{"id":7031,"date":"2019-12-16T23:53:34","date_gmt":"2019-12-17T04:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=7031"},"modified":"2020-01-05T23:55:17","modified_gmt":"2020-01-06T04:55:17","slug":"evangelical-gangs-in-rio-de-janeiro-wage-holy-war-on-afro-brazilian-faiths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=7031","title":{"rendered":"Evangelical Gangs in Rio De Janeiro Wage \u2018Holy War\u2019 on Afro-Brazilian Faiths"},"content":{"rendered":"
In Rio de Janeiro, practitioners of the Afro-Brazilian faiths Candomble and Umbanda are increasingly under attack by evangelical crusaders. AP Photo\/Leo Correa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The expression \u201cevangelical drug trafficker\u201d may sound incongruous, but in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, it\u2019s widespread.<\/p>\n

Charismatic Christianity<\/a> is on the rise across Brazil<\/a>. Slightly less than a third of all Brazilians identify as evangelical<\/a>, up from 5% in the 1960s. The 2020 national census is expected to show significantly more growth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Rio, where the evangelical population increased 30%<\/a> in the first decade of this century, even some of the most notorious drug dealers claim to be spreading the gospel.<\/p>\n

Brazil\u2019s evangelical turn<\/strong><\/p>\n

I study violence in Latin America<\/a>, and I\u2019ve observed a sharp increase in reports of religiously motivated crimes in Rio de Janeiro since 2016, in particular attacks on \u201cterreiros\u201d<\/a> \u2013 the temples of the Candombl\u00e9 and Umbanda faiths.<\/p>\n

According to Brazil\u2019s Commission to Combat Religious Intolerance, over 100 Afro-Brazilian religious facilities<\/a> nationwide were attacked by drug trafficking groups in 2019, an increase on previous years. A national emergency hotline created to report such attacks finds that 60% of incidents reported between 2011 and 2017<\/a> occurred in Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n

Persecution of these Afro-Brazilian religions<\/a>, whose adherents are largely poor black Brazilians, has been around since at least the 19th century<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the current wave of religious bigotry is more personal, and more violent, than in the past. As the Washington Post recently reported<\/a>, Afro-Brazilian priests are being harassed and murdered for their faith. Candombl\u00e9 and Umbanda practitioners fear leaving their homes. Terreiros have closed due to death threats.<\/p>\n

Rio\u2019s Commission to Combat Religious Intolerance<\/a>, a group created in 2008 by religious minorities, reported about 200 such incidents in the city between January and September 2019 \u2013 up from 92 in all last year.<\/p>\n

Evangelicalism on the rise<\/strong><\/p>\n

The increase in religious hate crimes coincides with the growing political and cultural clout of evangelicals in Brazil. Evangelical lawmakers currently hold 195 of 513 seats<\/a> in Brazil\u2019s lower house of Congress, giving them the power to shape the national debate on abortion, religion in schools, gay marriage and other social issues.<\/p>\n

Many Brazilian Protestants attend mainstream services, and are horrified by rising discrimination against those who practice other faiths.<\/p>\n

But the fastest-growing denominations in Brazil<\/a> are the harder-line Pentecostals and Neopentecostal churches<\/a>
\n\u2013 including the wildly successful Assembly of God<\/a> and the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n

Both spread what\u2019s called the prosperity doctrine<\/a>, promising personal salvation<\/a> and financial success to people who trust God, work hard and cut out all alcohol, gambling and other vices.<\/p>\n

For many poor people in the Rio\u2019s hardscrabble \u201cfavela\u201d neighborhoods, this is an appealing offer.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Evangelicals raise their hands in prayer at the Assembly of God Victory in Christ Church in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sept. 2, 2018. AP Photo\/Leo Correa<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

As ever more Brazilians convert to evangelicalism, traditional religions there are losing members. Between 2000 and 2010, when the latest national census was taken, the number of Catholics in Brazil dropped 9%. Followers of the Afro-Brazilian religions Candombl\u00e9 and Umbanda declined 23%<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Good vs. evil<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some evangelical leaders who preach the prosperity doctrine also see these Afro-Brazilian religions<\/a> as dangerously un-Christian, even evil.<\/p>\n

Edir Macedo, the multi-millionaire bishop of Brazil\u2019s Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, wrote<\/a> in his 1997 book \u201cOrix\u00e1s, Caboclos and False Gods or Demons\u201d<\/a> that Afro-Brazilian religions \u201cseek to keep us from God. They are enemies of Him and the human race.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis struggle with Satan is necessary\u2026to eternal salvation,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The book sold 3 million copies before it was banned by federal authorities<\/a> in 2005. But Macedo still peddles his message to his estimated 5.2 million followers at 13,000 affiliated churches.<\/p>\n

For preachers espousing a binary spiritual worldview, \u201cgood\u201d Christians must wage holy war against \u201cevil\u201d practitioners of Candombl\u00e9 and Umbanda.<\/p>\n

Though black commentators<\/a> point out that this theological interpretation is just thinly veiled religious discrimination, some parishioners are heeding the call to \u201ccleanse<\/a>\u201d the world of Satan\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

That includes a handful of drug kingpins, who prohibit adherents of Afro-Brazilian religions from practicing their faith in gang-controlled neighborhoods. Residents caught wearing the religious garb of Candombl\u00e9 and Umbanda may be expelled from the community.<\/p>\n

The prison-to-church pipeline<\/strong><\/p>\n

My research suggests that Brazil\u2019s chaotic, overcrowded prisons<\/a> exacerbate the evangelical-gang connection.<\/p>\n

The government is only nominally in control of most public prisons in Brazil. In practice, they are essentially governed by one of two competing Brazilian drug trafficking organizations<\/a>, which run their trafficking and racketeering businesses there and recruit their rank and file from behind bars<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Faith groups, too, have a long tradition in Brazil\u2019s prisons<\/a>. Previously, these prison ministries<\/a> were predominantly Catholic<\/a>. Today, however, 80 of the 100 faith-based organizations subcontracted to run social programs in prisons are evangelical churches<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a result, charismatic Christianity has spread quickly through the criminal justice system.<\/p>\n

Jailhouse conversions are common. Inmates who adopt evangelicalism are frequently housed in separate prison wings that stand out for their order and cleanliness<\/a>. Some have even established their own ministries<\/a> inside jail. Developing positive relationships with local Rio pastors while in jail can tighten a gang\u2019s grip on power once released.<\/p>\n

Converted traffickers control many Rio de Janeiro favelas, particularly in Baixada Fluminense, a sprawl of townships in the city\u2019s poor northern outskirts.<\/p>\n

Over the past century, the area has seen waves of migration<\/a> from Brazil\u2019s north and northeast, where Afro-Brazilian religions have traditionally prospered. Baixada Fluminense has at least 253 Candombl\u00e9 and Umbanda terreiros<\/a>, more than any other municipality in the state.<\/p>\n

Baixada Fluminense is also one of Rio\u2019s most dangerous corners. Murder rates have fallen slightly across most of the city over the past decade, but not in Baixada Fluminense. According to Brazil\u2019s Institute for Public Security<\/a>, 2,147 of the 6,714 murders reported in Rio state so far this year occurred in Baixada Fluminense.<\/p>\n

Described by locals as a \u201cWild West,\u201d the area is home to famously corrupt public officials<\/a> who have long worked with militia and mafia groups<\/a> to intimidate their rivals. This patronage relationship allows drug traffickers, evangelical or otherwise, to operate with impunity.<\/p>\n

More than a third of violent attacks<\/a> on Afro-Brazilian temples this year occurred in the Baixada Fluminese.<\/p>\n

Fighting back<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Brazilian government has started taking notice. In November 2019 the federal public prosecutor\u2019s office<\/a> urged Rio de Janeiro authorities to compensate victims of religious intolerance both \u201cmaterially and symbolically,\u201d particularly in Baixada Fluminense. But proposals on how, concretely, to support them remain on paper only.<\/p>\n

Brazilian faith communities, in contrast, are actively fighting back against rising religious discrimination in Brazil. In September, an estimated 100,000 people joined Rio\u2019s annual walk for religious freedom<\/a>, one of the largest gatherings since the procession\u2019s inception 12 years ago.<\/p>\n

Evangelicals, Catholics, Baha’i, Buddhists, Jews and Hari Krishnas packed Rio\u2019s iconic Copacabana beach. Dressed in white, the traditional color of Candomble and Ubanda religious celebrations, they marched in solidarity with Afro-Brazilians.<\/p>\n

There may be conflict in Brazil\u2019s religious diversity, but there is unity, too.<\/p>\n

This article is an updated version of a story<\/a> published Nov. 2, 2017. Dandara Tinoco contributed reporting.<\/em>\"The<\/p>\n

Robert Muggah<\/a>, Associate Lecturer, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The expression \u201cevangelical drug trafficker\u201d may sound incongruous, but in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, it\u2019s widespread. Charismatic Christianity is on the rise across Brazil. Slightly less than a third of all Brazilians identify as evangelical, up from 5% in the 1960s. The 2020 national census is expected to show significantly more growth.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":7350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/306700\/original\/file-20191212-85381-yexq01.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Evangelical Gangs in Rio De Janeiro Wage \u2018Holy War\u2019 on Afro-Brazilian Faiths","footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security-public-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7031"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7033,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7031\/revisions\/7033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}