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 Many are beginning to find the rigid Catholic view of issues such as birth control and abortion unacceptable and outdated.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...
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.
Another interesting phenomenon in the country is that citizens often follow more than one religion, or a combination of religions. The reason for this is mostly demographic. Rural Roman Catholics for example make use of Spiritualist services such as spiritual healers. They do so as part of their culture, combined with the fact that any formal Roman Catholic gatherings are too remote to attend on a regular basis. Hence a type of hybrid religion evolves that includes both a type of Roman Catholicism and spiritualism.
With the current paradigm of religious freedom, citizens are free to choose their own spiritual paths. The combination of politics with religion remains evident in terms of political parties attempting to use religion to gain votes. In this way, religion has been and remains both a weapons of the weak, and an opiate for the masses.
Brazilian Ethnic Issues The racial / ethnic composition of Brazilians is quite different from the racial / ethnic make up of people in the United States, and unique in the world in many respects. How is the government dealing with ethnic and racial relations within their very large and culturally diverse country? This paper will review the literature on the dynamics (and history) of this multi-ethnic, multi-racial South American nation. And
With respect to organizational structures, Brazil has traditionally been oriented towards large firms, either owned by the state or by wealthy families, and a high level of government control. There is room in the economic system for tiny businesses but seldom for small business. In recent years, this has been changing, but it will take time for the heavy hand of government to leave the business arena, and for economic
Brazil Many people today see Brazil's diverse racial and cultural foreground as one of the nation's strengths. Throughout its development as a nation, the intermixing of several different cultures has given this country it own unique blend. Race and the mixing of race has played a key role in this development. The widely held belief that Brazil was less able to develop due to its mixed races spurred many discussions and
Brazil Hospitality and the 2014 World Cup Brazil is in 2014 expected to host an estimated 50,000 soccer fans from all over the globe. The event is to last for four weeks. The fans are expected to stay in the hotels, eat in restaurants, shop and visit Brazil's many attractions. Hosting an event of this magnitude is a challenge especially for a developing economy like Brazil. However, with careful planning the
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The country's GDP is the 7th largest in the world at $2.2 trillion, and has grown rapidly in the past decade. Russia faces major issues, however. The country has significant security concerns in the Caucasus Mountain region, an ethically and politically fractured area of strategic importance as a transit point for Caspian oil to the West. Russia is also stricken by high rates of poverty outside of its major