Brazil Even in the Most

Brazil

Even in the most stable, democratic and homogeneous of countries, religion is a problematic issue. This is so because it covers a wide spectrum of human endeavors, including not only society and culture, but also politics. Although few governments would admit this, the separation of the concepts of church and state is a difficult one. Because religion plays such an important role in human life, it is easily abused by politicians to exercise control. Brazil presents itself as a particularly difficult religious environment, not only because of the state and church issue, but also because of its diversity in terms of religion.

During most of the nineteenth century, Brazil was dominated by the Roman Catholic religion. When the Portuguese entered Brazil during the eighteenth century, they brought with them Roman Catholicism, which became the official religion of the country after its colonization. It was also the vehicle for political power during the time, with the clergy and government working together to maintain the powerful position of officials and the higher classes, while perpetuating poverty. Indeed, religion was used to justify many of the inequalities that prevailed in the society of the time.

However, when the Portuguese brought slaves from Africa, religion began to diversify. While Roman Catholicism by far maintained its dominance, African religions such as Candomble also entered the country. While the slaves were forbidden from practicing their religion for the greater part of the nineteenth century, they nonetheless maintained their beliefs. They accomplished this by connecting their deities with the personalities of the Catholic religion. Oxala, the god of fertility, was for example identified with Jesus, while adherents coincided their religious festivals with those of Christianity. This helped the slave masters believe that the slaves were fully assimilated not only in their culture, but also in their religion. While the church noticed some discrepancies in the worship of the slaves, they let the religions work concomitantly in the hope that Catholicism would eventually replace Candomble. The latter has however survived, as its number of current adherents prove.

During 1889, the autocratic government of Brazil was replaced by democracy, encapsulated in the Brazilian Constitution. The Constitution provides absolute freedom of religion. Roman Catholicism then was no longer the official religion of the country. An interesting effect was that, while most Brazilians still claim to be Roman Catholic, the number of practicing Catholics has significantly diminished since the middle of the twentieth century.

In addition to the African religions that experienced a revival since the end of the nineteenth century, forms of Christianity other than Roman Catholicism also gained popularity since the middle of the twentieth century. These include the Protestant, Pentecostal, Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran, and Baptist religions. Furthermore, the migration of rural populations to the more densely populated urban regions of the country brought with them religions such as Spiritism or Kardescism, which professes a belief in reincarnation. Minority religions include Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism.

An interesting and significant fact attached to Roman Catholicism is that it was not only used as a form of control over the poverty-stricken masses of the country, but also later as a vehicle of liberation from these circumstances. The Church organized communities around the concept of militant liberation from the oppressive forces of government and class. However, these communities are diminishing rapidly, together with the decline of the Roman Catholic Church.

The greatest change in the religious demographic of Brazil is ascribed to the movement away from Roman Catholicism to the more charismatic forms of Christianity, and specifically to the Pentecostal churches. The reasons for this are both personal and collective. On a personal basis, Brazilians are experiencing a need for a more democratic form of religion than the rigid rules and regulations imposed by Roman Catholicism. Many are beginning to find the rigid Catholic view of issues such as birth control and abortion unacceptable and outdated. As a result, the faithful have begun to search for new ways to worship, and found these within Pentecostalism.

Collectively, those stricken by poverty have found Catholicism inadequate to provide in either their physical or spiritual needs. The type of worship offered by Pentecostalism then provides respite from the world in which most Brazilians find themselves. Furthermore, the Pentecostal church tends to be more in touch with the reality of society and its evolution since the eighteenth century. There is a greater general understanding of the circumstances in which people find themselves everyday. In this way, the Pentecostal religion offers not only respite, but also understanding and comfort in a way that Roman Catholicism, because if its rigidity, cannot.