Religion In Brazil Research Articles

Populism and Religion in Brazil: The View from Education Policy

This article is a case study of Brazil, a country where Catholic-based organizations have historically played a key role in providing education and welfare services. Since the 1980s, these organizations have supported progressive changes at both the national and subnational levels. Nevertheless, the influence of religion on education policy has shifted in the last few decades. Pentecostal and Neopentecostal groups have gained prominence through representatives in the National Congress, and, in 2018, formed a coalition enabling the election of a right-wing populist President. We analyse the trajectory of religious groups’ influence on Brazil’s education policy over time (colonization to the 1980s, the 1980s to the beginning of the 2000s, and the 2000s until now) through a qualitative-historical analysis of primary and secondary data. This article argues that both Catholic and Protestant groups have influenced progressive changes in Brazil’s education policy, but they also share conservative ideas impeding further advances.

The articulation between evolutionism and creationism in New Religious Movements: Two South American case studies

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how certain religious perspectives present nuances between the concepts of creation and evolution. Although public debate characterizes them as polarized concepts, it is important to understand how contemporary religious expressions resignify them and create arrangements in which biological evolution and creation by the intervention of higher beings are presented in a continuum. It begins with a brief introduction on the relations and reframing of Science concepts in the New Religious Movements along with New Age thinking. Then we have two examples which allows us to analyze this evolution-creation synthesis. First, I will present a South American New Religious Movement that promotes bricolage between the New Age, Roman Catholicism and contacts with extraterrestrials. Then, I will analyze the thoughts of a Brazilian medium who disseminates lectures along with the channeling of ETs in videos on the internet, mixing the elements of ufology with cosmologies of Brazilian religions such as Kardecist spiritism and Umbanda. These two examples share the idea of ​​the intervention of extraterrestrial or superior beings in human evolution, thus, articulating the concepts of evolution and creation. Therefore, in these arrangements it is possible to observe an inseparability between spiritual and material, evolution and creation or biological and spiritual evolution.

Traditionalism in Brazil

Abstract The Traditionalist movement that derives from the French esoteric philosopher René Guénon is known to have been influential in Europe and North America, especially through the activities of religious groups, usually of Sufi origin, and also through the growing impact of the political version of Traditionalism first developed by the Italian esoteric philosopher Julius Evola. This article looks at Traditionalism beyond Europe and North America, taking the important case of Brazil during the 1980s and 1990s, where one of the main Traditionalist Sufi groups, the US-based Maryamiyya, became established, and where two local groups developed, one of which focused exclusively on doctrine, and one of which turned not to Sufism but to T’ai chi and Brazilian indigenous religion. The article also considers a new and important political philosopher, Olavo de Carvalho, who emerged from the Brazilian Traditionalist milieu. Carvalho applied Guénon to political issues rather as Evola had, but unlike Evola combined Traditionalism with Roman Catholicism, a development also found in Argentina during the early twentieth century. During the 2010s, Carvalho’s radical rightist philosophy became widely known in Brazil, where his admirers included the president, Jair Bolsonaro.

Chemical Composition of Traditional and Analog Ayahuasca

ABSTRACT Traditional ayahuasca can be defined as a brew made from Amazonian vine Banisteriopsis caapi and Amazonian admixture plants. Ayahuasca is used by indigenous groups in Amazonia, as a sacrament in syncretic Brazilian religions, and in healing and spiritual ceremonies internationally. The study aimed to determine concentrations of the main bio- and psychoactive components of ayahuasca used in different locations and traditions. We collected 102 samples of brews from ayahuasca-using communities. Concentrations of N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), tetrahydroharmine, harmine, and harmaline were determined by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). Qualitative analyses for non-traditional additives (moclobemide, psilocin, yuremamine) were performed by high resolution mass spectrometry. Higher and more variable concentrations of DMT in neoshamanic ayahuasca samples compared to indigenous samples may indicate use of higher and more variable proportions of DMT-containing admixture plants. From European samples, we found two related samples of analog ayahuasca containing moclobemide, psilocin, DMT, yuremamine, and very low concentrations of B. caapi alkaloids. Some analogs of ayahuasca (Peganum harmala, Mimosa tenuiflora) were used in Europe. No analogs were found from Brazil or Santo Daime ceremonies in Europe. We recommend awareness about the constituents of the brew and ethical self-regulation among practitioners of ayahuasca ceremonies.

A revista Paz e Terra: um lugar da memória da comunicação religiosa, ecumênica e política no Brasil

Este artigo tem por objetivo examinar a relevância de produções de contra-informação desenvolvidas durante a ditadura militar no Brasil por grupos religiosos. O objeto é a revista Paz e Terra, da Editora Civilização Brasileira nos anos 1960, como iniciativa ímpar no campo da comunicação religiosa, ecumênica e política. A fim de se responder à questão-problema “qual o lugar da revista Paz e Terra na memória das produções midiáticas religiosas no Brasil?” são tomados por base estudos sobre “suportes da memória” e “lugares de memória”. A articulação entre a narrativa da memória de Paz e Terra e a descrição do conteúdo dos dez exemplares publicados, que forma a metodologia da pesquisa empregada, foi feita com base no acervo da revista, em pesquisa documental, em depoimentos de personagens envolvidas, colhidos durante pesquisa para o Mestrado em Memória Social da autora, e em obras sobre a Editora Civilização Brasileira e seu editor Ênio Silveira, sobre as lideranças evangélicas envolvidas no projeto e sobre a própria revista. Busca-se, com este texto, contribuir com a ampliação das abordagens sobre os estudos em mídia, religião e política no Brasil, alargando o foco das análises críticas centradas em produções contemporâneas e aplicando a chave referencial da memória

Capoeira: An exploration of animism and the representation of the spirit through ethnographic animation

This study investigates the relationships between ethnographic study and animation practice, focusing on the Brazilian martial art, capoeira, often referred to as a dance, fight and game. This approach was adopted to explore the ways animation can be placed in relation to both historical and more recent critical theory. A local capoeira community group based in South East London participated in the study for a period of twelve months. The respondents were a combination of teachers and learners, and semi-structured interviews in the form of a conversational style were conducted with several participants. The Capoeira music was composed remotely in collaboration with a capoeira practitioner and a professional berimbau instrumentalist, based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Additional music was recorded in a studio in London by main subject of this study, Professor Saruê. Practice-based investigations are currently in development, consisting of footage recorded on 16 mm black-and-white negative film. Direct animation and scratch film were created using 16 mm black leader and 35 mm film, forming a series of animated experiments. The ethnographic methods later revealed a strong connection between capoeira and the Brazilian religion of Candomblé, and attempts to determine how animation can be used to represent the phenomenon of the spirit. Evaluation and reflection of animation practice revealed a strong relationship between ethnography and animation, a relatively new area with promising developments and scope for further research within visual anthropology. Further research is needed to identify other factors that could strengthen the effectiveness of this methodology. The practice-based components of the overall study revealed the potential for in depth fieldwork, overseas travel and longitudinal study spanning the space of one to two years. This would expand a relatively small yet emerging area of academic research.

Freedom of Religion in the Brazilian Supreme Court in a Period of Three Decades

Abstract Judicial institutions which provide legal mechanisms for conflict resolution play an important role in maintaining the social order of complex societies. Weaknesses in the performance of their duties can contribute to social conflict developing into outright violence that will be beyond the management of law and the courts. In this sense it is strategic to study the judicial system and the decision-making processes of its judges if one wants to understand the ways conflicts are dealt in a certain place and time. In this article we focus our attention on the role of the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court as custodian of the Constitution and the discourses that its decision-making construct when dealing with human rights issues. Specifically we set out to understand how the opinions of Brazilian Supreme Court Justices are constructed when deciding cases concerning freedom of religion. The timeline considered covers 31 years, from 1988 to 2019, a period that begins with the promulgation of the new constitution in 1988 (which symbolically reinstated democracy in the country after the end of the period of military rule that began in 1964) up to the present day. We begin by presenting the legal definition of freedom of religion in Brazil which constitutes the normative background of the discussion. We then discuss our project, stressing the methodological approach we have adopted and finally we present our data findings. We identified 39 cases in total of which 11 were selected and analyzed using the methodology of Semiolinguistic Discourse Analysis in order to define the semantic field related to freedom of religion in Brazil. Even though the number of cases is not large it is possible to identify some features of Brazilian legal culture which are also recurrent when dealing with religious freedom. One of these features is the absence of consensus-building logic in the Justices’ opinions—we attribute this to what we term the disputatio mindset—which contributes to continuing institutional instability and legal insecurity. Our findings suggest that these Supreme Court decisions frequently lack the strong level of rational consistency that lower courts require if they are to identify clear guiding principles that can control the outcomes of new cases

The Applied Scientific Study of Religion in Brazil

The Applied Scientific Study of Religion in Brazil

Western Esotericism in Brazil

The Brazilian religion known as the Valley of the Dawn is an international new religious movement known for its eclectic cosmology and collective rituals performed by adepts dressed in ornate garments. Headquartered outside of Brasília, the Valley of the Dawn was founded in the 1960s by Neiva Chaves Zelaya (1925–85) a clairvoyant medium affectionately referred to as Aunt Neiva. This article highlights the work of Mário Sassi (1921–94) and the significance of esoteric thought in the development of the movement’s Doctrine. An early convert who became Aunt Neiva’s life partner, Sassi was an intellectual seeker who drew selectively on esoteric ideas popularized through theosophical and spiritist texts to interpret and systematize Aunt Neiva’s visions. Together Aunt Neiva and Mário Sassi created a Brazilian form of Western esotericism that today includes over 600 affiliated temples across Brazil and worldwide.

Digital Spirituality as Paradigm Shift? Religious Change during the COVID-19 Epidemics in Brazil

In the first part of this article we will deal with the impact of the digitization of religions in their aspects of loss of traditional authority and a greater possibility of syncretism and hybridization processes, a tendency that was already happening before the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequently, general aspects of the digitization of religions in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic will be described and some quantitative data in this period will be presented. The data indicate increased spiritual practices during COVID-19 although a relative loss of institutional authority. Even though this phenomenon may be something temporary, these data indicate a secularization of this sphere of institutional meaning, with an even more acute displacement of the sphere of religious meaning to the private world. In a third part, we will deal with the specific cases of funerals and mourning, something that reaches an important core of the social function of religious institutions at this moment. In the final reflections we make a preliminary assessment of which aspects tend to remain in the future related to religious change promoted by digitalization even after the end of the pandemic.

Anomalous and dissociative experiences in a religious context: an autoethnographic approach

The present study explored the phenomenological characteristics of anomalous experiences (AEs) reported during Umbanda rituals, a mediumistic Brazilian religion, with the aim of comparing AEs reported during rituals involving the use of Ayahuasca (an entheogen frequently used in some Umbanda contexts) and rituals without the use of this substance. In order to do so, we compared individuals with different levels of involvement with the mediumistic practices. The study was based on an auto-ethnographic approach. This methodological perspective allowed us to confront subjective data with the available knowledge in the scientific literature about AEs, dissociative phenomena and altered states of consciousness and was of fundamental importance for a more sensitive understanding of the nuances and characteristics of these experiences. The results attest to a significant similarity between the experiences reported with and without the use of Ayahuasca in mediumistic contexts. In both groups, the experiencers were able to identify certain similarities in their experiences regarding a reduction of voluntary motor control, changes in memory and perception, communicability and accessibility of experiences, anomalous information reception and increases in interpersonal sensitivity. The results support the methodological feasibility of autoethnography as a research tool and point to its relevance to a deeper understanding of AEs and other subjective experiences usually of difficult investigation by other research methods.

De macumba a umbanda: o processo de legitimação da religião dita genuinamente brasileira

Este artigo aborda o processo de legitimação da umbanda, uma religião afro-brasileira, presente hoje em todo Brasil e mesmo no exterior. Diferentes intérpretes apontam que essa religião surgiu no Sudeste brasileiro nas primeiras décadas do século XX. As práticas nominadas “macumba” e associadas aos negros podem ser pensadas como a origem da umbanda. O estigma do feitiço, atrelado às práticas religiosas afro-brasileiras desde o Brasil colônia, também foi a ela transposto. No intuito de afirmá-la como religião, alguns grupos buscaram uma aproximação com o espiritismo kardecista, visando um certo “embranquecimento” de suas práticas e definindo-a como “genuinamente” brasileira. Outros grupos preferiram enaltecer sua herança africana. Este artigo focaliza, assim, as vias escolhidas por diferentes grupos, especialmente, na primeira metade do século XX, para afirmar como religião práticas antes consideradas feitiço. Para tanto, apresento uma leitura crítica da literatura que aborda a conformação da umbanda, bem como seu processo de legitimação enquanto religião. Além disso, analiso textos produzidos pelos próprios umbandistas.

PHYSICIANS' KNOWLEDGE ABOUT PATIENTS' RELIGIOUS BELIEFS IN PEDIATRIC CARE.

ABSTRACTObjective: To describe the knowledge of pediatricians and pediatric residents about the meaning of death according to the most prevalent religions in Brazil.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among pediatricians and pediatric residents at a tertiary-level children’s hospital in the city of São Paulo, SP, Brazil, questioning about their knowledge and experience related to spiritual care and the most common religious beliefs among pediatric palliative care patients in Brazil.Results: 116 physicians answered the questionnaire, 98 (84.5%) considered themselves religious, defined as followers of any spiritual creed around the world, and 18 (15.5%) non-religious. Of the total, 97 (83.6%) considered themselves capable of dealing with the spiritual care of Catholic patients, 49 (42.2%) of Protestant patients and 92 (79.3%) of patients that follow Spiritism in the process of death. Religious doctors used less chaplaincy services than non-religious doctors (relative risk - RR 2.54; p=0.0432; confidence interval of 95% - 95%CI 1.21-5.34). Among the physicians, 111 (96%) believe that spirituality is beneficial in accepting the death process, responses were associated with the religiosity of the physicians (RR 1.18; p=0.0261; 95%CI 0.95-1.45). Also, 106 (91.4%) are unaware of the religion of their patients and the same number of participants consider pediatricians, in general, unprepared to deal with the spiritual aspect of death. These data are not associated with the participants’ religiosity.Conclusions: Although most pediatricians and residents consider themselves able to deal with the most prevalent religions in Brazil and affirm that spirituality is beneficial during the death process, little importance is given to the spiritual identity of their patients, which could limit an appropriate approach to their death process.

Ciência da Religião na Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo: demarcações curriculares de uma concepção

O artigo busca descrever a trajetória do Programa de Estudos Pós-Graduados em Ciência da Religião da PUC-SP a partir de sua estrutura acadêmica curricular e a concepção teórica decorrente. Divide os quarenta anos de existência do programa em três grandes períodos. Conclui que o programa teve um papel importante na constituição da Área da Ciência da Religião no Brasil e na própria concepção dessa ciência no âmbito dos demais programas.

INFLUÊNCIAS E IMPLICAÇÕES DAS MATRIZES AFRICANAS NA CULTURA BRASILEIRA E A QUESTÃO DA INTOLERÂNCIA RELIGIOSA

The present work aims to reflect on the religions of African matrices, pointing out their importance in the constitution of the national culture, relating to the trajectory of religions in Brazil and the current scenario of religious intolerance. The intention was: to analyze historically the African religions; indicate the establishment of some religions in the country; and raise information about the scenario of religious intolerance; and to point out the cultural relevance of African matrices in Brazilian society. Methodologically, this work was based on: a) exploratory research, based on the analysis of the bibliography on Brazilian culture, national identity, religiosity in Brazil and religions of African matrices; b) analysis of statistical data and other quantitative and qualitative information on the indices of religious intolerance, published in magazines and newspapers of great circulation.

Igrejas evangélicas como máquinas eleitorais no Brasil

O artigo compara as relações de religiões brasileiras com a esfera política a partir de dois planos distintos: o das concepções políticas dos fiéis e o da atuação eleitoreira das igrejas. São utilizados como fonte principal dados de uma pesquisa nacional de opinião conduzida no ano de 2016 pelo Instituto Datafolha. Procuramos compatibilizar aqui o diagnóstico sociológico de avanço da modernidade religiosa, a partir do qual a religião em seus moldes tradicionais se torna cada vez mais sujeita a bricolagens de fiéis alheios às regulações institucionais, com a constatação do crescente poder de influência eleitoral de igrejas evangélicas em comparação com as demais instituições religiosas.

RELIGIÕES TRADICIONAIS AFRICANAS E A FLEXIBILIDADE DO SAGRADO AFRICANO EM BASTIDE: DAS TRAJETÓRIAS AO ENCANTAMENTO

The purpose of this article is to propose an analysis of the African religions in Brazil from the perspective of Roger Bastide. From the way in which the author had access to the world of candomblé, his vision about the origins of African religions in Brazil and the way they manifest and unfolded over time. I intend to refer to the way the "sacred African" is conceived and analyzed by the author. Therefore, suggesting a deconstruction of the "degrading" view of traditional African religions which refers to their "diabolization" as well as to a hostile environment of religious intolerance. In this way, methodologically I try to cross the writings of Bastide and Peixoto, Durkheim and Mauss, Mulago, among others, constituting a "bibliographic essay".

EDUCAÇÃO E LEI 10.639/03: QUESTÕES DESAFIADORAS NA ESCOLA

This study presents the importance of Law No. 10,639 / 03, especially in the face of religious intolerance in school, highlighting the challenges that are posed today to the pedagogical practice of teachers considering the perspective of inclusion and diversity. This study is part of my master's research defended at the Federal University of Mato Grosso - UFMT, produced together with the Nucleus of Studies and Research on Race Relations and Education, entitled Brazilian religions of African matrices in the context of Law 10.639 / 03 in Cuiaba- MT. It was found that the school is not exempt and must combat racist practices and religious discrimination to begin with among its educators. Law 10639/03 is an important instrument to combat the inequality promoted by racism and religious intolerance, but still teachers do not correspond to the real effectiveness in the curricular proposal of the schools. A survey form was used as a data collection instrument that was answered by the teachers. The teachers of the Municipal Network of Cuiaba participate in this research, with 11 units located in the rural area and 9 in the urban area, all located near the Umbanda and / or Candomble terrariums.

Ainda a Controvérsia sobre a Natureza da Ciência da Religião

Esta "conversa" entre três "interlocutores" reflete sobre peculariedades da Ciência da Religião no Brasil.

Ciência da Religião no Brasil: ensaio para a autonomia afirmada e a expansão do horizonte prático de atuação

A Ciência da Religião no Brasil vivencia os primeiros momentos de sua emancipação como campo do saber ao compor, junto com a Teologia, a área 44 de avaliação da CAPES. Como integrante de área recém criada, a Ciência da Religião tem diante de si o desafio de se afirmar como ciência perante outras ciências e de expandir a profissionalização de seus operadores para além do campo de atuação docente. Para tanto, faz-se necessário à Ciência da Religião difundir a clareza e a solidez de seu estatuto epistemológico e criar espaços de promoção da pesquisa e de produção do saber acerca de seu objeto de estudo. Nesse horizonte, propõe-se reflexão sobre a afirmação da autonomia da Ciência da Religião enquanto ciência. Disserta-se o caráter científico desse campo do saber em sintonia com as resoluções brasileiras a reger as pesquisas com seres humanos. Ademais, lança-se a ideia da criação de observatórios regionais do fenômeno religioso destinados ao mapeamento e à análise das manifestações religiosas e à prestação de assessoria e serviços a instituições religiosas e civis e a órgãos públicos