Statue of Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Although over seventy percent of the population declared themselves Roman Catholic in the last census (year 2000)¹, Brazilian religions are very diversified and leaned to syncretism. Brazilians were renowned for not being strongly bound to any religious affiliations, but in the last decades occurred a great increase of new Pentecostal churches that defied the political influence of the Roman Catholic Church and dwindled the numbers of the Afro-Brazilian religions' observers.

About ninety percent of Brazilians declare some sort of religious affiliation in the last census².

Overview

Christianity

See also: Demographics of Brazil, Roman Catholicism in Brazil, and Protestantism in Brazil

Catholicism

Pope Benedict XVI in his official visitation to Brazil, in May, 2007.

Brazil has the largest number of baptized Catholics in the World¹. so it is usual to say that Brazil is the greatest Catholic nation in the World.

Roman Catholicism has been Brazil's main religion since the beginning of the 16th century. It was introduced among the Native Brazilians by Jesuits missionaries and also observed by all the Portuguese first settlers.

During colonial times there was no freedom of religion. All Portuguese settlers and Brazilians were compulsorily bound to the Catholic faith and forced to pay taxes to the church. After the Brazil's independence, the first constitution introduced freedom of religion in 1824, but the Catholicism was kept as the official religion. The Imperial Government paid a salary to Catholic priests and, by his turn, influenced the appointment of bishops. The political-administrative division of the municipalities accompanied the hierarchical division of the bishoprics in "freguesias" (parishes). There was also some hindrances to the construction of temples and cemeteries that not belonged to the the Catholic Church too. The first Republican Constitution in 1891 separated the Estate from the religion and equaled all religions in the Codes of Law, but the Catholic Church remained very influential until the 1970s. For example, due to the strong opposition of the Catholic Church, divorcing was not allowed in Brazil until 1977 even if the separated couple observed a different religion.

The Catholicism practiced in Brazil is a religion full of popular festivities rooted in centuries-old Portuguese traditions, but also heavily influenced by African and Native Brazilian usage. Popular traditions include pilgrimages to the National Srine of Our Lady of Aparecida (Nossa Senhora Aparecida), the patron saint of Brazil, and religious festivals like the "Círio de Nazaré" in Belém and the "Festa do Divino" in many cities of Central Brazil. Areas that received many European immigrants in the last century, specially Italian and German, have catholic traditions closer to that practiced in Europe.

The largest proportion of Catholics is concentrated in Northeast (79.9%) and South (77.4%) regions. The smallest proportion of Catholics is found in the Center-West region (69.1%). The State of Piauí has the largest proportion of Catholics (90.03%) and the State of Rio de Janeiro has the smallest one (56.19%). Among the state capitals, Teresina has the largest proportion of Catholics in the country (86.09%), followed by Aracaju, Fortaleza, Florianópolis and João Pessoa³⁴.

Protestantism

Brazil also has many other offshoots of Christianity. These include neo-Pentecostalists, old Pentecostalists and Traditional Protestants (most of them Baptists, Presbyterians and Methodists) predominantly from Minas Gerais to the South. In the same region, mainly Minas Gerais and São Paulo, large sections of the middle class, about 1-2% of the total population, is Kardecist, sometimes pure, sometimes in syncretism with Roman Catholicism. Protestantism is generally the only religion in Brazil relatively free of syncretism. Centers of neo-Pentecostalism are Londrina in Paraná state, as well the cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte (capital of Minas Gerais), especially the suburban and nearby areas of these cities. Lutherans are concentrated mostly in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and in contryside regions of the states of Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo.

Brazil has a large number of Jehovah's Witnesses (about 1,100,000) which entered in the field of Protestants in the census.

There is also a important presence of Seventh-day Adventists.

The largest proportion of Protestants is found in North (19.8%), Central-West (18.9%) and Southeast (17.5%) regions. Among the state capitals, Rio de Janeiro has the largest proportion of non-Pentecostal Protestants in the country (10.07%), followed by Vitória, Porto Velho, Cuiabá and Manaus. But Goiânia is the state capital with the largest proportion of Pentecostal Protestants in the country (20.41%), followed by Boa Vista, Porto Velho, Belém and Belo Horizonte⁵⁶.

Others

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a membership nearing 1 million nowadays,⁷ or about 0.4% of the population; however in the 2000 census, only 199,645 people said they belonged to that denomination¹.

Eastern Orthodox Christian population is only 50,000; made of churches brought over by waves of Lebanese, Syrian, Armenian, Greek, Russian and Ukrainian immigrants in the past century.^{citation needed}

African and Indigenous Religions

A Candomblé mãe-de-santo.

Afro-Brazilian religions are syncretic religions such as Candomblé that have many followers, mainly Afro-Brazilians. They are concentrated mainly in large urban centers in the Northeast, such as Salvador (Bahia), Recife, or Rio de Janeiro in the Southeast. The capitals of São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina have a great number of followers too, but in the South of Brazil the most common African influenced Ritual is Almas e Angola, which is an Umbanda like ritual. Nowadays in Santa Catarina's capital there are over 70 "Terreiros", which are the places where the rituals run. In addition to Candomblé which is the survival of West African religion, there is also Umbanda which blends Kardecist spiritism, Indigenous and African beliefs. There's still lots of prejudice about "African cults" in Brazil's south, but there are lots of Catholics, Protestants and other kinds of Christians who also believe in the Orishas, so they use to go both to Churches and Terreiros.

Candomblé, Umbanda, Batuque, Xango, and Tambor de Mina, were originally brought by black slaves shipped from Africa to Brazil. These black slaves would summon their gods, called Orixas, Voduns or Inkices with chants and dances they had brought from Africa. These cults were persecuted throughout most of Brazilian history, largely because they were believed to be pagan or even satanic. However, the Brazilian republican government legalized all of them on the grounds of the necessary separation between the State and the Church.

In current practice, Umbanda followers leave offerings of food, candles and flowers in public places for the spirits. Candomblé terreiros are more hidden from general view, except in famous festivals such as Iyemanja Festival and the Waters of Oxala in the Northeast.

From Bahia northwards there is also different practices such as Catimbo, Jurema with heavy Indigenous elements. All over the country, but mainly in the Amazon rainforest, there are many Indians still practicing their original traditions. Many of their beliefs and use of naturally occurring plant derivatives are incorporated into African, Spirtitualists and folk religion.

Other Religions

There are small populations of people professing Judaism, Islam, Buddhism (415,000)^{citation needed}, Shinto, Rastafarian and a few other religions. Except the Jews, most of the other people who practice these minority religions are 20th century immigrants from East Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, or of recent immigrant descent.

Seven percent of the population consider themselves agnostics or atheists, while the remainder call themselves Christians. One of the most unusual features of the rich Brazilian spiritual landscape are the sects which use ayahuasca (an Amazonian entheogenic tea), including Santo Daime, União do Vegetal, and Centro de Cultura Cósmica.

Judaism

The first Jews arrived in Brazil as cristãos-novos (New Christians) or conversos, names applied to Jews or Muslims who converted to Catholicism, most of them forcibly. According to the Inquisition reports, many New Christians living in Brazil during colonial times were condemned for secretly observe jewish customs⁸.

In 1630, the Dutch conquered portions of northeast Brazil and permitted the open practice of any religion. Many Jews came from the Netherlands to live in Brazil in the area dominated by the Dutch. Most of them were Sephardic Jews descendants of the Portuguese Jews who had been expelled from Portugal in 1497. In 1636, the Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue, the first synagogue in the Americas was built in Recife, the capital of Dutch Brazil⁸. It remains in the same location to this day⁹, but the Jews were forced to leave Brazil when the Portuguese-Brazilians retook the land in 1654¹⁰.

The first Jews to came and stay in Brazil openly practicing their religion came just when freedom of religion was granted by the first constitution in 1824, after the independence. They were mainly Moroccan Jews, descendants of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews who had been expelled from Spain in 1492 and and Portugal in 1497.

Another bigger wave of Jewish immigration came in the end of 19th century and beginning of 20th century mainly from Russia, Poland, Belarus and Ukrania. The last significant group came fleeing Nazism or the destruction that followed World War II.

Jews are about 96,000¹¹ in Brazil. The largest proportion of Jews is found in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro states¹².

Islam

Officially, there are around 27,000 Muslims in Brazil¹, although they claim to number between 700,000 and three million¹³.

Islam in Brazil was first practiced by African slaves brought from West-Africa, but they left no descendants that practiced their faith.

Today, the Muslim population in Brazil is made up of mostly Arab immigrants and their descendants. There are approximately fifty-five mosques and Muslim religious centers¹³. The largest proportion of Muslims is found in São Paulo and Paraná states¹³.

Beliefs

A 2007 poll, made by Datafolha and published in newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, asked diverse questions about the beliefs of the Brazilian people. In this poll, 64% reported to be Catholics, 17% Pentecostal Protestants, 5% non-Pentecostal Protestants, 3% Kardecists or Spiritists, 3% followers of other religions, 7% non-religious or atheists. Less than 1% reported to follow Afro-Brazilian religions¹⁴¹⁵¹⁶

Belief in God and the Devil

• 97% Of Brazilians reported to believe in God; 2% have doubts and 1% do not believe in God.
• 75% Reported to believe in the Devil, 9% have doubts and 15% do not believe in the Devil.
• 81% Of non-religious reported to believe in God.

About Jesus Christ

• 93% Reported they believe Jesus Christ rose after death; 92% that the Holy Spirit exists; 87% in the occurrence of miracles; 86% that Mary gave birth to Jesus as a virgin; 77% that Jesus will return to Earth at the end of time; 65% that the sacramental bread is the body of Jesus; 64% that after death some people go to Heaven; 58% that after death some people go to Hell and 60% that there is life after death.

Belief in saints

• 57% Believe there are saints.
• 49% Pray to a saint (68% among self-declared Catholics and 76% among followers of Umbanda).
• 18% Pray to Our Lady of Aparecida (26% among Catholics); Saint Anthony, Saint Expeditus (5% each), Saint George (3%), Saint Jude, Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Joseph (2% each).

About the Catholic priests

• 51% Believe some priests respect chastity, 31% most, 8% none and 4% they all do.
• 66% That priests could marry (59% among Catholics and 94% among followers of Candomblé).
• About the sexual abuse scandals involving priests, 38% believe some of the complaints are true, 30% most are, 21% all are and 4% none of them.

About different religions

• About the sentence "Catholics do not practice their religion", 19% reported to agree completly and 41% agreed, but not completly.
• About the sentence "the Protestants are misled by their priests", 61% agreed (77% among the Kardecists, 67% among Catholics and 45% among Protestants).
• About the sentence "Umbanda is a Devil thing", 57% agreed (83% among Evangelical Protestants, 53% among Catholics and 12% among Umbandists).
• About the sentence "Jews only think about money", 49% agreed.
• About the sentence "Muslims advocate terrorism", 49% agreed.

Table of Religions in Brazil

References

See also

• Roman Catholicism in Brazil
• Protestantism in Brazil
• Islam in Brazil
• Judaism in Brazil
• Bahá'í Faith in Brazil

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