The Itu Church of Christ for the last eight years has hosted a bilingual
summer camp combining Texan churches and local teenagers. This year as the camp
leadership team selected exciting music for a flashmob at the mall, one song burst
forth in unison from the Brazilian staff: “O que é, o que é!” They knew true Brazilians
in the audience would instantly connect to this iconic song, resonating with the
feelings carried through a marred history, corrupt present, and yet hopeful future
for a joyful people.
To live, and to not be ashamed of being happy
To sing, sing, sing, at the beauty of being an eternal learner
My God, I know that life could be much better, and it will be
But that does not keep me from declaring
It is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
The positivity and energy reflects the Brazilian reputation world-wide along with the stereotype as a coffee-drinking, samba-dancing, soccer-playing, loud-speaking, partying people.
Occupying more landmass than the continental United States, Brazil ranks fifth in the world for its size. In the fourteenth century, the extensive Brazilian coast facing the Atlantic gaped open as a doormat for Europe by which Portugal invaded, settled, and extracted resources from Brazil’s rich land. Portugal had found the perfect combination of natural resources and native manual labor, soon initiating a tradition of abuse and exploitation of the people and the land. The Brazilian people speak of their history with a negative tone and point to Portugal as the beginning of a long road of political corruption in their national leadership. Colloquially, Portugal provides the favorite object of mocking jokes, similar to blondes in American humor. Unfortunately, the Portuguese lacked vision for development and investment in the colony. The chronic abuse of power, that still prevails today, lead the majority of Brazilian people to become disengaged from the political system, and disillusioned with government as a whole.
Only in the past fifteen years has Brazil presented any political stability. Since 1808 the leadership turned from imperialism to a complete dictatorship between 1930-1945, changed to a military regime between 1964-1978, and finally peaked with an impeached president in 1992 who had followed the path a few mediocre presidents. Despite the political volatility, Brazil continued to progress industrially because of its abundant resources valuable for exportation: coffee, soybeans, oranges, sugar cane, steel, and other products. However, because the generated money was managed poorly, in the 1980s during the presidency of José Sarney, Brazilians faced inflation of over 80% per month. Families walked around supermarkets with four or five carts and purchased products for sixty days in advance. The currency weakened to the extent that the government six times in less than ten years dropped the zeros off the end of the bills and changed the name of their currency. In 1998 Fernando Henrique Cardoso assumed presidency of the country. He had been exiled to France and Chile during the military regime as a sociologist with expertise in the philosophies of Karl Marx. Cardoso brought economic strength to Brazil through the Plano Real, the Real Plan, which changed the national currency to the Real and introduced competition to the market by importing cheaper products. Finally Brazil had elected a leader interested in investing time and energy into the country and in nurturing it back to health.
With a visionary government in place, Brazil grew beyond the expectations of the public, and today has emerged as one of the four promising economies of the world - the “B” in B.R.I.C. The exported goods today encompass steel, aircrafts, and petroleum, all of which bring a significant boost to the national economy. Even though many citizens have strong opinions against the current president and the government, Lula has represented Brazil well internationally, building bridges for relations with other countries worldwide.
As Brazil establishes its credibility internationally, the responsibility of the state of Sao Paulo swells as it pulses the national economy. Sao Paulo hosts the largest concentration of national and international industries due to the cheap migrant labor coming from Northern Brazil, the efficient infrastructure for transportation, and the ideal climate for agriculture among other factors. The state provides over 33% of the country’s GNP and holds the fourth lowest illiteracy rate in Brazil. The city of Sao Paulo, as the fifth largest metropolis in the world and the largest city in South America, has over nineteen million citizens.
Abundant economic power provokes extreme poverty; the rich depend on the proletariat to build their fortune. Poverty invades the busy avenues as cardboard slums and filthy children overrun the streets. Brazil’s socioeconomic disparity is shocking and widespread. The situation further escalates as a result of prejudiced high and middle classes, low public awareness, and little effort invested in social justice initiatives by the people of the community. With a lack of compassion and a lack of understanding, a deep disconnection continues to distance wealth and poverty.
Seventy miles west from the capital lies Itu. The population of 160,000 pales in comparison to the booming megapolis of Sao Paolo. It stands as one of the oldest cities in the country, having celebrated its 400th anniversary in 2010. Originally, the enormous square mileage of Itu was divided into profitable coffee farms with purse strings held by a handful of wealthy Italians. Today extremely wealthy businessmen from Sao Paulo city using Itu as a peaceful bedroom community steer the town’s politics, which are also impacted by the extremely traditional founding families from Italy who have dominated Itu since 1610. Hand in hand with the Ituano traditionalism and wealth walks the Roman Catholic Church. Its citizens affectionately reference the town as “The Small Rome” and claim to have more catholic churches per capita than any other city in the world.
Not only in Itu, but also nationally, the Roman Catholic Church powerfully influences Brazil. The Jesuit mission arrived on the Portuguese boats in the 15th century and planted its deep roots by proselytizing as they educated the natives and established chapels at the center of every village and town built by the Lusitanian occupiers. The Roman Catholic Church became extremely powerful and wealthy as it dominated land and played a lead role in the politics and culture of the country, therefore, naturally associating itself to society’s elite. In reaction to the military regime, during the 1970s, leaders within the Brazilian Catholic Church began following the cries of Liberation Theology, activating social justice movements to liberate the oppressed by society. However, as the country broke free from the shackles of the strict regime, the Liberation Theology fervor lost its force, giving place to the Charismatic Reformation. This Reformation came as a response to the high percentage of Brazilian “non-practicing” Catholics, a side effect deriving from a religion that maintains a stiff posture and keeps itself inaccessible to the simple and warm population of Brazil. The successful Charismatic wave won many people back to active faith within the Catholic Church. It presented connectable and lively priests as mascots of the movement who borrowed elements from the thriving neo-Pentecostal movement such as deep emotion and manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit. However, Itu remained rooted in traditional, highly liturgical Catholicism.
If then, traditional Catholicism is associated to the powerful and elite sliver of the population, then neo-Pentecostal movement is the religion of the proletariat. These churches bank on people’s sense of disenfranchisement from the government and their lack of voice in the country’s economic direction to preach a need for distance from the corrupt powers of this world and for subordination to the ultimate will of God to receive health and wealth. The movement began in the early 1900s in the poorest part of the country, Northern Brazil. It migrated south with the population who moved to the more industrialized regions of the country in search of jobs. Since the 1970s, the neo-Pentecostal Churches now have attracted followers throughout the southeastern region, which includes the states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, and Espirito Santo. Today they own colossal structures built on main avenues of focal cities such as Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Salvador. One brain child born out of the movement is the Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus, which continues to accrue both wealth and followers within its temples that seat up to fifteen thousand. The conservative messages coupled with large promises lure the oppressed and uneducated by offering a hope for the future and a guaranteed spot in heaven.
Within the tropical country, the third religious culture of significant importance is the mainstream Protestant denominations, which arrived in the mid-19th century and derived from Europe and United States. Their rational theology baptized by the Enlightenment arrived to propose educated explanations to religious thought, attracting primarily middle class citizens with fascination and core beliefs in academia. The typical protestant membership, composed of stable families, represents the flourishing middle class who are only cautiously involved in the economy and politics of the country. The Churches of Christ in Brazil fit this category, so much so that when preparing missionaries for South America, the principal recruiting agency trains recently formed teams to aim their efforts towards the middle class sector in important Brazilian cities.
Although the Itu Church of Christ gathers representatives from all socioeconomic levels, the majority of the members live as middle class, some transferring from other Protestant denominations, and high class, mostly with a traditional Catholic background. The social network of these members has created connections that build strong bridges between the church and municipal authorities. The apparent wealth and absence of strong charismatic manifestations have left the local neo-Pentecostals reluctant to interact with the church, even in ecumenical gatherings. The bicultural leadership (American and Brazilian) is dynamic. It invites the initiative and input of the members for events and ministries and enables a strong sense of community and family.
The interviews conducted with people from the congregation reveal additional information about how the national and regional sociological factors deeply impact people’s doctrinal point of view. Furthermore, the puzzled looks and long search for words after each question during the interviews proved how unlikely people are to think through doctrinal issues for themselves. For the most part, churches have trained believers to repeat neatly composed statements of faith or to recite verses, but rarely trained their members to consider their personal opinion and formation behind the delivered gospel package.
The definition of God presented by the majority of the participants included the words “distant,” “observer,” “Creator,” and “Spirit,” indicating a formality and a mystical view of God. These traits are rooted in the Catholic understanding of God the Father, whereas Jesus comes as the more accessible version of divinity. The Catholic interaction with Scripture also points to a lack of intimacy and accessibility of the divine book. Many Catholic homes in Itu will have a Bible sitting near the front door opened to a favorite passage, commonly Psalm 23, under a glass casing to protect the pages from the settling dust. Scriptures are only understood by the trained clergy and are too complex and spiritual for laymen to process. Interviewees both from Catholic and Protestant backgrounds portrayed the Bible as a book of rules to be followed in order to achieve salvation. These responses present an interesting comparison when placed next to the American perspective of a relational God and of Scriptures as stories from which we can extract life lessons.
People that presented the Bible as a rulebook commonly interpreted sin as directly related to the act of breaking rules, especially breaking one of the Ten Commandments (except when it comes to keeping the Sabbath which can be ignored with ease). Sin is offensive to God, and one must repent from sin to receive salvation. These were black and white issues to the interviewees, which proves an emphasis on reason and rationality connected to the Protestant roots.
The definition of mission of the church most polarized the interviewees, some saying it is principally to convert non-Christians into a follower of Jesus and to perform acts of social justice serve as bonus points along the way. Others claim that social justice is exactly what Jesus left as the mission of his body, with this second answer generally being offered by younger Christians between seventeen and thirty years old. Historically Liberation Theology in Brazil (with Leonardo Boff as the Father of the movement) was criticized by the traditional sector of the Catholic Church, receiving accusations for drifting away from the mystical and eternal realm and concentrating on the physical and temporal realm. Boff also bluntly criticized the hierarchy of the Catholic Church and their minimal involvement with the obvious social disparity, which stunted any meaningful advance the movement would have in the country. To this day, the general population of Brazil does not take interest in impacting the socioeconomic imbalance. However, extensive efforts have begun within the Itu Church of Christ with current ministries devoted to offering hospitality and building relationships with the homeless and the addicts of the community. The volunteers in these endeavors were eager to cite social justice as the mission of the church.
The culture of Brazil is naturally so welcoming and warm that the definition of fellowship provided by the interviewees was simply a confirmation of the obvious. They stated that fellowship included spending time with people over a meal at home or church, enjoying an event, serving in a ministry together, sharing life stories, or inviting other people to be a part of the healthy community. Brazilians highly value community with their friends and family, and a positive church context becomes an extension of this meaningful connection to people.
Brazil does not have a smooth and uplifting history. The dark colors of exploitation, corruption, and oppression have stained its past and have distorted its political system and its trust in the national leadership. Only the last two presidents have taken interest in efficiently managing the country and working towards international credibility. The Catholic Church has played an ambiguous role, both bringing the transforming gospel story, but also muzzling movements that would decrease the Church’s power in the country. Through all this, Brazilians have not allowed their frustration to take over. They have kept their faith in God and continue to display their exuberant beauty and hospitality as they continue to fight for a more comfortable future for their family and the country. The appreciation for their story and their beliefs will help direct the population’s sustained effort to pursue progress. For church leaders, the study of sociological factors from the past and present also brings clarity as they tend to the foundations of the faith and continue to build on the people’s history.
Castilho, Andressa. 2010. Interview by Alice Kaiser, 2 December. Itu, SP
Delgado, Matheus. 2010. Interview by Alice Kaiser, 2 December. Itu, SP.
Flashmob, Itu, SP, 9 July, 2010. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKlobM3uveE)
Giponi, Joao. 2010. Interview by Alice Kaiser, 2 December. Itu, SP.
Giponi, Felipe, 2010. Interview by Alice Kaiser, 2 December. Itu, SP
Goncalves, Antenor. 2010. Interview by Alice Kaiser. 4 December. Itu, SP
Goncalves, Paul. 2010. Interview by Alice Kaiser. 4 December. Itu, SP.
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Gonzaguinha. “O que é, o que é”. 1982. (http://letras.terra.com.br/gonzaguinha/463845/)
Mauer, Cristiano. 2010. Interview by Alice Kaiser, 6 December. Itu, SP.
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Oliveira, Izaias. 2010. Interview by Alice Kaiser, 2 December. Itu, SP.
Pedro deMarco, E-mail to author, December, 6, 2010.
"Wikipedia." The Free Encyclopedia. Available from http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sao_paulo. Internet; accessed 6 December, 2010.
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