Rio de Janeiro: Editora Campus, 1989), 36. According to the same Brazilian histo
rian, ans Jesuit of the reports and on colonization not did with not spare "criticism monstrous were to of the first colo of

nizers who as soon as they disembarked


land, satisfied

tried to cohabit with


this already

the female Indi


sin, many also directed with the Negro the

them joined with


chiefs to "the women and secular as

several women
of who

at one time, ready to imitate the style of the


complaints sins and 'lawful of collusion sin with

the principals clergy of the were

cohabitation

they

the heathen." Their . . . accused of similar . . . said it was lay people slaves.'" Ibid., 28-29. Laura de Mello e Souza, how e Souza,

2The Brazilian guese Catholic

historian legacy, See Laura

emphasizing de Mello

extensively

for example, itwas

analyzes related de

the Portu to the prac Santa Cruz:

tices of magic
Inquisition.

and witchcraft,

which were

in fact intensely combated by the


O Diabo e a Terra

Feiti?aria e religiosidade das Letras, 1986).


3Which ample, genese, is not the to say that "Romanization" e

popular no Brasil colonial


Catholicism process do has not

(S?o Paulo: Companhia


reform. once no for ex See, the republic (Petr?polis:

of popular

undergone Catholicism

was proclaimed,
estrutura

studied by Pedro de Oliveira, Religi?o


func?o catolicismo romanizado

e domina??o de classe:
Brasil

Vozes, 1985); and Ralph della Cava, Miracle don: Columbia University Press, 1970).
4Gilberto tion which Freyre, of Brazilian Portuguese known worldwide

at Joaseiro
and

(New York and Lon


Slaves and The on Casa ( Grande e in the

for The Masters in the

senzala)

(Rio de Janeiro: Maia

and Schmidt, 1933),

suggested an interpreta
the manner power a strong the casa of

society grounded was domination owner and the

system slavery in Brazil. established master The was was based commerce

sugar-plantation and cultural, of the lished tween latter. tions

slave

social,

great a "syncretic" cultural order without slaves and masters, a model Thus, such as sexual of domination

religious miscegenation. rural masters and senzala the

between

in which former was

intense, affectionate, a mutual there was

grande and estab be

influence

evidently on established

over control the losing rela the basis of close

The life, and religious practices. day-to-day exchanges, universe this was and unconcerned from by the pagan resulting to the practices in classes. The the committed plantations prevalent popular ex were a unit of sugar, the major for the manufacture product production Catholicism

ported by Brazil at the time, and formed the basis of economic


power of the large landowners of colonial Brazil until the empire.

and social

5A recent analysis made by the anthropologist John Burdick in Blessed Anastacia: Women, Race and Popular Christianity in Brazil (New York and
London: Routledge, 1998) explores the racial and religious meanings of cer

The Largest Catholic Country


tain myths Anastacia." nections Slaves). "Feijoada nacionais," surrounding It attempts between For e masters on a popular to show and notas ingl?s black how saint much and these

in theWorld?
former slave, called myths contemporary

287
"Slave can

differ from the model


the debate soul-food: in Fry,

of racial relations based on affection and familial con


slaves, national and (The Masters by Freyre see Peter Fry, and ethnicity, also identity a e sobre ?tnicos de s?mbolos manipula??o ver: identidade e pol?tica na cultura brasileira as defended

Para

(Rio de Janeiro: Zahar,


6For a discussion of the see Pierre ture, et al., Freston

1983).
of Pentecostalism on national identity brasileira," sociol?gicas and cul do ? cultura interpreta?oes in Paul

impact

"O repto Sanchis, pentecostal nem Nem demonios: anjos

pentecostalismo
7We have summarized

(Petr?polis: Vozes,
here the arguments

1994).
developed by Carlos Alberto Steil, "A

Igreja dos Pobres: da seculariza?ao ? m?stica," Religi?o e Sociedade 19 (2) (1999), with regard to the role played by the Catholic Church during this
period.

8According to Carlos Steil, as of the 1950s and the advent of the theology of liberation, the Catholic Church based itswork on the basis of the belief that
social utopia was one and the same thing as Christian salvation. Ibid., 63.

9In the 1960s the social policy of the church in Latin America and in Brazil had as its guidelines the document of the Second Vatican Council, followed by the encyclical Populorum Progressio (1966), directed toward Latin America, and
finally the orientation emanating from Medellin, Colombia, at the Second

Conference of Latin American Bishops, held in 1968. In 1979, in Puebla, the " Latin American Church reaffirm [ed] the basic principles of a church commit
ted to the dignidade: oppressed." uma avalia??o Use da utopia "Redescobrindo Scherer-Warren, na Am?rica da liberta?ao a nossa Latina,"

Religi?o e Sociedade 10Several priests were


Charles Antoine

15 (2-3) (1990): 168. imprisoned


"Igreja

and persecuted
e Estado

throughout
1971-1974,"

the 1970s.
Religi?o

See
e

Arquivo,

no Brasil,

Sociedade
nCf.

6 (1980).
"Ceb: de "As unidade base em estruturante quest?o comunidades de in Clodovis de Igreja," Boff 131. (S?o Paulo: 1997), Paulinas, de base e a transforma?ao social," base em quest?o (S?o Paulo: Paulinas,

de Oliveira, Pedro et al., As comunidades See also Ivo Lesbaupin, in Lesbaupin et al., As

comunidades

1997).
12Refer to Willen Assies, "Theory, Practice and 'External Actors' in the Making

in Brazil," Bulletin of Latin American Re of New Urban Social Movements search 18 (2) (1999), for an in-depth study of the significance of these move
ments policy. and the autonomy they intended to have in contrast to traditional

NGOs 13These
which range

are extremely varied in their objectives and in the roles they play,
from as actions of a political nature to campaigns, children, the state, and projects, adolescents, etc. and

philanthropic
ciative alternative life,

activities. They
such ecology, new

introduced new themes into political and asso


the ways of women, rights to of relating philanthropy,

religiosities,

288
For an historias

Patricia Birman and M?rcia

Pereira Leite
"'Experiencia org., A?oes em militante': sociedade.

see Leilah of this field, Landim, analysis in Landim, das assim chamadas ONGs,"

Milit?ncia,

caridade, assist?ncia etc. (Rio de Janeiro: ?AU


that

Editora,

1998).
the met to one the can

were 15 percent of of the population the evangelicals 14"Supposing area of Rio of them de Janeiro, that 70 percent converted ropolitan in the past three years, converted and that of these 28 percent church,

estimate
came

that between

1993 and 1994 roughly three hundred


region, or an average of one hundred

thousand be
thousand per

evangelicals

in this

year. The majority


Umbanda tists are more

(65 percent)

come from Catholicism,

16 percent

from

from Kardecist and 6 percent The Bap Spiritism. in converting while the Universal Catholics, [Church in converting is more successful of the Kingdom of God] umbandistas." em casa, na igreja e na pol?tica," "Os evang?licos Rubem C?sar Fernandes,

or Candombl?, successful

Religi?o

e Sociedade

17 (1-2) (1994): 6. the drug traffic in the city of Rio de Janeiro changed radi
itself and into an economic of a circulation the drugs began inter of great scope with enterprise on a and drugs arms, money, grand on a greater to be distributed in scale

15Asof the mid-1980s,


cally, transforming connections national scale. For the most

part,

the slums and in the periphery of the city, involving in a critical way the lives of all who lived in these areas and changing their relationship with the rest of the
city. For an analysis of violence and drug trafficking in the peripheral areas of

Rio de Janeiro, see Alba Zaluar, O condominio Editora Revan, 1994). 16From the identification
great evil that cursed "pockets somehow shared developed using These their of marginality," with involved social other and kinship strategies do the city, where the slums

do diabo

(Rio de Janeiro:

of the drug traffic headquartered


it was progressively that assumed because them.

in the slums as the


to represent were dwellers

began all favela

the

traffickers drug networks with

godfather-type power. strategies As are of

exchanges not exclude

complicity the role demand 17As was

a result, tenuous in the areas

integration by setting to the "community." services and offering to to ward off any threat the use of violence and lines between the dividing contact, negotiation, dominated has by drug traffic. For this grown that they Lehmann, largely provide. "Religion and the Media in response reason, to the

of

and up with they grew In addition, the traffickers of reciprocity up networks

in favelas groups religious identities for the positive moral in Patricia Birman and David

stated

in a Battle for Ideological Hegemony: The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God and TV Globo in Brazil," Bulletin of Latin American Research 18 (2) (1999): 162, "The response of the enlightened intelligentsia, the political class, and the Catholic hierarchy has been to portray the rewards of faith advertised
a matter of consumption, that the ignoring merely Universal Church the sex, status, encompasses by prosperity proclaimed the scourges from of freedom of one's the health children, money, marriage, a inversion of the short violence, point-by-point unemployment?in drugs, by the Universal Church ills of Brazilian accuse Just ing the Church Negating society. of estelionato?of is often status, the Utopian obtaining dismissed and it a criminal dimension money cheapened activity, by of its message, they means. fraudulent as

as political dissent or loss of property

brand

fear by those who, so here is a religious

The Largest Catholic Country


discourse see also Church, of Pentecostalism criminalized, Paul or at least Freston, cheapened." "Brother Votes Stoll For

in theWorld?

289

the history of the Universal Politics for Brother: The New Garrard-Burnett,

in Brazil,"

in David

and Virginia

eds., Rethinking
versity 18Cf. Clara pessoal Janeiro, Press, C. em

Protestantism
"Na contextos

in Latin America
da

(Philadelphia: Temple Uni


liberdade em

1993). J. Mafra, dois 1999. and Cidadania" conducted Justi?a to suppose it is reasonable that the posse palavra: e convers?o religi?o, Tese de doutoramento

nacionais,"

Antropolog?a
mimeo,

Social, Museu

Nacional,

Universidade

Federal

do Rio

de

to the data from the survey "Lei, 19According area of Rio de Janeiro, in the metropolitan

black and pardo (brown) population has gradually been moving toward the Pentecostal churches. In 1996, 56 percent of the members of the Evangelical churches belonged to these categories, while 76 percent of the followers of
candombl? Lei, justi?a and umbanda were Cor, black religi?o e cidadania. or pardo. Jos? Murilo e acesso ? informa?ao de Carvalho e servi?os et al., p?blicos

(Rio de Janeiro: CPDOC-FGV/ISER,


20On Pentecostal values de Deus: and political escolhidos pentecostals,

1998), 16.
see Regina Os Novaes, e cidadania (Rio de Janeiro:

participation, trabalhadores

ISER; S?o Paulo: Editora Marco


21For a short do history of Pentecostalism brasileiro," pentecostalismo

Zero,

1985).
"Breve nem historia demonios:

see Paul Freston, in Brazil, et al, Nem in Freston anjos

interpreta??es sociol?gicas

do pentecostalismo

(Petr?polis: Vozes,

1994).

22Cf.Robert Bellah, "Civil Religion on Religion in a Post-Traditional


ers, tues 23We well result ration Pereira 1970). and refer Several campaigns of and

inAmerica," in Bellah, Beyond Belief: Essays World (New York: Harper & Row Publish
actions endeavored to the fate to make of a type of "civil

religion" flourish by investing symbolically


in the commitment to the the significant of eighteen between the citizens increase and

in religious, civic, and moral vir


the city. of youths be as as a of homicides assaults and

in the number twenty-four, of

tween

ages as the wars of

and them, of a "culture Leite,

police of fear" and the perceptions of evil o individualismo e a solidariedade. "Entre and Luiz Eduardo

the drug-traffic confrontation

deaths gangs, by with the traffickers.

kidnapping, bullets" "stray

For the configu in the city, see M?rcia da pol?tica Dilemas et al., Violencia

da cidadania," XXII Encontr? Anual da ANPOCS, GT Rituais e Violencia


Pol?tica, Caxambu, mimeo, 1999; Soares

na
e

pol?tica no Rio de Janeiro


24This pastor constructed his

(Rio de Janeiro: Relume Dumar?/ISER,


religious Cf. trajectory Paul Freston, as a representative of

1996).
the camp nas

of the "ethical Evangelicals"


greatest leader, Edir Macedo.

in opposition

to the Universal
"As Igrejas

Church and its


Protestantes

elei?oes g?rais brasileiras," Religi?o


25In the his many running last gubernatorial were mate electors, this gave election both them in Rio

e Sociedade
de Janeiro,

17 (1-2) (1996).
the winning evangelical credibility. candidate Christians. and To

as known publicly considerable moral

26InOctober of 1999, the Catholic Church held the largest Catholic show in its recent history. It gathered a crowd of 170,000 in theMaracan? football sta

290
dium

Patricia Birman and M?rcia


of Rio de Janeiro for a show called

Pereira Leite
"In the name of the Father." Renewal. the our event: hearts. A num One "Vio And

ber of singing priests participated. The Cardinal of Rio de Janeiro attributed


its success of to the many with Charismatic years of collaboration the priests the devotional of aspect attending emphasized disarm lence does not stop with the end of the arms. We must

only Christ can do this." Cf. O Globo,


27See Patricia Birman, "M?diation feminine

2d ed., 13 October
et identit?s

1999.
Probl?mes

pent?cotistes,"

d'Am?rique Latine 24 (1997).

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