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Religions and Cultures: Religious Dynamics in Latin America

Reginaldo Prandi
Social Compass 2008; 55; 264
DOI: 10.1177/0037768608093689

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 social
compass
55(3), 2008, 264274

Reginaldo PRANDI
Religions and Cultures: Religious
Dynamics in Latin America

The author seeks to analyse the relationships between religion and culture
in Latin America, especially in Brazil, highlighting the fact that the different
religions enjoy diverse relationships with culture in a single location. He also
addresses the fact that religions interpret culture in different ways and these
interpretations help define their conversion strategies and how best to confront
opposing religions. For the sake of discussion, the author considers, hypotheti-
cally, a not-so-distant future in which Latin America becomes predominantly
evangelical, and asks what will happen to Latin Americas supposed Catholic
culture if the evangelical religions do indeed take over.

Key words: African Brazilian religions Catholicism conversion evangelical

religions Latin America religions and culture

Lauteur cherche analyser les relations entre culture et religion en Amrique

latine, particulirement au Brsil, en soulignant le fait que les diffrentes reli-
gions jouissent de relations diverses avec la culture, et ce en un lieu unique.
Il revient aussi sur le fait que les religions interprtent la culture de diffrentes
faons et que ces interprtations aident dfinir leurs stratgies de conversion
et la meilleure manire de pouvoir confronter des religions qui sopposent.
Pour les besoins de la discussion, lauteur considre, hypothtiquement, un
futur qui nest pas si lointain et au cours duquel lAmrique latine deviend-
rait principalement vanglique, et pose la question de savoir ce quil advien-
drait de la culture suppose catholique de lAmrique latine si les religions
vangliques prenaient en effet le pas sur le catholicisme.

Mots-cls: Amrique latine catholicisme conversion religions afro-brsiliennes

religions et culture religions vangliques

The relations between religions and cultures bring to mind a variety of issues
and approaches. It is my intention in this article to point out recent trends in
religion, and show that each religion has its own distinct relationship with
culture, and that the nature of these varying relationships has a direct bearing on
the dynamic of todays religions in terms of their growth, stagnation or decline.1
Although the immediate reference is Brazil, it would seem that much of what
happens in that nation can also be observed in other Latin American countries,

DOI: 10.1177/0037768608093689
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 Prandi: Religions and Cultures: Religious Dynamics in Latin America 265

so the article goes on to reflect, in general terms, on the religious dynamic in

Latin America, and this provides a platform for formulating the main question
that informs the current work: if the current trend towards religious conversion
persists, could one not envisage that culturally Catholic Latin America, in a
not-so-distant future, might become culturally evangelical?

Sociologists perceive that religion, especially the kind that can be classified as
internalized (Camargo, 1971; Pierucci and Prandi, 1996), provides worldview,
changes peoples habits, internalizes values, and generally provides guidelines
for behaviour. Anthropologists teach us that culture consists of a process by
which humans organize and give meaning to their actions through symbolic
manipulations which are the basic attributes of all human endeavour, in the
words of Eunice Durham (2004: 231). It is standard practice to assert that reli-
gion not only constitutes culture but also provides culture with normative and
axiological components. And culture, on the other hand, interferes with religion,
reinforcing it or forcing it to change and adapt. Even though such definitions
can be questioned in light of a contemporary conceptual crisis, religion and
culture still refer to one another, especially when it comes to notions of nation,
country and region.
It is widely stated that Latin American culture is Catholic, although such a
statement must take into consideration the internal variations caused by historic
factors that are unique to each different country and region. An example of
such variations can be seen in the African Catholic syncretism that takes place
in some regions, including, primarily, in Brazil. In these countries, religions
with African roots occupy a relevant space, even more than belief systems
grounded in indigenous influences; in countries which have a smaller, or even
non-existent African influence in their Catholic structures, one can normally see
a larger indigenous influence than is seen in Brazil. Overall, we also know that
culture changes, and the formation of a global culture shapes local trends.
Nowadays, with the advance of the evangelical churches and the decline of
Catholicism, the debate about religion and culture has raised important ques-
tions, such as the one we have already motioned: might a Latin America that
is mostly evangelicalif indeed such a change were to take placebecome
culturally evangelical? Would this lead to an obliteration of African Brazil-
ian influences, an obliteration which is espoused by todays evangelicals?
These questions belong to a game of fortune-telling, and yet they call for
reflection. After all, culture and religion are intertwined, to the point of merg-
ingas has happened in the past and continues to happenin a variety of situ-
ations and societies. And they can also, at least conceptually, lead to different
definitions.
The tendency to draw up multiple approaches to the interpretation of religion
and culture is not unique to social scientists, who concern themselves with
theories and with producing meanings behind social reality. There are also pro-
found differences in the way that religionsand their thinkersperceive culture
and define themselves as institutions, producing specific placement strategies

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266 Social Compass 55(3)

which allow them to conquer space in the modern-day religious marketplace,

with advertising, persuasion techniques, consumer profiling and ever more
efficient ways of reaching the consumer (Pierucci and Prandi, 1996).
Traditional religions, with their vegetative growth, try to retain their fol-
lowers and dissuade them from changing religion. Religions that grow through
conversion, on the other hand, must attract new followers. One way in which
religions can define themselves is to consider that followers are in the world,
in a society, in a territory and in a culture that they must know in order to
defend or conquer. There is no historical novelty in this. Taking care not to
make a lopsided comparison, we can imagine that in another place and time,
conquistadores used their knowledge of a specific cultureand went as far
as creating a new science to aid them in this task: anthropologyto conquer
and rule. In the later stages of colonialism, countries that developed a science
of culture were better able to control their subjects and did not have to destroy
the pre-established culture. Countries that were unable to develop such a skill
tended forcefully to impose their culture over that of their new subjects. When
it came to the destruction of native cultures by the invader, religion was used as
the spearhead for domination, because at that moment in time it was the only
thing that could espouse truth and provide grounding for the social and eco-
nomical ties that would become the staple currency of the conquered territories.
The new world was assigned a new god, the one true Godwhich was the
god that indigenous America would have to learn about.
Nowadays, fortunately, religion does not reach as far and is only capable of
conquering individuals one by one. It doesnt have the strength to bring nations
to their knees. Todays religions seek universal acceptance, and are indifferent to
the need for identification with this or that nation, except in a few specific cases:
first, in those countries which continue, contrary to modern western trends,
to hold on to specific ethnic religious identities which are termed cultural
religions; second, when the state professes a certain religion, as often happens
with Islamic governments; and third, when segregated immigrant communities
cluster together in cities or countries in which other religions, languages and
customs predominate. Indigenous groups fall into the latter group.
The present work is concerned with universal religions, and addresses
Catholic and evangelical groups. To start, it will take a closer look at general
ideas about culture in our time.

II

The climate of unrest of the 1960s radically called into question the inherent
notion that culture is unchangeable and homogenous. The illusion (more than
the reality) of fixed and cohesive cultures disintegrated, as did the idea of a
fixed identity at birth notes Adam Kuper (2002: 26372). Added to this is the
dissolution of previously established religious affiliation.
One nation one culture, one culture one nation is a thing of the past, and
precedes the fall of the colonial era. Nowadays, when someone talks about cul-
ture the first image that comes to mind is of global culture, without barriers
cultural globalization. This all-encompassing culture is characterized by the

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 Prandi: Religions and Cultures: Religious Dynamics in Latin America 267

coexistence of post-colonial diversity, with the participation of social relations

from a wide range of sources and orders.
Global culture allows us to envision various scenarios, if we consider the
active presence of individuals who, according to this or that criterion, think
and act in diverse ways, constructing and manipulating symbols from the same
source in sporadic ways. Its quite common to think of youth culture, business
culture, black culture, immigrant culture, common culture, gay culture, female
culture, senior citizen culture and so on. According to Ulf Hannerz, each of
these cultures can be found everywhere, because there are young people every-
where, women everywhere, and so on (Hannerz, 1996: 30).
Religion is also transformed from within. Evangelical culture, which is a
diversification of Protestantism, is made up of a myriad combination of Chur-
ches, both large and small. Catholicism can also be said not to be uniform, though
it is centered around one Church. Within Catholicism itself one finds movements
that formulate different relationships with individuals, groups and culture. There
was a time when Liberation Theology predominated, but it has been supplanted
by a Charismatic Renewal movement which focuses on the individualunlike
its predecessoras well as healing and the Holy Spirit, in true Pentecostal style
(Prandi, 1997). Most Catholics look down on these variations with contempt, or
indifference. The Vatican has its reservations too, but these movements dont in
the end affect Catholicism in general. They are fuelled by individuals who, each
in his own way, criticizes old-fashioned Catholicism.
Global culture is riddled with different religions. But whereas religious
differences used to be on a national level, nowadays they are on an individual
level. Global culture is defined by the existence of social relations between indi-
viduals from different nations and parts of the world that break away from their
local, isolated cultures. Religion, on these terms, limits, restricts and becomes a
private matter. If we take as an example global youth culture, we see that four
elements dominate: sex, drugs, rock-and-roll and the Internet. But there is also
an evangelical youth culture. Young people from this culture can contact people
from all over the world via the Internet, in chat rooms, or through personal
homepages such as Orkut, or through YouTube, can send and receive messages,
but the fact of being evangelical excludes them from the world of sex or drugs.
Their musical tastes may also be restricted to evangelical music, which is not of
the least interest to non-evangelical youngsters the world over. It is unlikely that
such a young people will participatebecause of the aesthetic and behavioural
limitations imposed on them by their churchesin groups outside the domain
of their church. In other words, they will not belong to the larger world youth
culture, even if they may wear jeans and sneakers and eat a Big Mac. Their reli-
gion, in this way, excludes them.
But even if they belonged to another religion they would probably continue
to be excluded, because all young people wish to exclude themselves. Christian
youth culture normally depicts itself as the negation of youth itself, with all its
rebellion, its daring and its lack of prudence. In such a culture, the exasperat-
ing religious fervour of the young person seems absurd, and there is something
subservient and naive about the youngsters complete trust in adult leadership.
Many of his or her attitudes reveal a sublimation of sex, if not castration itself.
Youngsters will not necessarily relate to such a peer.

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268 Social Compass 55(3)

Instead of serving as a social amalgam, religion is dissolving basic traditional

social structures, withering pre-established lineages and bonds, as defined by
Pierucci (2006). In terms of culture, this amounts to an important change not
only in terms of identity construction (which now means having to make a reli-
gious choice) but also in terms of loyalty. Traditional Brazilian culture faced a
crisis when the process of industrialization, led by foreign companies, did not
pledge allegiance to any nation, and sociologists asked themselves with whom
future relationships of loyalty would be established in order to safeguard the
ever-weakening family ties, as well as religious and work ties, in the new capi-
talist society. When that future finally arrived it showed us that religion (though
not traditional religion) would allow the individual to decide for him- or herself,
and this would be a new form of loyalty, which would give rise to a new culture
which would offer emotional support and social justifications, freeing the indi-
vidual from the old religion and the old social ties. Religion then becomes a
solvent in a culture that values the individual, values personal choices, and fixes
its anchor throughout the world without establishing a fixed address. In this new
scenario, can we continue to call Brazilian or Latin American culture Catholic?
Yes, because of its origins and the symbols it maintains; no, because of the
collapse of a model in which fidelity to Catholicism is a given.

III

If we are going to think about a culture we must first take into consideration
the group of people who are taking part in it, using it to orient their actions, and
manipulating and transforming its symbols. If, in the case of religion, its values
and norms are of greatest interest to us, we must acknowledge that they only
make sense in terms of the real behaviour of individuals, and they cannot be dis-
sociated from the actions they orient, which in turn constitute cultural standards,
which are both historical and concrete. One cannot lose sight of the fact that
there is a permanent and accelerated process of cultural redefinition in todays
society and individuals. Institutions and the marketplace itself are all aware of
this to varying degrees, and they not only want to make the most of this situa-
tion, but they also want to interfere in this process.
The opposite to this would be thinking of culture in terms of a container,
a common concept in the field of comparative education, which employs a model
that defines and differentiates culture in opposition to the other (Lambeck and
Boddy, 1997), like two characters having a conversation. This allows treating
it with a concrete objectivity that it doesnt in fact have, as if individuals lived
inside culture, and culture contained individuals, isolating them and setting
limits on human behaviour and human understanding (Hoffman, 1999). The
container can be transformed from the outside, affecting the individuals con-
tained in it. But culture isnt an isolated, sealed compartmentindeed, is less so
every day. There are of course various grades of culture, with varying degrees
of commonalities. More than ever, individuals who belong to a specific culture
are in permanent contact with others who have their own cultures, and they
become integrated with one another in a globalizing culture, without frontiers,
in which different sources and references cross over and substitute for each

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 Prandi: Religions and Cultures: Religious Dynamics in Latin America 269

other, transforming specific cultures into communicating vessels with endless

possibilities. But some people dont see things like that.
Catholic intellectuals and leaders continue to believe that Latin America is a
continent of Catholic culture and Latin Americans, consequently, are naturally
Catholic. Some say that Latin America is profoundly Catholic! The exponential
growth of Pentecostalism shows that this means very little. These thinkers also
believe that if their religion is losing followers, one needs to act on the culture
in order to bring them back to that old religion. To do this, a dialogue must be
established between the Church and culture, rather than with individuals. The
constant decline of Catholicism shows that this way of thinking is unfruitful.
This problem does not only affect the Catholic Church in Latin America. The
Vatican feels the same way about European countries: Europe is a Catholic con-
tinent, but the growth of other religions, brought in by immigrants, and the
natural tendency of Europeans to shy away from religion, are interpreted by
the Church as a crisis within European Catholic culture that can be remedied
through the Churchs own efforts at cultural restoration.
So, while the Catholic Church loses its flock, it prefers, in the words of
Flvio Pierucci, to refer to groups of people and their culture rather than to
individuals and their humanity and insists on trying to evangelize cultures
which can be reduced to a single theological word that has ethnological roots:
inculturization (Pierucci, 2005).
To inculturize is to insert into a culture something from the outside, or to
change the meaning of something that is already contained within it. Based on
Catequesis e inculturacin (1978) written by father Pedro Arrupe, Superior
General of Society of Jesus for two decades, Marcelo Azevedo writes that:
Inculturization designates the active process from within the culture itself that receives the
Catholic revelation, through evangelization, and then processes and interprets it on its own
terms, and through its own way of being and communicating. Inculturized evangelization
sows an evangelical seed into the source of a culture. This seed of faith develops at the pace
and in accordance with the peculiarities of the culture it has been sown into. (Azevedo,
2007)

And he concludes:
Therefore, inculturization always implies and connotes a relationship between faith and the
culture(s), realities that encompass the totality of life and the human being, on an individual
and community level. (ibid.)

Along the same lines, Catholic theologian Faustino Teixeira states that incul-
turization always implies a reinterpretation of creation, the shock of contact
with creation and that successful inculturization is heavily dependent on a
deep knowledge of the culture with which Christianity is establishing relations
(Teixeira, 2007). Evidently, this course of action in or with a specific culture
focuses on identifying the specific cultures, the national, regional, local vari-
ants, the group, class and social categories in order to invest the evangelizing act
with a grain of scientific truth borrowed from an archaic form of anthropology
that reifies the concept of culture and perceives it as the bearer of individuals.
Meanwhile, Pentecostal and Neopentecostal Protestantisms soldier on, con-
quering more and more followers in this Catholic Latin America, converting

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270 Social Compass 55(3)

them one by one, without ever concerning themselves with the evangelization
of the culture. Their strategy consists of bringing new followers into the Church,
converting them one by one, building more and more temples, because they
know that the chicken fills its stomach one kernel at a time. They take from the
culture a few elements to be used in their favoursymbols, references, images,
and blessings, as well as small sympathetic magical elements the conversion
candidate is already comfortable with.
The recent history of Pentecostalism in Brazil shows that its expansion
strategy begins with the individual, the small, the crumb, and grows slowly and
steadily, before finally revealing itself and claiming its place and demanding
recognition within a culture. The emblematic Universal Church of the Kingdom
of God (Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus) started off in abandoned ware-
houses, bankrupt cinemas and other derelict buildings. Eventually, the day
arrived when its founder announced that the time had come to build cathedrals.
And the cathedrals of this Churchsymbols of the Churchs process of insti-
tutionalization and its inclusion into Brazilian culturehave slowly crept into
the urban scenery of the largest Catholic country on the planet. Similarly, large
mosques have spread throughout Europes capital cities, including in Rome,
revealing the unquestionable presence of an Islam planted by immigrants who
for decades prayed in the shadows.
Antnio Flvio Pieruccis prescient words outline the noticeable difference
between Catholicism and the evangelical religions with regards to culture.
See for yourself if any one of the churches that specializes in purely individual conversion,
such as the evangelical churches, with a view to addressing the challenges of our time,
is going to waste any time with the re-evangelization of a culture! And yet these are the
churches that most grow in these Catholic nations that stretch out from north to south
in Catholic America, as they rapidly reach in protestant America the new Spanish or
Brazilian immigrants, who are indeed culturally Catholic but are available for a potential
evangelical conversionthis departure does not cease to multiply itself, undermining from
within and from under the culturally Catholic peoples that Pope John Paul IIs pastoral
discourse tirelessly contemplated, with large doses of vanity, while he looked out from his
murky Polish rearview mirror. (Pierucci, 2005)

Furthermore, if one looks back nostalgically, one can see that the Catholic
Church has turned its back on the cultural changes that take place with regard
to important parts of the population, if not the entire population. By doing this,
it loses touch with reality, and shows itself up as old-fashioned, intransigent,
and incapable of keeping abreast of modern times and serving as the compass
and voice of the times (an image which was exactly what the Second Vatican
Council tried to avoid). Culturally active and up-to-date segments of society
see the Catholic Church as an enemy, as being against all the things that they
consider the decisive factors of the socio-cultural change that they have already
attained and are yet to attain, free of religious mediation.
Catholic ways of thinking become in the end self-exclusive, as they fail to
keep abreast of the cultural changes made by the Catholic flock itself. Contem-
porary culture is in constant transformation, is increasingly secularized, and
offers multiple meanings for a world that seeks new answers and new solutions,
and creates previously unimagined needs, every day. Catholic ways of think-
ing attribute Catholic losses (such as followers, prestige and influence) to the

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 Prandi: Religions and Cultures: Religious Dynamics in Latin America 271

growing wear and tear of a new culture that undermines faith, corrodes Christian
values and replaces traditional religious orientation by scientific, philosophical
and political secular orientations available to everyone. The Catholic Church
must intervene in the new culture and restore the original culture, the culture of
the roots, of the formation of our society.
Nowadays, on the one hand, the Catholic Church, under the retrograde
command of Pope Benedict XVI, seeks to reestablish a doctrinaire and ritual
unity made relevant and culturally differentiated by the reforms of the Second
Vatican Council in terms of wanting to bring the Church closer to the worlds
transformations. The evangelical Churches, on the other hand, continue their
obsessive quest to multiply, diversify and invent new approachesto sacred
things and to convertsand dedicate themselves to developing new conversion
and persuasion techniques. They proclaim themselves to be the new path, they
change peoples concepts of money and of material goods, they try to solve
all sorts of personal problems, and create a supply of religious (and magical)
services previously unimagined over the course of Protestantism in its road to
disenchantment. In the end, they modify the relationship between God and man.
And they fill their Churches with new followers. But they want more. They also
want visibility, social recognition, and they want to be accepted as legitimate
members of contemporary culture.

IV

It would be impossible to list the large number of Catholic symbols and ele-
ments that are represented in Latin American culture in its different manifes-
tations. Proud Brazilians recently voted en masse to include the Christ the
Redeemer (Cristo Redentor) statue in Rio de Janeiro on the new list of the seven
wonders of the world, and their voice was heard. Were they fervent Catholics,
these Brazilians fighting for Christ the Redeemer to make it onto the list? They
were most probably ordinary Brazilians, lacking a specific religious affilia-
tion, who voted for a scenic monument, a tourist attraction that is as secular as
Copacabana beach or the Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio. The same statue appeared
in the electoral campaigns created by the government and the private sector
in exactly the same context. One can say the same thing about the countrys
colonial baroque churches and the modernist cathedral in Brasilia, and about
so many other buildings and elements of Brazils material heritage erected by
Catholics; the countrys immaterial heritage is also replete with festivals and
annual events, originally religious, that have been secularized by society. All
these things are Catholic and yet at the same time they are not. They are cultur-
ally Catholic, but not religiously so.
In Brazils case, and in the case of some other Latin American countries, one
cannot discuss culture without taking into consideration the presence of African
elements. In Brazil, some aspects of African influence go further back, such as
language, and can be traced back to slavery. Others are more recent and emanate
from the African Brazilian religions, which date to the first half of the 19th
century. African Brazilian religious influence is felt in popular music, in litera-
ture, poetry and theatre, cinema and television, in the arts, cooking, carnival and

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272 Social Compass 55(3)

dance; it is felt in the magical practices offered as services to consumers who

arent necessarily religious, in the values and concepts that pour out of tem-
ples into popular culture, and in its endless repertoire of gestures and aesthetic
standards. It is also felt in the different approaches to life.
The presence of this religion in our culture is so prominent that African
Brazilian religions are perceived as culture and are treated as such by the
Brazilian state. The very same state that guarantees collective rights rooted in
culture, in ethnic origin, such as the right to land of the quilombolas (descendants
of slaves who fled and settled in communities called quilombos) and of the
Indians. The Ministry of Culture maintains the Palmares Cultural Foundation
(Fundao Cultural Palmares), the sole aim of which is to secure the pres-
ervation of African Brazilian cultural, social and economic values that have
helped shape Brazilian society. A public organ of a secular state, the Palmares
Cultural Foundation doesnt hesitate to give special attention to the Candombl
temples and temples of other African Brazilian religions, securing resources for
their maintenance and restoration, and offering institutional protection. Priests
from this religion seek the Foundations help for a wide variety of problems.
The Foundation helps them, as much as it can, but it would be very unlikely to
provide such help to black evangelical priests.
As far back as the early 1960s, these religions ceased to be ethnic and
became universal religions, open to members of all walks of life and of all
colours. Nowadays, these religions are about individual adherence, and have
expanded far from the black communities where they originated. They are
spreading throughout Brazil and into other countries such as Uruguay and
Argentina, as well as into Europe.
Candombl maintains very dense cultural facets, even while it emphasizes
its universality over its African roots. This contradiction might well make it
hard for many to adhere to it, and may limit its growth. In spite of its cultural
importance, Candombl and its like constitute a minute religious segment
which is barely growing. Umbanda, on the other hand, is shrinking rapidly due
to the onslaught of the Pentecostal and Neopentecostal Churches, demonizing
its spiritual entities and deities, stealing many of its followers and converting
them (Prandi, 2005).
Whether black, white, brown or yellow, Candombl is now seen as a kind
of ethnic reservation and is treated like an active traditional source of Brazilian
culture in the educational context. Because of Federal Law 10 639, passed on
9 January 2003which establishes that African Brazilian culture and history
be taught at all elementary and high-schools, both public and privatethe
mythology of the African deities known as orixs (orishas) is taught in these
schools much as the myths of Greco-Roman gods are taught.
And where is the protestant influence? Brazilian culture, which is satu-
rated with Catholicism and African Brazilian religiosity, lacks an evangelical
contribution. Whereas Candombl has become culturelike samba, carnival,
feijoada, acaraj, offerings made on street corners, and fortune-telling with
cowry shellsthe sizeable evangelical denominations have been incapable
of producing a single important cultural contribution, as outlined by Gedeon
Alencar in his observations about the evangelical non-contribution to Brazilian
culture (Alencar, 2005). Even gospel music, the evangelical contribution that

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 Prandi: Religions and Cultures: Religious Dynamics in Latin America 273

most resembles an aesthetic good, is enjoyed only by converts, and is unable to

find a place on the national art scene: an art scene which Brazilian protestants
view with trepidation and caution.
The fact is that evangelical religions are far removed from Catholicism and
African Brazilian religions in that they seem utterly incapable of feeding into
Brazils non-religious culture. Most of all they lack social legitimacy, which
although diffuse, is omnipresent, conferred by intellectual segments of society,
by artists and opinion-makers who arbitrate and define aesthetic guidelines and
postulate what cultural goods and services are consumed.

Culture changes. Religion changes. A religion that doesnt remain abreast of

cultural changes in the modern western world gets left behind. It may still
have enough content to affect culture and society, especially when it comes to
establishing norms for an individuals intimacybecause it is a religionbut
its success depends on its capacity to show the potential convert what it can do
for him or her. Most importantly, religion provides the convert with the sym-
bolic means of making sense of life, and of making life easier to live, without
having to abandon the good things the world has to offer.
Let us assume, for arguments sake, that the growth of the evangelical
Churches will lead them to accumulate more followers than the Catholic
Church. In this scenario, evangelical religions become the major religion, and
Catholicism the minor one. If that were to happen, would Brazilian culture
become evangelical? It seems unlikely. Evangelicalism would be nothing more
than the religion of individuals who have been converted one by one, and not
a religion capable of founding a nation and providing the building blocks of
its culture. The historic processes of this religious replacement would be very
different from the processes that forged Catholic culture in Latin America. In
this hypothetical future, the possibility of which is not really under discussion,
the circumstances that would allow for Protestantism to replace Catholicism
would require, first of all, a secularization of the Statewhich has already
taken placefollowed by the secularization of culture, which is currently
under way. It is through secularization that individuals become free to choose
a religion other than the one they were born into. And so, when both the state
and culture have become secularized, it wont matter how full the churches, the
temples, and the African Brazilian places of worship are, because culture will
already have set itself free from religion. Such a culture wouldnt have to sub-
stitute one religion for another. At most, it would have to learn to live alongside
several religions instead of only one.

NOTE
1.
This text reproduces, with minor changes, my inaugural address at the XIV Jornadas
Sobre Alternativas Religiosas na Amrica Latina, Buenos Aires, 25 to 28 September,
2007. My special thanks go to Mara Julia Carozzi and Alejandro Frigerio and other

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274 Social Compass 55(3)

members of the organizing committee for the distinctive honour of opening Jornadas in
2007. I would also like to thank Antnio Flvio Pierucci for critiques and suggestions
on this text.

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Pierucci, Antnio Flvio and Prandi, Reginaldo (1996) A realidade social das religies
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Prandi, Reginaldo (1997) Um sopro do Esprito. So Paulo: Edusp.
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Reginaldo PRANDI, sociologist, is a professor in the Department of

Sociology at the University of So Paulo, USP, Brazil, and author
of various books specializing in the sociology of religion and African
Brazilian mythology, such as Mitologia dos orixs (2000), Encantaria
brasileira (2001), Segredos guardados (2005). He has also written chil-
drens books, including Os prncipes do destino (2001), lf, o Adivinho
(2002), Xang, o Trovo (2003), Minha querida assombrao (2003),
Oxumar, o Arco-ris (2004), Contos e lendas afro-brasileiros: a criao
do mundo (2007). He wrote his first novel in 2006, Morte nos bzios.
ADDRESS: Rua Cel. Gomes Pimentel, 77, 04111040 Sao PauloSP,
Brazil. [email: rprandi@usp.br]

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