Protestantism in Brazil began in the 19th century and grew in the 20th century. The 2010 census reported that 22.2% of the Brazilian population was Protestant, while in 2020 the percentage was estimated to have risen to 31% of the population,[1] over 65 million individuals, making it the second largest Protestant population in the Western world. Another 2020 study from the Association of Religion Data Archives estimated that Brazil's Protestant population was 15.12%.[2]
Since 2010, the number of Catholics in Brazil has dropped by an average of 1.2% per year; conversely, the number of Evangelicals has grown by 0.8% per year.[3]
Protestantism was first practiced in Brazil by Huguenot travelers attempting to colonize the country while it was under the Portuguese colonial rule. These attempts, however, would not persist.
A French mission sent by John Calvin was established in 1557 on one of the islands of Guanabara Bay, where the France Antarctique colony was founded. On March 10 of the same year, these Calvinists held the first Protestant service in Brazil and, according to some accounts, the first in all the New World.[4]
Varieties of Protestantism were often introduced by immigrants from Europe but over the last three decades, the number of Neo-Pentecostal churches such as the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God has grown significantly.
1820s to 1945
In the 19th century, while the vast majority of Brazilians were nominal Catholics, the nation was underserved by priests, and for large numbers of people religion did not play an important role in daily life.[5] Protestantism in Brazil largely originated with European immigrants as well as British American missionaries following up on efforts that began in the 1820s.
The first Anglicanchapel began to offer services to English-speaking people in Rio de Janeiro in 1822. In the same city, the Prussian consul sponsored the founding of a German and French Reformed congregation in 1827, which today is a Lutheran church.
Among missionaries, Methodists were most active, along with Presbyterians and Baptists. The Seventh-day Adventists began in 1894, and the YMCA was organized in 1896. The missionaries promoted schools, colleges and seminaries, including the liberal arts Mackenzie Presbyterian University in São Paulo, and an agricultural school. The Presbyterian schools in particular later became the nucleus of the governmental system. In 1887 Protestants in Rio de Janeiro formed a hospital.
The missionaries largely reached a working-class audience, as the Brazilian upper class was wedded either to Catholicism or to secularism. By 1914, Protestant churches founded by U.S. missionaries had 47,000 communicants, served by 282 missionaries. In general, these missionaries were more successful than they had been in Mexico, Argentina or elsewhere in Latin America.[6]
The first Seventh Day Baptists soon appeared in Brazil. They expanded in territory and Brazil became home to one of the world's highest Seventh Day Baptist populations.[7]
The Catholic Church was disestablished in 1890, and responded by increasing the number of dioceses and the efficiency of its clergy. Many Protestants came from a large German immigrant community and they were mostly Lutheran, but they were seldom engaged in proselytizing and grew by natural increase. Most Protestants came from missionary activities sponsored by the United States and Europe. By 1930, there were 700,000 Protestants, and increasingly they were in charge of their own affairs.
In 1930, the Methodist Church of Brazil became independent of the missionary societies and elected its own bishop. Protestants were largely working-class, but their networks helped accelerate their upward social mobility.[8][9]
Since 1945
Protestantism, which has resisted syncretism more than other Christian churches have in the diverse country,[10] established a significant presence in Brazil during the first half of the 20th century and grew during the second half. Protestants accounted for fewer than 5% of the population until the 1960s, but by 2000 made up over 15% of those affiliated with a church. Pentecostals and Charismatic groups account for most of this expansion.
With their emphasis on personal salvation and moral codes as well as a less ideological approach to politics, these groups have developed a broad appeal, particularly among the booming urban migrant communities. The political consequences of this shift are still poorly understood, as the fragmentation of the Protestant community after the late 1970s has weakened it as a vehicle for direct political action.
After centuries of persecution under Portuguese colonial rule, which was successful in consolidating Catholicism in the country, Protestant denominations have seen a rapid growth in their number of followers since the last decades of the 20th century.[11]
At the time of the 2000 census, 15.4% of the Brazilian population was Protestant. Recent research conducted by the Datafolha institute shows that 31% of Brazilians are Protestants.[12] The 2010 census found that 22.2% were Protestant,[13] while a 2020 survey from ARDA estimated a 15.12% Protestant population.[2]
Until the late 1970s, the majority of Brazilian Protestants were Lutherans, Presbyterians, or Baptists; however, the Pentecostals, especially from neo-charismatic churches linked to the prosperity doctrine, have grown significantly in number since then.
There is also a Seventh-day Adventist educational system with over 475 elementary schools, 67 secondary schools, two colleges and a university.[14][15] The rich and the poor remained traditional Catholics, while most Evangelical Protestants were in the new lower-middle class, known as the "C class" (in a A–E classification system). A 2015 survey in Brazil found that the majority of prisoners may be Evangelicals.[16]
Evangelical Protestantism has, since its introduction to Latin America by American missionaries,[17][18] been deeply involved in Brazilian and international politics;[19][20] their influence has even been implicated in the attempted 2022 Brazilian coup.[21] In the Brazilian National Congress, there is the Evangelical Caucus, a loosely organized group of Protestant, Evangelical, and Pentecostal lawmakers in the Brazilian government and legislature. If considered a political party, the Evangelical Caucus would be the third largest in the Brazilian government, surpassed only by the Brazilian Democratic Movement and the Workers' Party.[22]
According to 2010 IBGE census, the following were the biggest Protestant denominations in Brazil.[25] Only those with more than half a million members are listed.
^Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity: volume V: The great century in the Americas, Austral-Asia, and Africa: A.D. 1800-A.D. 1914 (1943) 5:120-3
^Sanford, Don A. (1992). A Choosing People: The History of Seventh Day Baptists. Nashville: Broadman Press. pp. 127–286. ISBN0-8054-6055-1.
^Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity: Volume VII: Advance through Storm: A.D. 1914 and after, with concluding generalizations (1945) 7:181-2
^Erasmo Braga and Kenneth G. Trubb, The Republic of Brazil: A survey of the religious situation (1932)
Birman, Patrícia, and Márcia Pereira Leite. "Whatever Happened to What Used to Be the Largest Catholic Country in the World?," Daedalus (2000) 129#2 pp. 271–290 in JSTOR
Burdick, John. " Why is the Black Evangelical Movement Growing in Brazil?" Journal of Latin American Studies (2005) 37#2 pp 311–332.
Chesnut, R. Andrew. "The Salvation Army or the Army's Salvation?: Pentecostal Politics in Amazonian Brazil, 1962-1992," Luso-Brazilian Review (1999) 36#2 pp 33–49
Chesnut, R. Andrew. Born Again in Brazil: The Pentecostal Boom and the Pathogens of Poverty (1997) excerpt and text search
Corten, Andre. Pentecostalism in Brazil: Emotion of the Poor and Theological Romanticism (1999) excerpt and text search
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