Faith Under Pressure

Hier mijn eerste echte feature voor de Buenos Aires Herald, die morgen verschijnt. Het gaat over de oprukkende pinkstergemeentes die zieltjes kapen bij de katholieke kerk. Een stuk van dezelfde strekking heb ik voor De Pers gemaakt.

Voor het verhaal heb ik een afdeling van de Universele Kerk van het Koninkrijk Gods bezocht. Dat is een vrij enge club waar 15 uitsmijters de ingangen bewaken en gelovigen te horen krijgen dat ze vooral "al het materiële moeten opofferen aan het altaar van God," m.a.w., je geld of je bent een ketter. Op zich geen originele boodschap, maar de aanpak is wat aggressiever dan we uit andere hoeken gewend waren. De foto is wat onscherp, maar ik wilde vooral niet opvallen. Dat is niet gelukt.


In Latin America, growing Pentecostalism threatens the Catholic church's hegemony, but if Pope Benedict XVI wants to retain his flock he may well have to take some lessons from his rivals.

By Paul Scheltus

At 4070 Corrientes Avenue a man with an impeccable white shirt and a red tie paces up and down on the stage. His fist is clenched as he switches between mutterings and yells. The audience, is swaying to and fro, listening in awe and anticipating his every word. "We must sacrifice everything at the altar of the Lord," he booms, his words marred by a thick Brazilian accent, "there is no other way."

There are many good shows on Corrientes, but this isn't one of them. Although you might be forgiven for thinking it was. Just like the nearby theatres the building's façade is bathed in light, while enormous letters straddle the entire street front reading: "Jesus Christ is the Lord."

The building belongs to the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God; a Brazilian church started thirty years ago by a lottery salesman. It now claims six million faithful in Brazil alone, and yet it is just one of hundreds of churches across Latin America that make up the evangelical Pentecostal movement. They are sprouting everywhere as millions flock to hear preachers invoking the Holy Spirit, performing divine healing or heralding the end of days. Meanwhile, on a continent where Catholicism has been king for five hundred years, the number of those faithful to Rome is rapidly dwindling.

Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Brazil on Wednesday. Today he is addressing the Fifth Latin American Bishops Conference, a gathering of bishops from as far apart as Mexico and Chile. According to David Gutiérrez, spokesman for the bishop's gathering, one of the main themes of the 18-day episcopal meeting will be the loss of the faithful to the fast growing Pentecostal movement. "The growth of the sects is central to our conference," he told the Herald, "we still don't know what the Pope will say on the matter, but it's important something is done."

Expressed in numbers, the shift in the religious landscape is seismic. In Brazil, for instance, which harbours the world's largest Catholic population, almost 90 percent of the population defined itself as Roman Catholic in 1980. Now, that percentage is down to 74 percent. In the same period the number of Protestants has more than tripled. According to the World Christian Database Brazil recently surpassed the US as the country with the largest Pentecostal community, putting the figure at 24 million.

An explanation for soaring evangelical and plummeting Catholic numbers is best left to Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum for Religion and Public Life. His institute has carried out a survey on the rise of Pentecostalism in ten countries, including Brazil, Chile and Guatemala. "No question about it," he said over the phone from Washington, " most of these Pentecostals are former Catholics". According to the survey more than 70 percent of those joining the new churches were once loyal to Rome.

The reasons why so many choose these new churches over Rome are many. One reason, according to Lugo, "is the very deep and personal experience of god that these churches offer." The Pentecostal churches are known for their emotional services. Churchgoers say they often experience prophesizing, speaking in tongues and divine healing, not to mention exorcisms.

In the temple on Corrientes Avenue visitors close their eyes, hold their hands aloft and pray in loud voices as their body shakes. Meanwhile the Brazilian pastor rallies the faithful crying, "Please god, destroy the doubts within my soul. Give me the faith to be prosperous." Crew-cut boys, smart in shirt and tie, walk the aisles, checking on the visitors or throwing their own arms up towards the heavens.

After the service, two women wait for the train at Medrano subway station. "I was born Catholic, I went to a Catholic school and mine was a church wedding," says Monica Taylor (52), "but I wasn't happy. I carried a spiritual vacuum inside of me." She and a friend Mirian (50) have been attending this Pentecostal church in the Argentine capital for several years. "I was searching for a long time to fill my emptiness and tried all sorts of things," Monica continues, mentioning New Age and witchcraft among others. But it wasn't until she discovered the lit-up whitewashed building on Buenos Aires' theatre avenue, that she found somewhere that she felt at home.

"You can really feel the force of God," she says. For her, the upfront and spiritual approach of the Pentecostal ministry was decisive. "The thing is, you feel like you personally get to know the spirit of Jesus. I gained an inner peace"

Her friend Mirian tells a similar story. "I've been coming here for 4 years," she says, holding on tightly as the subway lurches forward. "I was depressed. The church lifted my spirits. I'm a happy person now." She owns her own beautician's business now, which she says is thanks to the strength she found in the Pentecostal church.

The enormous appeal of these churches is such that many mainstream churches have adopted some of the Pentecostal practices, for instance invoking the Holy Spirit to manifest or speaking in tongues. These so-called 'charismatic' churches include large numbers of Catholic, but also traditional Protestant communities, and are found across Latin America and the world. The key to their success, according to Luis Lugo, is a more personal and spiritual approach to mass religion, such as that used by the Pentecostal movement,

In its survey Pew Forum introduces the term renewalist as an umbrella for both Pentecostal and charismatic movements. When applying that definition, the number of people who have turned their backs on more traditional religious practices is astonishing. The Pew survey shows at least half of all Brazilians adhere to either Pentecostal or charismatic groups. In Chile, 30 percent of the population can be considered renewalist. But it's in Central American Guatemala where a real landslide has taken place. No less than three in every five people questioned define themselves as belonging to the renewalist movement.

If Pope Benedict XVI is looking to hang on to his Latin American faithful, then eyeing the results of the Pew Forum survey may point him in the right direction, says Luis Lugo. "We've found after adopting the charismatic practices, Catholic churches are retaining their congregation. People indicate they are less likely to leave churches that have renewalist practices," Lugo told the Herald. Not only that, according to him, "Charismatic Catholics, make better Catholics. They go to church more often and spend more time at community tasks."

The question is, will an 80-year old German who recently suggested reverting back to the Latin mass, see it that way. Today we should find out.