The option for the converted

SAO PAULO, Brasil, February 13, 2007

Neopentecostalism is a religion that has placed itself in the life of the most poor, Taxi Heathrow Airport not as an option for the excluded, as does the Catholic Church, but rather to convert them. As a result, one of those denominations, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD in Spanish), experienced an incredible growth of 681.5% in its membership, during the period 1991-2000. During that same period the other Evangelical Churches grew, together, 98.5%, and the Catholics increased 2.5%, well below the Brazilian population growth rate of 15.7%.

This analysis was made by Antonio Flavio Pierucci, sociologist and professor at the San Pablo University (USP in Spanish), in an interview in the O Estado de San Pablo newspaper, Saturday, February 11. According to Pierucci, the greatest growth rate is occurring in those churches that preach a theology of prosperity, as in the case of the IURD, and those that preach the miracle of healing, as does the God is Love Church, that grew 357.6% during 1991-2000. Brazil will, therefore, be a country with an increasingly Pentecostal face, and more conservative in matters of sexual morality.

The neopentecostal churches will introduce a great novelty into the Christian religious world: the positive valuing of money. “You give money to the church and the greater your generosity the greater will be your reward. That never existed before. It’s like an investment, where you invest in the church and wait for your return from God. That is an invention of the neopentecostals, a great gold mine,” the sociologist explained.

Seventeenth century Protestantism, reminded Pierucci, said that God would crown with success the believer who labored. Work was rewarded. Now neopentecostalism values money. Money can be transformed into a mansion to be the pastor’s house. Success “reinforces the idea that God does indeed reward those who pray, and that money is a positive thing,” Pierucci indicated.

The other difference the USP professor pointed out in the interview, is that the neopentecostal believer becomes demanding of God, charges God. “I gave to you all that I had in the bank, and you are faithful, you will not abandon me, you will grant what I am asking.” It’s a way of charging by praying, very different from traditional prayers that ask with humbleness,” compared Pierucci.

According to the sociologist, the theology of prosperity is American but it has been processed in Brazil, where churches launched it by its being preached in large physical spaces, occupying publicity media and constructing a church enterprise. Thus, the neopentecostal churches are capitalist denominations.

In Pierucci’s appraisal, neopentecostalism does not respect either traditions or culture, is irreverent with minor religions such as the Afro-Brazilian, and “behaves as if it were engaged in warfare, fighting over believers. That explains its rapid growth, especially in the peripheral areas of the big cities and in the regions where Catholicism did not advance.”