It was filmed under the aegis of the Cinema Novo , which very willingly incorporated elements of popular culture, but also criticized the submission of blacks and the poorer classes to what it considered the ideology of the ruling classes.
Right at the beginning of the film the following message appears on the screen:. Worship of the African gods continues to this day and this entire people is dominated by a tragic and fatalistic mysticism. They accept poverty, illiteracy and exploitation with a passivity characteristic of those who await the coming of God's kingdom. Barravento is the moment when things of the earth and the sea are transformed and sudden changes occur in their love and social lives.
In Faulkner I found blacks who rebelled. And the Cuban Revolution shook up all the lyrical pretentions of the petty bourgeoisie I abandoned the plot and engaged in arbitrary materializations. Religion opium of the people. Down with the Father. Down with folklore. Dowm with Macumba. Long live the man who fishes with a casting net, with his hands. Down with prayer. Down with mysticism. I attacked God and the Devil.
Macumbeiro de Buraquinho , without ever having been initiated. I began filming according to the real laws of materialist anthropology.
Cinema Novo. In fact, at this time the field of religion and the political concepts of the left were in disagreement, above all when it was a question of religions which constituted a series of rituals associated with mysticism and trances or 'unconsciousness'.
However, it is not hard to understand this disagreement, or antagonism, between a political outlook based on historical materialism that denounced the bourgeois strategies for creating economic and social relations based on 'alienation' of the working classes and on the fetishism of merchandise, and a fetishist religious ideology like that of the Afro-Brazilian cults. It should be noted, however, that this antagonism between religion an left wing politics was not entirely insuperable, at least for a few organized Catholic groups that were part of the Ecclesiastical Base Communities CEB which became more prevalent from the s onwards.
This movement, strongly influenced by the Theology of Liberation, interpreted the Christian mission as including the need to fight for social and economic justice. The 'option for the poor' chosen by these groups brought them into close contact both with militant organizations that were resisting the military dictatorship and other popular religious groups such as the terreiro communities.
In the s, after the redemocratization of the country, the CEBs lost their influence, both within and outside the Catholic church. But in a certain sense they opened the way for the development for the Social and Black People's Ministries. The Afro-Brazilian religions continued to be seen as relatively irrelevant, as elements of political mobilization or identity, until at least the s.
From then on at least three factors determined a change in direction:. The first of these was the internal struggle of religious leaders for visibility, rights and respect. Curiously, this tendency to elevate the universal conversion to the Afro-Brazilian religions damaged the ethnic character of their traditions of African origin. The second factor is the diversification of ideological tendencies and political parties which made it possible for these religions to be gradually incorporated into the black social movements and government policy.
It was within this context that the terreiros began to be seen as spaces in which important cultural elements of the country's African heritage had been preserved, as ritualistic languages, philosophical values, traditional cuisine and styles of dress.
The activities and the agenda of this Movement, which included a significant number of denunciations and demands that questioned the living conditions of the black population and the limitations of Brazil's much vaunted 'racial democracy', resuscitated previous arguments, including 'quilombismo'. Quilombismo , in which the activities of Afro-Brazilian communities that were resisting the current situation were seen as comparable to the struggles of their ancestors, was presented by Abdias do Nascimento, The quilombos , as spaces for socio-political action, and one of their most famous leaders, Zumbi dos Palmares, reemerged as symbols of the struggle and of the requirement for an effective transformation of Brazilian society that guaranteed the rights of the country's Afro-descendent people.
This decade also saw the beginning of a series of steps taken by the black movement and national heritage government entities that resulted in the preservation of the Serra da Barriga in Alagoas , where the Quilombo de Palmares had been located, as a National Monument. It was thus no surprise that the Abolition Centenary March organized by the black social movements in Rio de Janeiro in demanding greater state participation in the fight against racism, was also called the "Zumbi March Against Discrimination".
Another politically and symbolically significant event was the change of the date for the celebration of emancipation from May 13 the date that the abolition law was signed by Princess Isabel to November 20 the alleged date of Zumbi's death.
With the redemocratization of the country a new stage of the relationship between civil society and government began, with the state and the Constitution at least partially conceding to the demands of the black movement.
The creation, in this same year, of the Palmares Foundation under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture with the objective of 'promoting the preservation of cultural, social and economic values, originating from the influence of black people, in the formation of Brazilian society' opened the door for a series of actions that moved towards meeting these demands.
The status of the quilombos , for example, now officially established as areas inhabited by the remaining Afro-descendents who had the right of ownership, extended to urban areas, including the terreiros. The third factor was the cultural-artistic movements that emerged, above all in Bahia, led by the 'Afro blocks' that initially proposed a street carnival as an alternative to the file past of the carioca samba schools, and even to Salvador's carnival, characterized as it was by an 'apartheid' of ethnicities and spaces.
These blocks, with their references to rhythms, colors, aesthetics and dances, in which the quest for Africa is highly valued as a form of expression and construction of identity, emphasized their cultural connections with the Afro-Baiano religions.
Other blocks that were formed later also emphasized, to a greater of lesser extent. As a consequence of this process, the prestige that Afro-Brazilian culture began to enjoy led to the government creating public policies through its heritage entities, and beginning to establish official recognition and protection strategies.
These initially took the form of conservation orders for the terreiros as material legacy and, more recently, the inclusion of festas , culinary items, musical styles and dances as the immaterial heritage of black culture in Brazil; the corollary of this process is still underway. Only 4 belong to the Angola nation and just 1 to the Jurema tradition. As far as I know, not a single Umbanda terreiro has received a preservation order until now.
This is without doubt a consequence of the idea that Umbanda is considered 'syncretic' or 'white' and consequently without the symbolic potential to preserve 'standards of Africanism'. It is a curious fact that these expressions are generally used to distinguish these terreiros from those that practice other Afro-Brazilian religions, such as Umbanda and Jurema.
This tendency to measure and appreciate these religions in terms of a 'tradition and culture of the Orishas' was already present in countless discussions within the field of Afro-Brazilian religions, as well as in the international sphere, and was articulated during the various editions of the World Conference on the Traditions of the Orishas and Culture, held from the early 80s at the initiative of Yoruba leaders from Nigeria, such as Wande Abimbola, in association with religious leaders from the Yoruba diaspora in the Americas.
In this context the idea of an 'African origin' of the cult prevailed, and coming acquainted with it was considered a form of regaining the 'authenticity' and 'purity' or the ritual, while the need for promoting the 'decatholicizaton' and 'desynchronizaton' of the sacred practice consecrated in the terreiros was emphasized.
From the strategic point of view, the traditions that supposedly have not succumbed to Catholicism or 'syncretism' are more effective as a means of government action directed at the identification and incorporation into Brazilian heritage of elements that belong to 'civilizing African values' 6 6 The expression "civilizing values" has the purpose of attributing an important status to African societies that the terms 'civilization' and 'civilized' have acquired in academic circles and in general.
These terms were applied to European societies during the period of social evolutionism in the 19th century, in contrast to the terms that were used to describe non-European societies, such as barbarous, primitive and uncivilized. In my view, the use of this expression to classify societies that were not 'civilized' in in the commonly used sense is justified as a method of combating a hierarchy-oriented view of the different models of society.
However, its use is not a criticism of the usual classification, and may be revoked as a parameter. From the conceptual point of view, this is a redefinition based on the idea that the terreiros are 'traditional communities' not that they are not , in the same way as the indigenous communities, which opens up opportunities for receiving support from the government, which, in an officially lay state, could not on principle support groups that were defined exclusively by their religious practices.
Not being only defined by these practices, however, these groups have become potential beneficiaries of these policies, without attracting the hostility of religious groups who feel their interests have been damaged, such as the Neopentacostals.
The movement for the valorization of Africa expressed itself in innumerable ways, both among academics and political militants. Pan-Africanism, defended by important figures like Abdias do Nascimento, had the effect of valorizing the experience of blacks in Brazil as being similar to that of the African experience. One can see that the strategic and conceptual dimensions are interconnected. The people of the saint and the saints of the people: the clamor heard by the Catholic church.
The Second Vatican Council was a landmark in terms of the Catholic Church's theology opening up to the world. One of these transformations, in the area of the liturgy, was the permission for Mass to be conducted in the vernacular, as well as the incorporation of the traditional local symbols of a variety of peoples.
A new idea emerged of a church with a mission of universal conversion, of cultural differences including religious ones that no longer separated people. Specific beliefs were now seen as manifestations of the presence of God, conferring flexibility on the church's pastoral action Oliveira, The application of the directives of the Second Vatican Council in Latin America led to the strengthening of the Theology of Liberation, a movement of religions practitioners who were sympathetic to Marxism and committed to the fight against social injustice.
The Ecclesiastical Base Communities CEBs , formed in the s and 80s, were working class community groups generally located in districts in the outskirts, whose work was directed at the transformation of the socio-economic conditions of poor communities. It was within this context that the Agents of the Black Ministry APNs emerged, made up of priests, religious practitioners, clerics and laymen, whose objective was to denounce the social exclusion of the blacks, even in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church itself 8 8 For further information on APNs, Afro Ministry and characteristics of the incultured liturgies, consult, among others, Damasceno, , Valente, , Borges, , Pereira, , Souza Jr, , Sanchis, , Bina, , Burdick, and Oliveira, The group was not entirely made up of Catholics, it also included blacks from other religions, including Afro-Brazilian ones.
An important landmark in the activities of this group was the Campaign for Fraternity in , that adopted the slogan 'Listen to the clamor of this people' and questioned the position of blacks and poor people in general in Brazilian society. These entities were decisive in the questioning of the place of blacks inside the Church, and its relation to their place in society at large. These were now seen as expressions of an 'authentic black theology'.
It should be remembered that in the first 'Seminary of Black theology" was held, which substantially brought the church and the black movements closer together.
They also turned their attention to the well-known 'Afro-Catholic syncretism' which associated the gods of African origin with the Catholic saints , not to attack it, but rather to affirm its vitality as the expression of 'a genuine faith of the black people'. In it they recognized Christian, community and ancestral values. Thus aspects of the Afro-Brazilian religions, usually designated generically as 'African elements', where introduced into the liturgy of the incultured Mass, with drum beating, music, dance, offerings of food, clothes with bright colored patterns etc.
A recent analysis of these liturgies has been conducted by Rosenilton Oliveira In some of these celebrations the ritual is directed at the same time at a Catholic saint and his or her equivalent in the Afro-Brazilian religions. During the festa, priests and the congregation greet the saint and invoke the Orisha by shouting Eparrei Oya!
It is not uncommon for initiates to go into the Orisha's state of trance during the street celebrations. This combined activity, along with the use of a common lexicon by the black movement and incultured Catholicism, forms a semantic field in which it is possible to identify the elements that most frequently combine to create a frame of reference.
The marking of territory is one of them. The lack of access to space land, dwellings etc. The Earth-without-wrongs Mass 10 10 Celebrated by D. The area has traditional ties with black culture.
This mea culpa of the Catholic Church 12 12 It should never be forgotten that during colonial times the Catholic Church was one of the powers that contributed to the submission and destruction of the Indians and gave its support to slavery. It is no coincidence, then, that the APNs chose the term quilombo when appointing their state directories, which in turn were made up of smaller nuclei called mocambos. The ecumenical vigil organized by the APNs at the top of the Serra da Barriga in , in tribute to Zumbi dos Palmares, showed the potential of the quilombo for both political action and as a symbol of resistance.
The convergence of activities of the APN and PAB also included other traditional spaces of black culture, religious or otherwise, including terreiros and samba schools. For example, celebrations that were infrequent, such as the holding of Catholic Masses to celebrate the anniversaries of these institutions or their members, took on a different connotation when they were conducted by black priests or adopted the incultured liturgy.
Our Lady or Mother Quilombola. The parts were stuck together and a rosary was placed around the neck to conceal the severance, so that the image appeared very similar to Our Lady of the Rosary, the saint worshiped by the black population. There are two representations here: Our Lady of the Conception, patron saint of the Portuguese Empire, and Our Lady of the Rosary, patron saint of the oppressed, including the black population.
It is as if the head of the saint is the State and her body the People. Since then, and due to the fact that the statue is 'blackened', very probably due to the effect of river water, a part of the Brazilian population has seen the statue as the Black Patron Saint of Brazil 13 13 For further details on this 'blackening' process of the image, see Santos, Her statue only depicts the head of a muzzled woman, as if the strength that allowed her not to submit her body to the sexual abuse of her owner was concentrated in the head.
Curiously, this cult seems to create a similarity with the decapitated head of another hero, Zumbi, indicating as they do the reversal of the treatment of Our Lady of the Appearance's head which was stuck back on. In fact, such black bodies, even today, are threatened by their social invisibility. Her martyrdom has been associated to that of Jesus, for each carries the instruments of their own torture: the crown of thorns in the former case, the muzzle and captive's chain in the latter.
The discussion of the subject of black cultural identity has always been a thorny one inside the evangelical churches whether missionary or Pentecostal, according to the distinction made by the Brazilian Statistics Bureau IBGE in its demographic censuses and has become even more tense over recent years with the systematic attack by the Neopentecostals as well as by churches of other denominations on the Afro-Brazilian religions and their symbols.
If in the United States the black Protestant Churches were an important catalyzer for ethnic awareness and mobilization for the fight for civil rights, in Brazil their profile is entirely different 15 15 For a comparison between black Pentecostals in Brazil and the United States, see Contins , , Firstly, this is due to the smokescreen that confuses the question of social inequalities in Brazil when based on race, and to the difficulties in identifying what can effectively be defined as the 'black or African legacy' within Brazil's mixed-race culture.
Secondly, it is due to the type of evangelizing mission of these churches which emphasizes the universality of access to the grace of the Holy Spirit and the practice of its faith including manifestations such as speaking in tongues.
This access is an individual experience of conversion which transforms the converted from a 'creature of the world' into a 'child of God'. And not permitting, within the brotherhood of the converted, hatred, difference, discrimination for any reason, including skin color, the mission of conversion becomes the main objective of the proselytizing work of which the natural consequence would be a juster social order.
However, these churches, even having lived under the military dictatorship, remained impermeable to the influence of leftwing political ideologies, in contrast to the Catholic Church with the Theology of Liberation and the CEBs. The truth is the Evangelical Churches feared and fought against communism due to its materialist and anti-religious preaching.
And even recently, after redemocratization, the election of conservative evangelical politicians shows that this trend has remained unaltered in the majority of the churches which support them. But the absence of a black movement in the evangelical field does not mean that the problems relating to black identity do not have a place within the context of Pentecostal faith 16 16 Even because since its first appearance at the beginning of the 19th century and throughout its various phases of development, Pentecostalism's greatest supporters have been from black and poor communities.
Indications of these initiatives can be identified, as pointed out by Burdick , in the case of Benedita da Silva, a black evangelical leader who was elected and participated in the National Constituent Assembly of , in the 'Sub commission of Blacks, Indian populations and Minorities', as well as in the occasional denunciations of racism through the propagation and proselytizing channels provided by the Pentecostal Churches. They can also be identified, in a more systematic form, in the creation of groups for reflection and black militancy which emerged at the end of the s with the centenary of the abolition of slavery.
It was at this time that the black movement tried to bring together the various groups that focused on the black population, including those for religious confession. Today the Black Evangelical Movement 17 17 For further information on this movement, see Silva, However, talking at cross-purposes and a lack of consensus between the various denominations present considerable challenges. One of the topics of dissension is precisely the place attributed to the African legacy, including the Afro-Brazilian religions, in the construction of black evangelical identity.
The title and content of a book by Pastor Marco Davi Oliveira, one of the leaders of this movement, is suggestive, permitting reflection about these challenges: The blackest religion in Brazil. Why are more than eight million blacks Pentecostal? The aim of the book is to understand the meanings of the changes that have occurred in the religious field in Brazil over the past decades, during which the demographic censuses have shown a reduction in the number of Roman Catholics and an increase in the number of Evangelicals, above all Pentecostals 18 18 The book, published in , discusses the IBGE census; however, the data for reinforces the general trends of In the following references I will be using information from the census.
Oliveira argues that the large contingent of blacks in the Pentecostal Church shows that it has become an option for the poor and excluded and therefore 'the blackest religion in Brazil'. The author certainly knows that Catholicism is the largest religion in Brazil, with Among the And among those who declared themselves adherents of the Afro-Brazilian religions 0.
However, Oliveira's argument is not quantitative, but qualitative, as he argues that the majority of blacks who profess Catholicism do not actually practice it, in contrast to the 'religious Pentecostal blacks' who effectively engage with their churches and behave accordingly. In addition, in terms of the liturgy, singing, ecclesiastical posture and language, it is Pentecostalism that reaches out the most to the black community Oliveira, This argument is based on the concept that Pentecostalism, since it first appeared in the United States, appropriated the 'spirituality' of the Africans, which also led to the development of a different style in its cult, based on effusive religious songs, invigorating experiences of dancing and expressions of joy.
The presence of the Holy Spirit supposedly gave black people access to a spiritual rebirth based on their experience in the body. In the same way, the black Pentecostal cult in Brazil expresses a 'more evident Brazilianness', due to the 'more relaxed manner and irreverence of Afro descendent culture" Oliveira However, at this point things become more complicated. If, on the one hand, the use of the body, the musicality expressed in rhythms like samba, blues, soul, rap, negro spirituals, jazz and many others Oliveira, , and the importance of the ancestral legacy, are 'reminiscences' of an African religiosity that are valorized by the evangelical churches, they also relate to the negative image of Africa that is combated by these churches as a place of pagan practices and idolatry and to the Afro-Brazilian religions supposedly dedicated to the worship of 'devils' of African origin, such as the Orishas and other guides.
Secondly, because the Afro-Brazilian religions have increasingly distanced themselves from black people and poor people due to the high cost of their offerings and the lack of a committed community as a result of the disputes and competition between their members.
Finally, the individualism in ethical questions and the exclusivity of these entities have led to a lack of a proselytizing strategy that has compromised their growth, as demonstrated by the low number of people who declared themselves adepts of Afro-Brazilian religions in the last census 0.
Oliveira, Oliveira, however, does not intend to argue in favor of Neopentecostal religious intolerance which 'demonizes everything that comes from Africa'. The author even denounces such intolerance as a form of racism within the evangelical movement.
And he goes further, doubting that this segment is really that inclusive in relation to black membership.
He finds that the participation of blacks in the organization and hierarchies of evangelical institutions is not proportional to the size of this population.
The low number of marriages between black evangelicals is also an indication that they have sought partners outside their ethnic group due to the lack of racial awareness, a problem overlooked by these churches.
The ideology of 'whitening' also resonates through the pews of the evangelical churches. On this point John Burdick is more optimistic, affirming that in Pentecostalism, although black consciousness is not expressed in the discourse, it can be found in the daily religious experience.
In fact, this is a book every Brazilian should read [] Here the central themes of this antagonism are set out: 1. Identification of the divinities from the Afro-Brazilian pantheon with the devil; 2.
Spiritual release through the greater power of the living blood of Jesus in opposition to the 'dry' or 'fetid' blood of initiation or the offerings ; 3. As a consequence of spiritual release, conversion. McAlister writes that on coming into contact in Brazil with 'macumba,' he initially thought it was no more than 'folklore.
In this way I passed from a certain incredulity to an awareness that these narratives were not merely the result of imagination, and that despite the superstitious roots, their effects were very real [] This, then, was the fourth important characteristic of this 'spiritual battle:' rather than seeing the Afro-Brazilian religions as folklore, popular belief, ignorance or imagination, it was essential to recognize that their divinities 'exist,' although 'in truth' they are 'demonic spirits' that trick and threaten the Brazilian people.
As we can observe, the invitation to spiritual release is made at national level, another key feature of neo-Pentecostalism's evangelism. I have no intention of examining McAlister's book in depth here. Finally, she accepts the 'Lord's supper' and dedicates herself to preaching the new truth to her former brothers and sisters from the 'spirit faith.
In this book, McAlister describes the sources of spiritism 4 in Brazil and cites passages in the Bible that lend support to his condemnation. These laws were, however, reformulated by Jesus Christ, whose final sacrifice signalled the salvation and purification of all those who believe in him.
In the two central chapters of the book, the narration passes to Georgina herself, who reveals the rituals of her former religion to which she was submitted or which she conducted, such as initiation rituals involving shaving her head for Oxum, including herbal baths mixed with blood , the 'trabalhos' spells undertaken in cemeteries, despachos using bull brains, dolls for love spells and so on. Today I know perfectly well what these 'secrets' are and where they come from [ However, being a 'converted saint-mother,' the legitimacy of her radical revelation the 'secret of the secrets' is simultaneously bolstered by two systems of legitimation: Afro-Brazilian and Pentecostal.
As well as a pioneer in this type of literary production, 5 McAlister seems to have been the first to use the 'live' possession of believers during his evangelical sermons as a public confrontation of the demons supposedly originating from the Afro-Brazilian cults. According to Ricardo Mariano , the pastor at the time "already forced the demons to reveal their presence in the church services, talked to them, discovered their names and identified them with the Afro-Brazilian and spiritist cults.
However, the impact of the practices of the New Life Church on the development of this antagonism against the Afro-Brazilian religions was limited. Despite using radio broadcasts and later being one of the frontrunners in the use of television to transmit its evangelical message, the Church never underwent any significant expansion and survived modestly after the death of its founder in Its biggest contribution was the training of prominent leaders, such as Edir Macedo and Romildo Ribeiro Soares, who later founded their own churches and gained fame by employing the premises of evangelization in relation to the Afro-Brazilian religions learnt from McAlister.
Edir Macedo, Catholic in background with later experience in umbanda, converted to the New Life Church with which he stayed for more than a decade Freston ; Mariano However, internal power disputes led to the dissolution of the triumvirate, leaving the church under the exclusive command of Edir Macedo. In the following decades, combining an aggressive tactic of proselytism, investment in televisual media and the intensification of the spiritual war against rival denominations, the Universal Church became the neo-Pentecostal movements best known and most influential church.
In the print media, the attack began from the Church's very first publications. As Ronaldo Almeida mentions:. The Folha Universal , which later replaced the magazine, every week includes reports on the harm caused by these religions. Gods or demons? A summary of the author's profile and the book is provided in the preface by J.
Through the media outlets and churches that have set up in the nooks and crannies of our homeland and abroad, Bishop Macedo has launched a full-scale holy war against all the devil's works. However, keen to ensure there is no doubt over the 'correct answer' to the title's question, it presents more detailed arguments in a much more aggressive tone of condemnation and warns of the dangers faced by those who worship the pantheon in question. According to the biblical exegesis pursued in Macedo's book, demons exist and are creatures of God who, envious of their creator, fell into disgrace and have disputed the celestial throne ever since.
As disembodied spirits, they try to take over people's bodies to inflict them with sickness and misfortune, and distance them from God. The fight of humans against demons is, therefore, a result of the war waged by these demons against God. However, even when these factors are absent, demonic possession can still occur simply through the "evilness of the demon itself.
Aside from the similarities existing between the books of McAlister and Macedo, 10 what makes the publication of the latter more convincing in terms of its intended objectives is the use of abundant illustrations that exploit the rich aesthetic and ritualistic dimension of Afro-Brazilian religions in order to condemn them as demonic.
At the centre, a skull is surrounded by a circle of lit candles. Obviously, it depicts an assembly of elements in the stylized form of a 'despacho' ritual offering and, for this very reason, produces a powerful and highly suggestive image, especially given the associations that it induces through its combination of the funereal the skull , the threatening the caboclo with his club raised ready for combat and the mysterious the liturgical elements.
Inside the book, the captions accompanying the photos claim to disclose their 'true meanings. A photo of an image of a pombagira is followed by the phrases: "In many women, the pombagira causes cancer of the uterus and ovaries, sexual frigidity and other diseases.
Her actions are held responsible for behaviours linked to illicit sexual practices and other situations involving sinful sensuality" These scenes are, indeed, the 'Achilles heel' of the Afro-Brazilian cults, especially when taken out of context, looking to portray these religions as 'bloody,' 'savage' or 'primitive.
At this stage the follower has already made a pact with the demons. Only Jesus can free him" Macedo ; "Graduation party, where the followers are presented with a legion of demons to work with them" However, according to the book the biggest 'evidence' for the action of the devil resides in the murder of people in Afro-Brazilian rituals, reported by the press under headlines of the kind reproduced in the book: "They killed a young woman to make a despacho" ; "The police found brains and other human organs, among them a heart, at the site of the despacho" ; "Baby victim of Satanism" ; "Man knifed to death in umbanda ritual" Although these facts occurred as the reports attest, they are clearly not practices typical of Afro-Brazilian religious systems.
Nonetheless, the book's author is convinced that these religions are behind all these events, hence photos of people killed like animals in rituals with their bodies covered in blood are placed side-by-side with people lying down in an initiation room with their bodies covered in the ritual blood of animals. The purpose of this sequence of images seems to be to express a logic prescribing that where animals are killed over humans, humans may be killed like animals.
According to the book, the references to Afro-Brazilian religions found in public spaces also demonstrate the expansion of the devil's action beyond the walls of the terreiros. Many other saints are associated with demons" Another such case is the book Espiritismo, a magia do engano 'Spiritism, the magic of the swindle' , whose author, the missionary Romildo Ribeiro Soares or R.
From the pulpit of this church, he also roused the faithful to combat the 'Afro-Brazilian devils,' without, however, ever threatening to supplant the leading role played by Macedo in this area. While the cited books provide an introduction to the promotional literature grounding the "theology of the spiritual battle," 16 it is primarily on the level of ritual acts that its message has been the most effective and has acquired greater visibility, both inside the Pentecostal churches and beyond.
Below I examine some examples of Pentecostal actions against the presence of the devil associated with Afro-Brazilian religions. For us to be able to gain a better understanding of the nature and extent of the instances of neo-Pentecostal attacks 17 on Afro-Brazilian religions, I have collected information on these incidents published in the printed press and in the academic literature over the past few years and classified them according to a number of criteria: 1.
Attacks made within the space of neo-Pentecostal church services and through their channels of divulgation and proselytism; 2. Physical aggressions against terreiros and their members; 3. Attacks on Afro-Brazilian religious ceremonies perpetrated in public locations or on symbols of these religions found in such spaces; 4. Attacks on other symbols of African heritage in Brazil that have some connection to Afro-Brazilian religions; 5.
Attacks arising from alliances between Evangelical churches and politicians; and, finally, 6. Public responses political and judicial from the adherents of Afro-Brazilian religions.
I turn to some representative cases from each group. As we have seen above, the attacks made in the context of the ritual practices of neo-Pentecostal churches and their channels of divulgation and proselytism stem from a theology grounded in the idea that the cause of most of the world's ills can be attributed to the presence of the devil, who is generally associated with the gods of other religious denominations.
According to this view, the faithful must continue the work of fighting these demons first begun by Jesus Christ: "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil" 1 John The Afro-Brazilian pantheon in particular is a target of this attack, especially the category of exu , which was initially associated with the Christian devil and later accepted as such by a large portion of the povo-de-santo , especially adherents of umbanda.
Inside the Neo-Pentecostal churches, sessions are frequently held to exorcise or 'unload,' in the UCKG's terminology these entities, which are called upon to incorporate the person before being disqualified or expelled as a form of spiritual release of the believer.
Many of these programs show "reconstructions of real cases" or dramatizations in which symbols and elements from Afro-Brazilian religions are depicted as spiritual means for obtaining malefic results only: the death of enemies, the spread of disease, the separation of couples or love tangles, family disagreements, etc.
Such programs also commonly include testimonies of conversion from people claiming to be past frequenters of terreiros, who are interviewed by the pastor and 'confess' the harm they inflicted with the help of Afro-Brazilian entities referred to as encostos , 'props,' 'supports'. The most heavily exploited testimonies are from those claiming to be former priests of Afro-Brazilian religions, called ex-pais-de-encosto , 'ex-prop-fathers,' who explain in detail how they made despachos and the malevolent intentions behind them.
The vast communication network developed by these churches also includes radio programs, internet sites and religious promotional material books, newspapers, magazines and leaflets , such as the Folha Universal and the magazine Plenitude , both published by the UCKG. A magia do engano , are evidently among the most widely known.
Incited by this belief, members of neo-Pentecostal churches very often invade terreiros with the intent of destroying altars, smashing images and 'exorcising' their frequenters, actions which usually end in physical aggression. They believed that the baby had been taken to be sacrificed during the terreiro's rites. Even the house's fridge and the cars parked in the yard were subject to the police search. The investigation was only halted when the real kidnappers of the child were captured.
The terreiro, founded in , is one of the oldest in the city and has been facing pressure from Evangelicals in the district for it to be shut down and relocated elsewhere.
In a demonstration of their strength, the Evangelical churches organized a march to intimidate the followers of 'demons' in the neighbourhood. Symbols of Afro-Brazilian religions placed in public spaces may also be attacked. In fact, sculptures and images depicting Afro-Brazilian gods are dispersed across many other parts of the Bahian capital, such as streets, squares and buildings, with their names being used, including officially, to identify some of these places and commercial and cultural establishments.
There is strong opposition to this practice, though. Religious intolerance may also be manifested in shared public spaces or transportation, as seen in the case of a woman who was expelled from a bus in the north zone of Rio de Janeiro for wearing a white turban typical of these religions.
Symbols of the African heritage in Brazil, even those which are not directly religious, but which allude to Afro-Brazilian religions in some form, are stigmatized and combated. Evangelical parents removed their children from this NGO, alleging that samba is linked to 'devil worshipping. Another aspect of the disqualification of these symbols is, paradoxically, their 'incorporation' into Evangelical practices, though dissociated from Afro-Brazilian religions.
Following the recent decision of the Ministry of Education to include the theme "Afro-Brazilian History and Culture" in the official national school curriculum, 32 textbooks covering this topic have started to be produced. Since the Afro-Brazilian religions are part of this history and culture, their specific characteristics have been treated in a non-sectarian or proselytizing form, as befits educational material designed for lay teaching based on humanist values and tolerance of cultural diversity.
However, placing religions of African origin in school books side-by-side with hegemonic religions, such as Christianity, giving them the same space and legitimacy, has by itself generated protests. An evangelical director of studies from Belfort Roxo, Rio de Janeiro, complained to the publisher, alleging that the book was an apologia for Afro-Brazilian religions and stating that it would not be adopted in her school, where the majority of students and teachers, according to her, were evangelical.
As we can ascertain from the previous case, the election of Evangelical candidates, or candidates allied to these churches, has seen the battle against other denominations extended to representative politics. Evangelical politicians haves used their new found powers to coordinate actions to stifle the development of Afro-Brazilian religions.
In the face of these attacks, the responses from Afro-Brazilian religions and their allies, which were negligible two decades ago, have grown. However, they are still some distance from constituting a unified movement capable of opposing the organization of the evangelical groups on equal terms, with the latter striving to consolidate its presence among the media and in the Legislature and Executive.
Firstly, it showed that when the UCKG's attacks are directly targeted at the symbols of a majoritarian and hegemonic religion, such as Catholicism, their effectiveness is heavily curtailed.
The same, though, does not apply to the attacks on Afro-Brazilian religions, which have generally proven to be effective, both in terms of converting followers and in tainting the public image of these religious traditions. Secondly, it showed the adherents of Afro-Brazilian religions the need to respond in a more organized form to try to preserve the relative degree of acceptance and legitimacy won from society so arduously.
Bahia is currently the state with the highest number of recorded instances of this type of response. The Public Prosecutor's Office has played an important role in this process, though the slowness of the lower criminal courts where the legal actions are processed tends to discourage systematic action on the part of victims. Additionally, the latter generally lack sufficient knowledge of the workings of the judicial system to be able to achieve more effective results.
Aware of these difficulties and attempting to create forums for debate and quicker procedures for processing the legal actions, civil rights defence groups are proposing the creation of a specific court for cases involving racial and religious discrimination.
Despite the problems, these legal actions are beginning to achieve favourable results for the adherents of Afro-Brazilian religions.
The Evangelical churches responsible for programs considered offensive to Afro-Brazilian religions, and the television networks that broadcast them, are being warned. In Bahia, there are numerous lawsuits under way, some of them with sentences already passed. In Bahia, the State Attorney's Office sent the Attorney General's Office a request to remove the book from circulation on the basis of considering it offensive to Afro-Brazilian religions.
One of these children, today a teenager, recalls that she was the victim of school bullying around the time: "I was called a macumbeira, worshipping a religion of the devil.
Historically, these religions evolved much more through divergences than convergences around collective representative bodies. Even so, some federative bodies have sought to establish dialogues with other agents from public authorities, the black movement, non-governmental organizations, and so on. Another resistance strategy adopted by Afro-Brazilian groups has been to seek support within the ecumenical movement, bearing in mind that the neo-Pentecostal onslaught is also targeted at other religions, principally Catholicism.
Through the ecumenical movement, the Afro-Brazilian cults can also encounter solidarity from Evangelical churches that disagree with and condemn the attacks perpetrated by the more intolerant neo-Pentecostal denominations. Overall, the development of Afro-Brazilian religions was marked by the need to create strategies for survival and dialogue in the face of adverse conditions. These religions were persecuted by the Catholic church over four centuries; by the republican State, especially in the first half of the 20 th century when the latter used agencies of police repression and social control, along with mental health services, to suppress the religions; and finally by social elites and their perennial mixture of disdain and fascination for the exoticism that has always been associated with the cultural manifestations of Africans and their descendents in Brazil.
Another question that these antagonisms suggest is the potential disappearance of a particular image of Brazil in which Afro-Brazilian religions were associated with a "Brazilian way of being" in figures such as the malandro , 'rascal,' represented by Exu, or the "smart and sensual woman," represented by pombagira , whose epithet is the much renowned 'jeitinho,' or 'knack,' a way of resolving problems or conflicts that mixes the spheres of the public and the private, the 'favour' and the 'right.
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