Most of us perceive Brazil as the country of Carnival, nice sandy beaches and sunshine - on the surface, Brazil is a country which enjoys religious peace. Or does it? What most people don't know - and up to a point, the international media too - is the raise of religious fundamentalism in Brazil in the last 15 years or so -the last place on Earth one could associate with that.
To understand a bit what's been happening, let me tell you a little about the country's religious history: Brazil is still a country predominantly Catholic, however due to the cultural heritage from a white/black/indigenous background, there are other religions, most of them with roots in Africa, such as Candomble and Umbanda. Also, other religions such Judaism and Buddhist, although in a very small scale are also present there.
But what I really want to talk about is the raise of the Evangelical churches and how ideologically and politically powerful they've become. The number of evangelical churches grew in the gap left by the Catholic church where they used to be more present, especially in the most deprived areas of the country - the outskirts of cities and rural areas. However, they didn't stay limited to those in that socio-economic class. To grow, many evangelical churches have used and continue to use aggressive marketing strategies linked …show more content…
In this excellent article by The Global Post explains what Cunha and his allies have been up to in the Congress. One of his latest 'ideas', Cunha proposed a bill that would make abortion in any instance, a heinous crime. In Brazil, abortion remains illegal in all but three instances: where termination is necessary to save the mother’s life, when a woman has been the victim of rape, and when a fetus has anencephaly, a condition in which it is developing without part of the brain or
To understand a bit what's been happening, let me tell you a little about the country's religious history: Brazil is still a country predominantly Catholic, however due to the cultural heritage from a white/black/indigenous background, there are other religions, most of them with roots in Africa, such as Candomble and Umbanda. Also, other religions such Judaism and Buddhist, although in a very small scale are also present there.
But what I really want to talk about is the raise of the Evangelical churches and how ideologically and politically powerful they've become. The number of evangelical churches grew in the gap left by the Catholic church where they used to be more present, especially in the most deprived areas of the country - the outskirts of cities and rural areas. However, they didn't stay limited to those in that socio-economic class. To grow, many evangelical churches have used and continue to use aggressive marketing strategies linked …show more content…
In this excellent article by The Global Post explains what Cunha and his allies have been up to in the Congress. One of his latest 'ideas', Cunha proposed a bill that would make abortion in any instance, a heinous crime. In Brazil, abortion remains illegal in all but three instances: where termination is necessary to save the mother’s life, when a woman has been the victim of rape, and when a fetus has anencephaly, a condition in which it is developing without part of the brain or