ConjureMan Ali wrote: There is an increase and rise in fundamental Christianity in Brazil specifically of the Pentacostal and Evangelical types. They are rather aggressive and very much built off the idea of spiritual warfare.
not only in brazil but in the rest of latin america.
i swear, american forms of christianity are def. the scariest of all nowadays...(no offense to americans)
and they seem to rear their ugliest heads outside of the usa..
and def. aggressive.
there are tons of youtube videos on brazilian pastors with stories
on how they were in candomble/kimbanda or in any other afro-brazilian tradition
and ended up wanting to kill/murder someone because the orixas told them to.
or in one of the church events, they bring this religious woman or man who shares his/her story
as to how he/she was involved in (insert afrobrazilian religion) and they were possessed by the devil
and finally found the light in the church.
they will publish these "news" of young women and men who became involved in guess what?
some afrobrazilian religion and died because in reality, the devil took over their souls.
some evangelical christians and pentecostals but mostly the evangelicals
have vandalized terreiros,
entering and destroying altar items among other things.
in 1999 or around that, mae gilda do ogun was harassed and attacked by some evangelicals
inside the terreiro, they pushed her and hit her with a bible.
she died of a heart attack soon after.
this has not been the only incident,
if i remember correctly, somewhere in the mid 2000s, some evangelicals
went to jail for harassing a mae.
on the other hand, afro-brazilian traditions are very much part of brazil
very visible, very much part of the aesthetics and arts.
nowadays, there are more organizations and movements that protect
the interests of members of afro-brazilian religions.
there is a movement based on religious tolerance
the motto is eu tenho fe (i have faith)
marches are organized and involve catholics, buddhists, muslims, umbandistas and
members of other afro-brazilian traditions...
the unity is great.
so, how is the tolerance toward afro-diasporic traditions or african traditional religions
where you've lived/been?
are folks becoming more tolerant? less?
does it depend on certain factors such as visibility? ethnicity? social class?
what do you think?