Brazilian Evangelicals - New National Religion?

According to UK's Guardian, Brazil's evangelical churches are booming, but for all their marketing savvy they don't have the status of Catholicism.

A fascinating article from the UK pits Evangelicals versus Catholics in the battle for Brazil's religious self-identity. Pictures from the story show young, enthusiastic worshipers pouring their hearts out in worship.

This ain't your grandma's Sunday school.

The vibrancy of commitment seen here can be excused as being "Brazilian" - the Latin passion manifesting itself through worship. Except this same style of worship can be seen in the contemporary Evangelical churches in the American mid-west.

It's not an ethnic religion, but a charismatic worship that's being seen here.

Instead, we are seeing continued evidence of the Global South embracing forms of ecstatic Christianity. From the article:

In the past 20 years or so, Brazil, cited as the country with the biggest catholic population in the world, has witnessed a migration from Rome to the booming evangelical churches. According to IBGE (the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), the Catholic population in the country was 91.8% of the total in 1970. But the most recent survey, in 2000, revealed that the number of Catholics had fallen to 73. 8% with the number of evangelicals up from 5.2% to 15.6%.

The shift is accompanied by new methodologies of "doing church" similar to things we've seen in the United States. According to the article, "Rock concerts, fighting events and surfer rituals are some of the activities laid on by new churches that are garnering increasing numbers of followers."

But can we explain away this spiritual vitality by approaching it as savvy marketing?

I don't think so.

According to Antonio Flávio Pierucci, professor at the department of sociology of the University of São Paulo and a specialist in the sociology of religion, "the new Pentecostal churches [are good at] media and marketing..." BUT "analysing the statistical data shows that older evangelical churches have grown too."

For Pierucci, "It means that Catholicism is struggling against older Pentecostalism as well as the new varieties."

Pierucci says a key reason for churchgoers' change in allegiance is the development of the religious freedom, a process which began at the end of the 19th century. With the end of the empire and the advent of the republic in Brazil, the Roman Catholic church lost much of its power. And although the article does not explain how this works, Pierucci also states that the military dictatorship (1964-1984) also helped sow the seeds of the evangelical "boom".

We've got to look at the bundle of social changes that stimulate new religious developments. Media push and marketing "tricks" are simply not enough to sustain broad growth in any religious orientation.

And the new wave in Brazil is experiencing it's own challenge in how people understand the new movement. "It is really rare to find a student who is brave enough to say that he is a new Pentecostalist. There is still some prejudice."

"It is not just about class, but about the status of the new Pentecostalism."

Revival Religion and Third World Politics

The Pew Foundation and Oxford University Press have partnered together to commission a set of volumes examining Evangelicalism and Democracy outside the United States. Case studies and conceptual frameworks broaden our perspectives beyond our own backyard.

The connection between politics and religion will always be interesting. While many of us are caught up in the happenings of the U.S., a four-volume series form Oxford brings the questions and issues to other regions of the world. Here's another --

Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in Asia
by David Halloran Lumsdaine

From the publisher:

This is one of four projected volumes to emerge from a massive, Pew-funded study that sought to answer the question:

• What happens when a revivalist religion based on scriptural orthodoxy participates in the volatile politics of the Third World?
• Is the result a democratic politics of the ballot box, or is it more like an authoritarian politics of command from on high?
• Does the evangelical faith of the Bible hinder or promote a politics of the ballot box?

Image via Wikipedia

At a time when the global-political impact of another revivalist and scriptural religion, Islam, fuels vexed debate among analysts the world over, this series offers an unusual comparative perspective on a critical issue: the often combustible interaction of resurgent religion and the developing world's unstable politics.

Three of the volumes focus on particular regions (Africa, Latin America, and Asia). The fourth will address the broader question of evangelical Christianity and democracy in the global setting. The present volume considers the case of Asia.

In his introduction, editor David Lumsdaine offers a historical overview of evangelicalism in the region, provides a theoretical framework for understanding evangelical impact on the global south, and summarizes the findings presented in the remainder of the book.

Six individual case studies follow, focusing respectively on the situation in China, Western India, Northeast India, Indonesia, South Korea, and the Philippines.

Evangelicalism and Democracy in Latin America

Evangelicalism is a world-wide phenomenon. Some of the most interesting happenings relate to the relationship between religion, economics, and politics in the Global South. Toward gaining a better understanding, I found a brief book review of new research put together in the recently published edited volume by my friend Paul Freston.

Religion in the Global South

Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in Latin America (Series: Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in the Global South)

Paul is simply brilliant and seems to know more about economics, religion, and politics in the Global South than anyone on the planet. This book, part of a series at Oxford, bring his expertise along others by drawing together case studies from Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru, and Brazil.

According to the review, the book contains "a thorough introduction by the editor and a well-rounded conclusion by scholar of Latin American religion and politics Daniel Levine place the case studies in a broader perspective."

One insight from the book:

"The experiences of evangelicals are markedly different from country to country, yet the overall impression is not of a religious community suddenly appearing out of a Catholic/communist vacuum, but rather of an assortment of religious forms playing a larger role in public discourse (whether among the grassroots or political elites) because of increased opportunities after the Cold War."

-- E. M. Mazur, Virginia Wesleyan College, CHOICE Reviews, January 2009.

Watch for more research on evangelicalism and its consequences in the Global South.

More New Research on the Global South

Research on the Global South is challenging, often requiring more money, specific language skills, and a phenomenal amount cooperation by local governments and church ministries. Yet it's drawing some of the best scholars to take up the challenge.

While I'm at it, here are two other books I enjoyed reading this year on evangelicalism and pentecostalism in the Global South:

Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement

Reason to Believe: Cultural Agency in Latin American Evangelicalism

Other articles

• UN Says Latin American & Caribbean Economic Growth to Slow in 2009