Exu, de mensageiro a diabo. Sincretismo católico e demonização do orixá Exu

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Converter indivíduos, mudar culturas

Different religions conceive and treat their target public - their followers, old and new - in distinct ways. This text analyzes some of the relations established by different religious currents with cultures and individuals in Latin America, especially Brazil. Contemporary religions have diverging interpretations of what culture is - definitions which help shape their strategies for conversion and their responses to the advance of rival religions. For the purposes of debate, the article hypothesizes a not too distant future in which the majority of Latin America's population is Evangelical and asks what would happen to the supposedly Catholic Latin America culture if this supremacy were indeed to become a reality.Religiões diferentes concebem e tratam diversamente seus alvos: seus adeptos, antigos e novos. Procura-se neste texto analisar certas relações que distintas correntes religiosas estabelecem com as culturas e os indivíduos na América Latina, especialmente no Brasil. As religiões têm interpretações distintas do que seja a cultura, e essas definições ajudam a moldar suas estratégias de conversão e reação ao avanço de religiões oponentes. Para efeito de discussão, o artigo considera como um eixo hipotético um futuro não distante em que a América Latina teria uma maioria evangélica em sua população, perguntando-se o que aconteceria com a suposta cultura católica latino-americana se caso tal supremacia evangélica viesse de fato a se constituir

As religiões negras do Brasil - Para uma sociologia dos cultos afro-brasileiros

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SINCRETISMO AFRO-BRASILEIRO, POLITEÍSMO E QUESTÕES AFINS

O presente artigo trata do sincretismo religioso na formação e posteriores transformações das religiões afro-brasileiras numa sociedade em que ser católico era a condição necessária para ser brasileiro. Introduz a seguir a questão do politeísmo, apresentado como característica importante das religiões africanas, e discute o favorecimento do sincretismo que o politeísmo propicia. Trata, finalmente, desses dois aspectos, sincretismo e politeísmo, nas relações entre afro-brasileiros, católicos e evangélicos

Axé em movimento no mercado religioso: Umbanda em declínio, candomblé em ascensão

The article describes a peculiar dynamics of the Brazilian religious market: the rise and the decline of the cults of African origin. According to the data of several censuses, from 1940 to 2010, beside a slight, but constant, decline of Catholic followers, there was at first a vertiginous rise of umbanda, an “extremely Brazilian” syncretism, then a re-discovery of candomblé, considered as a specifically “afro” cult, and finally a dramatic loss of believers, due to various reasons. Primarily the aggressiveness of the Evangelical churches, which regards the “afro” deities as the representation of the devil; the extraordinary economic means of the same sects that are able to monopolize the media; the proverbial tolerance, the flexibility and the tendency of including instead of fighting different creeds which is typical of the polytheisms; these features are absolutely inadequate to face such a competitive religious market.The article describes a peculiar dynamics of the Brazilian religious market: the rise and the decline of the cults of African origin. According to the data of several censuses, from 1940 to 2010, beside a slight, but constant, decline of Catholic followers, there was at first a vertiginous rise of umbanda, an “extremely Brazilian” syncretism, then a re-discovery of candomblé, considered as a specifically “afro” cult, and finally a dramatic loss of believers, due to various reasons. Primarily the aggressiveness of the Evangelical churches, which regards the “afro” deities as the representation of the devil; the extraordinary economic means of the same sects that are able to monopolize the media; the proverbial tolerance, the flexibility and the tendency of including instead of fighting different creeds which is typical of the polytheisms; these features are absolutely inadequate to face such a competitive religious market