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\n <\/picture>This method enabled the detection and classification of temples registered with the SRF in line with IBGE census categories: missionaries, including typically older churches, such as Baptist, Presbyterian, and Methodist; Pentecostals, whose doctrine includes elements that the Missionaries do not, such as belief in miracles, and include Assembleia de Deus (Assembly of God), Congrega\u00e7\u00e3o Crist\u00e3 do Brasil (Christian Congregation of Brazil), and Deus \u00e9 Amor (God is Love); and Neopentecostals, a group that emerged in Brazil at the end of the 1970s, focuses on the theology of prosperity and includes churches such as Universal do Reino de Deus (God\u2019s Kingdom Universal), Sara Nossa Terra (Sara Our Earth), and Renascer em Cristo (Rebirth in Christ). Other churches are listed as \u201cclassification not determined.\u201d<\/p>\n
The results were published in the technical note \u201cEmergence, trajectory, and expansion of evangelical churches in Brazil over the last century (1920\u20132019),\u201d which was recently published by the University of S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s Center for Metropolitan Studies (CEM-USP), with which Ara\u00fajo is associated in Brazil. The CEM is one of the Research, Innovation, and Dissemination Centers (RIDC) that are funded by FAPESP. \u201cThe survey provides researchers in this field with an additional datum because the IBGE Demographic Census says nothing about the creation of places of worship,\u201d says sociologist Ricardo Mariano of USP\u2019s School of Philosophy, Languages and Literature, and Human Sciences (FFLCH-USP).<\/p>\n
Using this digital resource, the researcher mapped out Brazil\u2019s religious transition background between 1920 and 2019. Ara\u00fajo notes that the legislation on churches has been amended several times, but the oldest record still active at the Federal Revenue Service is from 1922 and involves a Baptist church in Nova Igua\u00e7u (Rio de Janeiro State). As expounded in the technical note, this does not mean that this was the first evangelical church inaugurated in Brazil. For example, historical records indicate the existence of a congregation of the Assembleia de Deus founded in 1911 in Bel\u00e9m (Par\u00e1 State).<\/p>\n
Following article 44 of the Civil Code, religious organizations in Brazil have had to hold a National Legal Entities\u2019 (Corporate) Registration (CNPJ) since 2002, and this requirement is also provided for in Law no. 10.825\/2003. \u201cThe legislation states that churches are private legal entities. Therefore, they must be registered with the Federal Revenue, and, in turn, the CNPJ, to enable them to open bank accounts and hire employees, for example,\u201d says Armando Rovai, chair of the Special Business Advocacy Commission of the Brazilian Bar Council, S\u00e3o Paulo branch (OAB-SP). Created in 1998, the CNPJ system was preceded by the General Taxpayers\u2019 Register (CGC), which was instituted in 1964.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/rpf-igrejas-evangelicas-templo-2023-08-site-600.jpg\")
L\u00e9o Ramos Chaves\/Revista Pesquisa FAPESP<\/span>A small congregation in Rio de Janeiro; many do not register with the Federal RevenueL\u00e9o Ramos Chaves\/Revista Pesquisa FAPESP<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n Ara\u00fajo sees this religious transition as \u201cone of the most important demographic phenomena in modern Brazil.\u201d The process gained pace mainly from the 1960s, with the urbanization and industrialization of the country. \u201cWhen people migrated to the new city limits, there were not yet Catholic parishes in place. The evangelicals were first to arrive in these locations because they could open their places of worship without having to apply to the Vatican, as the Catholics were obligated to do,\u201d recalls the researcher, who authored the book A religi\u00e3o distrai os pobres? O voto econ<\/em>\u00f4<\/em>mico de joelhos para a moral e os bons costumes<\/em> (Does religion distract the poor? The economic vote kneeling before morals and good habits) (Edi\u00e7\u00f5es 70, 2022).<\/p>\n To date, the most urbanized regions are the most sizeable bastions of Brazilian evangelism. Among the Brazilian states, Esp\u00edrito Santo and Rio de Janeiro have the highest number of evangelical churches\u2014more than 80 per 100,000 inhabitants across both states. In other words, these locations have an evangelical church for every 1,250 residents, as revealed in the survey. Northeastern Brazil remains widely Catholic, although evangelicals predominate in state-capital metropolitan regions.<\/p>\n The anthropologist Ronaldo de Almeida, who is the coordinator of the Laboratory of Religious Anthropology at the University of Campinas (LAR-UNICAMP), says that Ara\u00fajo\u2019s plotting of these temples corroborates aspects that religious studies have been attempting to demonstrate in recent years. One of these aspects is the accelerated growth of evangelism in the 1980s, when the Census began indicating the presence of this group in the country more accurately.<\/p>\n Another aspect is the territorial expansion of these churches that was revealed in the 2000 Census. \u201cYou can see the growth of evangelical churches in areas of recent immigration,\u201d adds Almeida, also a researcher at the Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning (CEBRAP). They continue, \u201cThe North and Midwest regions, frontiers of agricultural expansion in recent decades, received many farmers from the South, where the protestant presence is historically strong.\u201d<\/p>\n L\u00e9o Ramos Chaves\/Revista Pesquisa FAPESP<\/span>The Universal Church\u2019s Temple of Solomon, in the S\u00e3o Paulo neighborhood of Br\u00e1sL\u00e9o Ramos Chaves\/Revista Pesquisa FAPESP<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n The first churches that were set up, along with the migrants, were missionary in character, but in the last decade, Pentecostal and Neopentecostal churches have advanced more quickly, as exemplified by the northern state of Rond\u00f4nia. According to the map\u2019s ranking of states with the highest numbers of evangelical churches, Rond\u00f4nia occupied third-to-last place in 1970 but began to feature among the top five in 2000. In 2019, Rond\u00f4nia was home to 60 temples per 100,000 inhabitants and was one of the Brazilian states closest to completing the religious transition alongside Rio de Janeiro, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Esp\u00edrito Santo.<\/p>\n However, counting places of worship does not accurately demonstrate the numbers of these faithful in Brazil. After all, a chapel and a cathedral each have their own CNPJ registration, but their attendance capacities are incalculably different. Almeida notes, \u201cAs with all studies, there are limitations. It\u2019s difficult to fathom the Brazilian evangelical expansion in the last century, but registration of temples is another variable that contributes to an insight into what has happened in Brazil over the course of this period\u201d.<\/p>\n Furthermore, many churches operate clandestinely, with no CNPJ: a religious leader may, for example, hold services in the living room or garage of his or her house. As Mariano observes, \u201cA lot of small congregations don\u2019t feel obligated to formalize. Underreporting is considerable\u201d. The survey does not include churches that opened during the period analyzed but, for some reason, were no longer active in 2019. Additionally, individuals can register church CNPJs for nonreligious purposes, but these are not identifiable in the SRF data, as Ara\u00fajo warns.<\/p>\n Even so, the data corresponding to the Census years, such as 2000 and 2010, are aligned with the numbers published by the IBGE. Ara\u00fajo notes, \u201cFor non-census years when comparison is not possible, it\u2019s likely that the classification will be close to what it would be if the data were collected every year\u201d.<\/p>\n For this political scientist, making the tool he developed available to other researchers is one of the aims of his study. He concludes, \u201cAnyone with an intermediate knowledge of programming and a computer with standard processing capacity could replicate the procedures\u201d. He plans to update the study as new data become available on the Federal Revenue Service website and to compare the results with the numbers to be published after the 2022 Census.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/rpf-igrejas-evangelicas-templo-2023-08-site-1140.jpg\")