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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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Whatever
Happened
to
called
the
"Land
of
of
of Brazil colony the sixteenth century Catholicism the Dom was Catholic 1990s Pedro last decade of
came
Cross," at
the
the being the aegis of the the official religion sent into century exile and its ascen and the as the
the nineteenth
in the world. We country such Doubts abound today. of alternative of Pentecostal Church to
witness
proliferation number burgeoning has led the Catholic recapture formation, ally meant
religious churches
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,
Birman is an anthropologist at the Universidade do Estado Pereira Leite is a at the Universidade sociologist do Estado
and do and do
department
of
social
department
of
social
271
272
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
that
in
conversion
its doctrine.
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
impression merely
concealing
the colony because partly out than carrying rather accommodate Catholicism devotion maintained practiced men. In sought turning of the itself with that grew
it preferred
and
(or was
obliged)
The kind
to
of
religion in which
a close mainly?but this way,
formal dogma
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
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
crown
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
this flux of beliefs mixture, of religious tolerance under characteristic of national as yet another values relations of unequal instance
valued
identity. As such, of the myth of Brazilian of proximity between those who masters and slaves, whites
status:
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
syncretism.
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
mirrored
Pentecostal and lation,
values.
their
speak new
The
a minority
274
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
the devil.
authority
rights of
of the Church
all religions
of Rome,
the state,
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
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
dealing
pervasive of afflictions
OF CATHOLICISM OF LIBERATION the growth preeminence, of Pentecostalism it is necessary to and take the into
to understand to Catholic
challenge
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
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
seemed doomed
tendencies.7
to decline
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
liberation."9
bishops
church began
in Medellin
in 1968,
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).
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
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
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
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
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
to be
in the political
consciousness
in theWorld?
277
in so
TRANSFORMING the
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,
church. base
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
and religious
centers of
life of the
the coun in
inhabitants
urban
interpretations
But problems. we meet actors we life, religious are the men and women who of as "lesser" prayer spaces groups, of
sociability?such or neighborhood
278
that these members session tive
Pereira Leite
and state institutions. Catholics, In
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
What
When or
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
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
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
designed
attack to
his proselytizing
strategy on the
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,
in theWorld?
279
the city by attacking Catholicism and, even the spirit-possession cults who could be exorcism the of their through possessing
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
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
merely
citadel
consolidate
Fighting Against
The terms.
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
Church
is in marked
in
traditional
Pentecostalism
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,
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.
282
And leaders for
Pereira Leite
the former
returning de Souza
One
of the campaign symbol tion of for the return opinionmakers tional campaign Misery more and affluent in Rio de
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,
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
invasions inevitable
seen
all-out
against of vague
drug structural
business. reform
pologist
a nongovernmental organization, an anthro C?sar Fernandes, led by Rubem had been brought exile who up in a Pr?s
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
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
palace
dangerous
mediator
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
of God?participated. came from the wealthier organizations, youth groups, business alternative artists, people,
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
alternative
"bandits." constituted
conviction civic
effective belief
participation. power of to
Thanks
gave way religion. gained
to this movement,
disbelief
credibility
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
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,
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"
in theWorld?
285
encounters promoting are the principal vivre attraction. de joie are Catholics of the Universal Church, example
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
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
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
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
several women
of who
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,
emphasizing de Mello
extensively
analyzes related de
tices of magic
Inquisition.
and witchcraft,
which were
of popular
undergone Catholicism
was proclaimed,
estrutura
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
senzala)
suggested an interpreta
the manner power a strong the casa of
system slavery in Brazil. established master The was was based commerce
slave
social,
great a "syncretic" cultural order without slaves and masters, a model Thus, such as sexual of domination
between
influence
evidently on established
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
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
in theWorld?
former slave, called myths contemporary
287
"Slave can
Para
1983).
of Pentecostalism on national identity brasileira," sociol?gicas and cul do ? cultura interpreta?oes in Paul
impact
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,"
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
religiosities,
288
For an historias
Pereira Leite
"'Experiencia org., A?oes em militante': sociedade.
see Leilah of this field, Landim, analysis in Landim, das assim chamadas ONGs,"
Milit?ncia,
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
thousand be
thousand per
evangelicals
in this
(65 percent)
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
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:
the
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
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
brand
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
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
1998), 16.
see Regina Os Novaes, e cidadania (Rio de Janeiro:
participation, trabalhadores
Zero,
1985).
"Breve nem historia demonios:
interpreta??es sociol?gicas
do pentecostalismo
(Petr?polis: Vozes,
1994).
inAmerica," in Bellah, Beyond Belief: Essays World (New York: Harper & Row Publish
actions endeavored to the fate to make of a type of "civil
tween
police of fear" and the perceptions of evil o individualismo e a solidariedade. "Entre and Luiz Eduardo
For the configu in the city, see M?rcia da pol?tica Dilemas et al., Violencia
na
e
1996).
the camp nas
in opposition
to the Universal
"As Igrejas
e Sociedade
de Janeiro,
17 (1-2) (1996).
the winning evangelical credibility. candidate Christians. and To
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
Pereira Leite
"In the name of the Father." Renewal. the our event: hearts. A num One "Vio And
2d ed., 13 October
et identit?s
1999.
Probl?mes
pent?cotistes,"