Protestantism in Brazil
Protestantism in Brazil began in the 19th century and grew in the 20th century. The 2010 Census reported that 22.2% of the Brazilian population was Protestant, while in 2020 the percentage was estimated to have risen to 31% of the population,[1] over 65 million individuals, making it the second largest Protestant population in the Western world.
Brazilian Protestantism is primarily represented by
Since 2010, the number of
History
Origins
Protestantism was first practiced in Brazil by
A French mission sent by
Varieties of Protestantism were often introduced by immigrants from Europe but over the last three decades, the number of Neo-Pentecostal churches such as the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God has grown significantly.
1820s to 1945
In the 19th century, while the vast majority of
The first
Among
The missionaries largely reached a working-class audience, as the Brazilian upper class was wedded either to Catholicism or to secularism. By 1914,
The first Seventh Day Baptists soon appeared in Brazil. They expanded in territory and Brazil became home to one of the world's highest Seventh Day Baptist populations..[6]
The
In 1930, the Methodist Church of Brazil became independent of the missionary societies and elected its own bishop. Protestants were largely working-class, but their networks helped accelerate their upward social mobility.[7][8]
Since 1945
Protestantism, which has resisted syncretism more than other
With their emphasis on personal salvation and moral codes as well as a less ideological approach to politics, these groups have developed a broad appeal, particularly among the booming urban migrant communities. The political consequences of this shift are still poorly understood, as the fragmentation of the Protestant community after the late 1970s has weakened it as a vehicle for direct political action.
After centuries of persecution under Portuguese colonial rule, which was successful in consolidating Catholicism in the country, Protestant denominations have seen a rapid growth in their number of followers since the last decades of the 20th century.[10]
At the time of the 2000 Census, 15.4% of the Brazilian population was Protestant. Recent research conducted by the Datafolha institute shows that 31% of Brazilians are Protestants.[11] The 2010 Census found that 22.2% were Protestant.[12]
Until the late 1970s, the majority of Brazilian Protestants were Lutherans, Presbyterians, or Baptists; however, the Pentecostals, especially from neo-charismatic churches linked to the prosperity doctrine, have grown significantly in number since then.
There is also a Seventh-day Adventist educational system with over 475 elementary schools, 67 secondary schools, two colleges and a university.[13][14] The rich and the poor remained traditional Catholics, while most Evangelical Protestants were in the new lower-middle class, known as the "C class" (in a A–E classification system). A 2015 survey in Brazil found that the majority of prisoners may be Evangelicals.[15]
Politics
In the Brazilian
It was reported that 70% of evangelical Protestants voted for President Jair Bolsonaro in 2018 Brazilian general election.[17]
Demography
According to 2010 IBGE Census, the following are the biggest Protestant denominations in Brazil.[19] Only those with more than half a million members are listed.
- Pentecostals: 25,370,484
- Assemblies of God (Assembléias de Deus): 12,314,410 (6.5%) (Classic Swedish-Brazilian Pentecostal denomination.)
- General Convention of the Assemblies of God (affiliated with the US Assemblies of God, Springfield, MO): 3.6 million.
- National Convention of the Assemblies of God (also known as the Madureira Ministry of the Assemblies of God): 2.5 million.
- Other independent Assemblies of God: 1.9 million
- Christian Congregation in Brazil(Italian-Brazilian Pentecostals): 2,289,634 (1.3%)
- O Brasil para Cristo(Brazil for Christ): 2,196,665
- Foursquare Gospel ChurchIgreja do Evangelho Quadrangular (Classic Pentecostals in US, but second-wave Pentecostals in Brazil): 1,808,389 (0.8%)
- Baptists: 3,723,691 (1.9%)
- Brazilian Baptist Convention (stemming from the US Southern Baptists and BWA body member): 1.4 million adherents
- National Baptist Convention (Charismatics Baptists and BWA body member): 1 million.
- Independent Baptist Convention (Scandinavian Baptists): 400,000.
- Brazilian Seventh Day Baptist Conference: 4,953
- Other Baptists: 300,000
- Adventists: 1.8 million (1.0%)
- Seventh-day Adventist Church: 1.6 million[20][21]
- Promise Adventist Church(Brazilian Pentecostal Adventists): 150,000
- Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement: 50,000
- Other Adventists: 100,000
- Lutherans: 1 million (0.6%)
- Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil: 634,286
- Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil: 243,093
- Other Lutherans
- Reformed churches: 2.5 million[22]
- Presbyterian Church of Brazil: 1,011,300
- Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil: 85,000
- Renewed Presbyterian Church in Brazil: 131,000[23]
- Conservative Presbyterian Church in Brazil: 6,000[24]
- Fundamentalist Presbyterian Church in Brazil: 1,800
- United Presbyterian Church of Brazil: 3,466
- Evangelical Reformed Church in Brazil: 2,500
- Reformed Churches in Brazil
- Hungarian Reformed Church
- Protestant Church of Brazil
- Swiss Evangelical Church
- Arab Evangelical Church
- Evangelical Congregational Church in Brazil: 50,000
- United Congregational Churches in Brazil: 50,000
- Reformed Anglican Church in Brazil[25]
- Comunhão Reformada Battista no Brasil – reformed baptists in Brazil
- Methodists: 340,963 (0.201%)
- Methodist Church of Brazil (affiliated to US United Methodist Church): 200,000
- Wesleyan Methodist Church (Brazilian Methodists): 100,000
- Other Methodists: 40,000
See also
References
- ^ "50% dos brasileiros são católicos, 31%, evangélicos e 10% não têm religião, diz Datafolha". G1 (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2021-08-22.
- ^ Evangelicals will be majority in Brazil
- ^ Alderi Souza de Matos, A França antártica e a Confissão de fé da Guanabara Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine Instituto Presbiteriano Mackenzie 2011.
- ^ "Os primeiros protestantes no Brasil colonial, séculos XVI & XVII", Brasil escola
- ^ Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity: volume V: The great century in the Americas, Austral-Asia, and Africa: A.D. 1800-A.D. 1914 (1943) 5:120-3
- ISBN 0-8054-6055-1.
- ^ Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity: Volume VII: Advance through Storm: A.D. 1914 and after, with concluding generalizations (1945) 7:181-2
- Erasmo Bragaand Kenneth G. Trubb, The Republic of Brazil: A survey of the religious situation (1932)
- ^ Syncretism in Brazil
- ^ Reel, Monte (2005-04-14). "Brazil's Priests Use Song and Dance To Stem Catholic Church's Decline". The Washington Post.
- ^ "50% dos brasileiros são católico-romanos, 31 % evangélicos, e 10 % não têm religião, diz Datafolha" [50% of Brazilians are Catholic, 31% are Evangelicals and 10% have no religion], G1 (in Portuguese), Globo, January 13, 2020.
- ^ Azevedo, Reinaldo (2010), "O IBGE e a religião — Cristãos são 86,8% do Brasil; católicos caem para 64,6%; evangélicos já são 22,2%" [Evangelicals in Brazil are already 22.2%], Veja, Abril
- ^ Adventist Atlas
- ^ Centro Universitário Adventista de São Paulo
- ^ "Evangélicos compõem a maioria nos presídios, mostra pesquisa". Sul 21 (in Portuguese). 2015-05-30. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
- ^ Chico Marés (21 April 2013). "Bancada evangélica seria 3.º partido da Câmara" (in Portuguese). Gazeta do Povo. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
- ^ "Brazil's presidential hopefuls court the evangelical vote". 21 July 2022.
- ^ "Características gerais da população, religião e pessoas com deficiência" (PDF), Censo Democráfico 2010, IBGE.
- ^ "Características gerais, religião e deficiência" (PDF), Censo 2010, IBGE.
- ^ Adventist News Network
- ^ As Adventist Church in Brazil grows, so do schools
- ^ As igrejas reformadas, filhas da Reforma de Lutero: um movimento centrífugo [Reformed churches in Brazil] (in Portuguese), Unisinos, 2016.
- ^ IPRB.
- ^ IPCB.
- ^ Igreja anglicana.
Further reading
- Birman, Patrícia, and Márcia Pereira Leite. "Whatever Happened to What Used to Be the Largest Catholic Country in the World?," Daedalus (2000) 129#2 pp. 271-290 in JSTOR
- Burdick, John. " Why is the Black Evangelical Movement Growing in Brazil?" Journal of Latin American Studies (2005) 37#2 pp 311-332.
- Chesnut, R. Andrew. "The Salvation Army or the Army's Salvation?: Pentecostal Politics in Amazonian Brazil, 1962-1992," Luso-Brazilian Review (1999) 36#2 pp 33-49
- Chesnut, R. Andrew. Born Again in Brazil: The Pentecostal Boom and the Pathogens of Poverty (1997) excerpt and text search
- Corten, Andre. Pentecostalism in Brazil: Emotion of the Poor and Theological Romanticism (1999) excerpt and text search
- Freston, Paul. "Neo-Pentecostalism" in Brazil: Problems of Definition and the Struggle for Hegemony," Archives de sciences sociales des religions (1999) 44#105 pp. 145-162 in JSTOR
- Londono, Diana. "Evangelicals in Brazil," Hemispheric Affairs Dec. 5, 2012
- Willems, Emilio. "Protestantism as a Factor of Culture Change in Brazil," Economic Development and Cultural Change (1955) 3#4 pp. 321–333 in JSTOR
External links
- "Brazilian Evangelical Rally Draws 3 Million". Beliefnet.com. Archived from the original on June 21, 2006.
- Pope Visits Brazil, Church Loses Ground - ABC News
- Catholic Church Losing Followers in Droves - Inter Press Service
- Rising Protestant tide sweeps Catholic Brazil - Reuters
- Protestants making inroads in Brazil, world's most populous Catholic country - WWRN
- Census reveals more Protestants in Brazil - latinamericanstudies.org
- Brazilians embrace Protestant faiths - BBC News
- Pope heads to Brazil where church losing ground - USA Today
- Pragmatic Protestants Winning Converts in Brazil - The New York Times