God has a dream to free nations from the godless left and their culture
February 7, 2019 3:35 PM   Subscribe

How a Demon-Slaying Pentecostal Billionaire is Ushering in a Post-Catholic Brazil.
Edir Macedo, the Patriach has a nephew, Bishop Marcelo Crivela who is the rather useless homophobic, killjoy Mayor of Rio de Janeiro.
A Reddit thread about The (very real) menace of an evangelical theocracy in Brazil.
posted by adamvasco (10 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
Bolsonaro's Brazil - Perry Anderson LRB
posted by adamvasco at 3:40 PM on February 7, 2019 [5 favorites]


Usain evangelical cults have been invading developing countries for decades.
posted by brujita at 4:09 PM on February 7, 2019 [2 favorites]


As a kid I really didn't think the 21st century would be so medieval.
posted by doctornemo at 4:34 PM on February 7, 2019 [11 favorites]


[...] they are Neo-Pentecostal pastors, practicing a syncretic stew of the prosperity gospel, millenarianism, miracle healing, demon invocation, and exorcism, while boasting a level of Judeophilia weird even by the generous standards of Christian Zionism.

There's no apparent evidence for this supposed "Judeophilia", other than their cos-playing "what if Jews but Jesus". Wearing yarmulkes and tallitiyot is not an expression of affection for Jews, any more than Governor Northam's yearbook photo was an expression of admiration for African Americans. And if the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God is trying to promote theocratic rule, that's another thing which has historically been very unfriendly to actual Jews.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:57 PM on February 7, 2019 [11 favorites]


Brazil is the 9th largest economy in the world (ahead of Russia, Canada, and South Korea).

They still lag somewhat behind in GDP, but "developing" is probably not a great term to use about Brazil.
posted by schmod at 7:15 PM on February 7, 2019 [2 favorites]


Very noticeable when I was in Brazil last summer. Protestant chapels more common than bars in Bahia as far as I could tell. My friends who are capoeiristas, candomblecistas and sambistas telling me how this kind of religion is ruining Afrobrazilian culture as they teach people to stay away from "devil worship" . Seems like every other delivery truck and in SP has a sticker proclaiming Jesus is King on them, and every motorcycle helmet. Omnipresent signs, quite disturbing. The Catholic churches are still there, old and beautiful and increasingly empty.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 9:32 PM on February 7, 2019 [5 favorites]


"developing" is probably not a great term to use about Brazil.
I live here. It is a perfectly apt description.
You should maybe recalibrate your expectations about how developed a country is away from the index of GDP which has nothing to do with well being.
Here are some alternatives.
Brazil is a commodities powerhouse with the bulk of wealth in the bank accounts of the very few. The level of inequality is eyewateringly staggering as this cliched photo shows.
This is a country where Rape is as common as murder - around 60,000 a year and 4 women are killed every day.
It is a country where an elected congressman has had to flee for fear of his life for being openly gay and a spokesperson for LGBT issues.
He is from the same party PSOL as the assassinated counciller Marielle Franco whose murder and that of her driver is still unresolved.
"Developing" and a way to go.
posted by adamvasco at 3:51 AM on February 8, 2019 [9 favorites]


The UCKG have footholds in London (UK), where I live. I moved from North to South London 17 years ago and they were just sprouting up in both locations back then. It’s common now to see people shaking collection buckets for the UCKG on street corners here. Not a good sign.
posted by faceplantingcheetah at 5:04 AM on February 8, 2019


brazil has made great economic progress, but I've read that there has long been a high rate of income inequality. The 1972 doc Marjoe includes a scene of evangelicals bragging about how they've made money there.
posted by brujita at 9:45 AM on February 8, 2019


If the space-debris-reentry fireworks post had me feeling like I'm living in a Ken MacLeod novel, this one has me feeling like I'm living in a Charles Stross novel. Fuuuuuck.
posted by heatherlogan at 6:46 PM on February 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


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