Abstract
Religious incidence in Brazilian public space is a widespread fact that has been gaining new visibility in pandemic times. Responsibility in liminal situations represents specific theological hermeneutics, as well as what matters for the respective religious agents. Thus, based on a bibliographical review connected to an analysis of websites, this article aims to reflect on the current Brazilian context, the challenges to doing theology in Brazil today and points to some possible responses. “Pandemic religion”, as we call it, is the synthesis of theologies and religious practices that legitimise irresponsible approaches to life, vulnerabilising the other instead of assuming care-based ethics. Firstly, we briefly describe current theological trends, followed by an analysis of the Brazilian scenario by way of three representative scenes of public religious incidence that reflect a lack of responsibility in view of the pandemic challenges caused by COVID-19. Subsequently, we look back into history for alternative responses to public health crises that required theological positioning. In a Brazilian perspective of a public theology, we finally reflect on a responsible ethics that may help respond to the current challenges, particularly for pandemic religion.
Highlights
Brazil is currently in a health crisis that may be described as sanitary, and as an issue of sanity
In a Brazilian perspective of a public theology, we reflect on a responsible ethics that may help respond to the current challenges, for pandemic religion
But still considering theological responses to the pandemic, the collective book O ser humano em tempos de COVID-19 (“The human being in times of COVID-19”) reflects on aspects such as God, fear, hope, frailty, suffering, family and education based on approaches from the humanities (Pilla and von Sinner 2020). This brief status quaestionis points to some interesting elements that are featured in this article: the urgent need to elaborate on religious responses to the pandemic; the necessity of a wider interdisciplinary approach to the pandemic and its social impact; the reflection on the human condition in view of a liminal situation; the possibility of a metaphorical use of the pandemic idea as a tool that may help analyse a broader scenario that predates the coronavirus pandemic and will probably continue in post-pandemic times
Summary
Brazil is currently in a health crisis that may be described as sanitary, and as an issue of sanity. When religion leads to neglecting the risk of the virus, when it echoes misinformation or creates disinformation, when it sides with political powers that do not care for the life of the people, especially the poor, when the pandemic of exclusion is not faced but legitimised, we are dealing with a kind of religion that seeks to rule rather than to serve, to destroy rather than to edify, to disdain rather than to care As such a religious presence, especially—but not exclusively—of some evangélico leaders and tendencies is new in its magnitude and impact, spreading rapidly, and tends to seek influence over the whole of the nation in a hegemonic rather than a minoritarian project (cf Burity 2020), we call it pandemic religion. This brief status quaestionis points to some interesting elements that are featured in this article: the urgent need to elaborate on religious responses to the pandemic; the necessity of a wider interdisciplinary approach to the pandemic and its social impact; the reflection on the human condition in view of a liminal situation; the possibility of a metaphorical use of the pandemic idea as a tool that may help analyse a broader scenario that predates the coronavirus pandemic and will probably continue in post-pandemic times
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