In Depth:  Brazil

Luke Randall

Over a quarter of Brazil’s population identify as evangelical Christians, amounting to around 56 million people, while the number of Roman Catholics continues to gradually shrink, according to new research.

A census, carried out in 2022 by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), revealed that more than 80% of the nation’s 210 million population identifies as Christian (when Roman Catholics are included), although an increase in non-religious affiliation was also seen alongside encouraging statistics for evangelicals.

letter from Brazil

The new Brazilian government is moving towards increased support for abortion.

The trend became apparent when the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, represented by the Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, withdrew Brazil from the so-called Geneva Consensus, a bloc of 32 nations that defend life from conception and the family in the conservative and traditional model, and other measures that seek to protect women’s health.

In January 2022, Christianity Explored Ministries launched its latest evangelistic resource, Hope Explored – a three-session course on the hope, peace and purpose found in Luke’s Gospel and the Christian faith.

During the spring and summer, over 500 churches in the UK implemented the materials as part of their evangelism. More recently, it’s had an increasingly international impact.

letter from Brazil

A deeply divided Brazil is going to the polls to choose its future president – hopefully putting an end to a combative campaign between two candidates: Jair Messias Bolsonaro (67) and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (76).

Lula entered the first round as the favourite, with opinion polls indicating a dominant lead in the first round. But the strength of Bolsonaro’s support and the close result dashed expectations of a quick resolution to the deep polarisation in the world’s fourth-largest democracy. The run-off between them takes place on Sunday October 30.

letter from Brazil

There is no doubt that the evangelical vote played an important role in Bolsonaro’s victory for the presidency of Brazil in the last election.

His campaign assumed, both in speech and in practical acts, a preference for this segment. Understanding the role that evangelical churches play in the lives of the faithful is crucial to understanding the growing power that the movement has in the country today.

letter from Brazil

Since the 1970s, a religious shift has taken place in Latin America. As a proportion of the population, Catholics have declined greatly and evangelicals have increased rapidly. These developments are causally linked.

In the course of this demographic transformation, the Catholic Church lost its privileged position in society and its privileged access to politics. It was replaced by a large number of diverse and autonomous evangelical churches, especially Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal ones.