Abstract
The depiction of Brazil as the “world’s largest Catholic nation” has been losing its persuasive power. The declining influence of Catholic morality is related to the growth of the Pentecostal representation in the parliament as well as by its presence in the media and other public arenas. This chapter seeks to demonstrate that the decline of Catholic hegemony over civil society is related to the progressive expansion of a reflexive attitude that considers religions as an object of debate and dispute. To understand the meanings attributed to this concept in the Brazilian case, and the morality that sustains it, we examine some categories present in practices of justification that support the public debate against intolerance in the recent period.
Paula Montero is a senior professor in the Department of Anthropology of the Universidade de São Paulo and researcher at Cebrap. This study is the result of a research project financed by FAPESP (15/02497-5) for which we express our appreciation.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Neo-Pentecostalism refers to an innovative line of Evangelicalism that arose in Brazil in the 1970s and congregates denominations from Pentecostalism or even traditional Christian churches around new forms of rituals.
- 2.
According to the author, in a reflexive democracy, that which is aware of its own principles, “all the institutions that determine social life (…) need to be justifiable in light of norms that citizens cannot reciprocate and generically reject” (2009, 21).
- 3.
The Afro-Brazilian religions are organized around priests composed of women and men who call themselves “mães de santo” or “pais de santo” (mothers or fathers of the saint). New initiates enter as “filhos de santo” or “children of the saint.” When they complete their initiation or if they enter into conflict with the authority of the mother of the saint, they tend to open a new house of worship that joins around them other “children of the saint” or attracts the children of the saint of the motherhouse.
- 4.
Habermas’ concept of justification relates to the procedural sense of truth or a discursive concept of truth. In this perspective, a statement would be true if and only if “it can be justified in an ideal epsitemic situation” (2004, 46).
- 5.
The Imperial Constitution of 1824 was the only one that established an official association between the state and the Catholic Church and prohibited the public expression of non-Catholic religious cults, reducing them to the realm of the private. Even so, it took care to regulate religious persecution, restricting it to cases of disrespect for the state religion and public morals (article 179, entry V). It is interesting to observe that, in contrast to the European process to make the state secular to guarantee territorial unity, in the Empire it was the definition of Catholicism as the official religion that was the instrument used to guarantee the state effort to maintain the unity of the territorial bases and construct a national sovereignty. This need for construction of a territorial unit was no longer raised in an urgent manner at the end of the nineteenth century, allowing the Republican constitutions (the first dates to 1891) to guarantee separation. The new problem faced since then was to prohibit secessionist political behavior, such as the adoption of new creeds by entities that composed the federation, by the norm of strict separation between political people and the religious power (see Borges and Alves 2013, 249–251).
- 6.
In this respect see Giumbelli 2002. O Fim da Religião: dilemas da liberdade religiosa no Brasil e na França. São Paulo: Attar. [The End of Religion: Dilemmas of Religious Liberty in Brazil and France].
- 7.
Terreiro is the name traditionally given to the houses of worship of Afro-Brazilian religions.
- 8.
Estado Novo, political regime founded by Getúlio Vargas in November 1937. It lasted until October 1945.
- 9.
http://Grabois.org.br/portal/cdn/revista. Posted on 01/08/1997 and consulted on 6/02/2015.
- 10.
It is interesting to observe that the amendment proposed by the sole black constitutional deputy, another representative of the Brazilian Communist Party, was also defeated. Using as a reference war crimes committed against the Jews in World War II, which had just ended, Claudino José da Silva proposed limiting “the establishment of direct or indirect privileges due to race, religion philosophical or political creed.” In this formulation, the racial question began to be associated with the question of non-Christian religions. Anais da Assembléia Constituinte, vol XVI,PP 216 apud Juliano Medeiros 2013.
- 11.
A decree of 1893 authorized religious activities and propaganda by non-Catholic groups. In 1891, the initiative was taken to create a commission that would study the establishment of the civil regime of religious associations so that they could acquire and manage their own goods. The background to this legislation is the dispute between the state and the Santa Sé in relation to the administration of the properties of the Catholic Church. Trying to conciliate the rights of the state and the autonomy of the Catholic orders and congregations, Minister José Hygino proposed to the Senate Law 173 of 1893 that sought to grant them a civil legal status similar to a corporation. The Civil Code of 1917 reiterated the terms of Law 173 granting legal personality to the dioceses, parishes, orders and congregations, as long as they registered their by-laws in public deed offices (about this see Giumbelli 2002). This model, which regulated all forms of non-commercial civil association, became the legal reference for all religious groupings that intended to be legally recognized.
- 12.
James Beckford (2003) distinguishes religious diversity from religious pluralism. Diversity would be at the level of factuality and pluralism at the level of moral and legal acceptance of diversity. In the Brazilian case, diversity would also be constructed at the level of political struggle, given that only the movements of a Christian matrix were recognized as religious.
- 13.
- 14.
Quilombolas—name given to black slaves who fled from their master plantations in colonial times.
- 15.
For a first approximation in relation to this theme see Montero (2012).
- 16.
Lei n. 7.437 of 1985 included in the list of penal contraventions the practices resulting from prejudice based on race, color, sex or civil state, presenting new language for the Lei Afonso Arinos of 1951.
- 17.
Crimes of discrimination or prejudice against religions are considered to be the practices prescribed in articles 3°. Impede or obstruct the access of someone who is properly trained, to any position of direct or indirect Administration (…); 4°. Deny or obstruct employment to a private company; 5°. Refuse or impede access to a commercial establishment (…); 6°. Refuse, deny or impede the inscription or entrance of a student in a public or private establishment of any degree; 7°. Impede access or refuse lodging in a hotel, pension, inn (…); 8°. Impede or refuse access in restaurants, bars, bakeries or similar locations open to the public; 9°. Impede or refuse access to service in sports establishments, amusement park or social establishment open to the public; 10°. Impede access or refuse service in beauty salons, barbershops, thermal baths or massage houses or establishments with similar purposes; 11°. Impede access to social entrances in public or residential buildings and elevators or access stairs to them; 12°. Impede access or use of public transportation (…); 13°. Impede or obstruct someone’s access to the service of any branch of the Armed Forces; 14°. Impede or obstruct, by any means, the marriage or social conviviality; 20. Practice, induce or incite discrimination or prejudice based on race, color, ethnicity, religion or regional origin. See: pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/intolerância_religiosa_no_Brasil, consulted in 18/02/2015.
- 18.
Created between 2007 and 2008 by Afro-Brazilian religious leaders in reaction to their expulsion from the Ilha do Governador by Evangelicals, this became the most organized social force to pressure the Rio de Janeiro legislature to fight “religious intolerance” (Bortoleto 2014, 73).
- 19.
Art 140 of the Código Penal: “slander someone, offending their dignity or decorum” and Art, 208: “Mock someone publically, for reasons of religious belief or function; impede or disturb a ceremony or practice of religious worship; publically vilipend an act or object of religious worship”.
- 20.
In an interesting parallel with the work conducted by Roberto Kant de Lima (2008) who studied the models of administration of conflicts in Brazilian public space, the author observed that in our system differences are organized in a pyramid and in a complementary manner. In this configuration, conflict is always perceived as a disruptive force, the source of disorder that threatens social harmony.
- 21.
In relation to the authors involved, Ari Oro (1997) suggests that the historic distrust of religions of an Afro matrix in relation to the penal, legal system, whose practices were the privileged object of criminal characterization until very recently, did not encourage their leaders to seek protection from the legal system.
Bibliography
Alves, A.W. 2013. O Estado Laico e a Liberdade Religiosa na Experiência Constitucional Brasileira. Revista Brasileira de Estudos Políticos 107: 227.
Asad, Talal. 2003. Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam and Modernity. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Beckford, J. 2003. Social Theory and Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bello, E. 2006. El concepto de tolerancia de Tomás Moro a Voltaire. Res Publica, 16.
Binoche, B. 2012. Religion Privée, Opinion Publique. Paris: Librairie Philosophique J. Vrin.
Boltanski, L. 2002. Nécessité et Justification. Revue Économique 53: 275–289.
Bortoleto, M. 2014. Não viemos para fazer aliança. Faces do conflito entre adeptos das religiões pentecostais e afrobrasileiras. São Paulo: Tese de Mestrado da Universidade de São Paulo.
Dantas, B.G. 1988. Vovó Nagô e Papai Branco: Usos e Abusos da África no Brasil. São Paulo: Graal.
Duarte, J. 1947. A Constituição Brasileira de 1946. Exegese à luz dos trabalhios constituintes. Rio de Janeiro. Ed. Imprensa Nacional.
Forst, R. 2009. Os limites da tolerancia. Novos Estudos do Cebrap, 84.
———. 2013. Toleration in Conflict. Past and Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Giumbelli, E. 1997. O Cuidado dos Mortos: Uma História da Condenação e Legitimação do Espiritismo. Rio de Janeiro: Arquivo Nacional.
———. 2002. O Fim da Religião: Dilemas da liberdade Religiosa no Brasil e na França. São Paulo: Attar.
Gonçalves, A.O. 2014. Flexibilizando estéticas, restringindo sexualidades: disputas de agentes pela demarcação do religioso. São Paulo: Departamento de Antropologia, Universidade de São Paulo.
Habermas, J. 2004. Verdade e Justificação: ensaios filosóficos. São Paulo: Loyola.
Lima, R.K. 2008. Ensaios de Antropologia e de Direito. Rio de Janeiro: Lumen Juris.
Maggie, Y. 1992. Medo de feitiço: relações entre magia e poder no Brasil. Riode de Janeiro: Arquivo Nacional.
Mahmood, Saba. 2006. Secularism, Hermeneutics and Empire: The Politics of Islamic Reformation. Public Culture 18(2): 323–347.
Mariano, R. 1999. Neopentecostais: sociologia do novo pentecostalismo no Brasil. São Paulo: Loyola.
Medeiros, J. 2013. Das profundezas da História: um comunista negro na Assembléia Nacional Constituinte de 1946. Distrito Federal: Universidade de Brasilia.
Miranda, A. P. 2010. Entre o Privado e o Público: considerações sobre a (in)criminação da intolerância religiosa no Rio de Janeiro. Anuário Antropológico, 2009-2.
Montero, P. 2006. Religião, Pluralismo e Esfera Pública no Brasil. Novos Estudos Cebrap, 74.
———. 2009a. Jünger Habermas: religião, diversidade cultural e publicidade. Novos Estudos do Cebrap, v.84.
———. 2009b. Secularização e Espaço Público a reinvenção do pluralismo religioso no Brasil. Etnográfica 13: 1.
———. 2012. Multiculturalismo, identidades discursivas e espaço público. Sociologia e Antropologia, 2.
———. 2016. Controvérsias religiosas, pluralismo e movimentos anticulto: ‘abuso espiritual’ como denúncia. In Religiões e Controvérsias Públicas: experiências, práticas sociais e discursos, ed. P. Montero. São Paulo: Editora Terceiro Nome.
Negrão, L.N. 1996. Entre a Cruz e a Encruzilhada. São Paulo: Edusp.
Oro, A. P. 1997. Neopentecostais e Afrobrasileiros: quem vencerá esta guerra? Debates do NER, 1 (Porto Alegre).
Ortiz, R. 1978. A Morte Branca do Feiticeiro Negro. Petrópolis: Vozes.
Richardson, James.T. 2004. Regulating Religion. Case Studies from Around the Globe. New York: Plenum Publishers.
Santos, J.T. 1991. O dono da Terra, o Caboclo nos Candomblés da Bahia. Salvador: Sarah Letras.
Scampini, J. 1974. A liberdade Religiosa nas Constituições Brasileiras: estudo filosófico-jurídico comparado. Revista de Informação Legislativa, 44.
Schritzmeyer, A.L. 2004. Sortilégio de saberes: curandeirismo e juízes brasileiros 1900–1990. São Paulo: IBCCRIM.
Silva, V.G. 2007. Intolerância Religiosa: impactos do neopentecostalismo no campo religioso brasiliero. São Paulo: Edusp.
Siqueira, N.G. 2012. “Aplicação processual da imunidade tributária dos templos e cultos religiosos”. Revista Jus Navigandi Teresina, ano 17, n. 3436, 27, nov. 2012.
Teles, J. E. 2016. A Rebelião dos Vasos: a construção material e simbólica da noção de igreja entre os pentecostais. In Religiões e Controvérsias Públicas: experiências, práticas sociais e discursos, ed. P. Montero. São Paulo: Terceiro Nome.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Montero, P. (2017). The “Culture of Justification” in the Production of Public Religiosities in Brazil. In: Mapril, J., Blanes, R., Giumbelli, E., Wilson, E. (eds) Secularisms in a Postsecular Age?. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43726-2_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43726-2_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-43725-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-43726-2
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)