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Religious Diversity in Brazil

Numbers and Perspectives in a Sociological Evaluation

University of São Paulo

Reginaldo Prandi

University of São Paulo

Brazil, a country with a Catholic majority, has undergone an intense process of religious conversion. Today, three-quarters of the adult population are Catholic, while the remaining quarter is made up of followers of Evangelical churches, Afro-Brazilian religions, oriental religions and other denominations. Evangelical churches are comprised of, among others, Pentecostal churches brought in from other countries, and those recently created in Brazil, called Neo-Pentecostal churches. This article seeks to establish the dimension of different religious groups in terms of number of followers, and to provide a sociological profile of these different religious alternatives, suggesting interpretations that allow for an understanding of the dynamic of the Brazilian religious scene.

Key Words: conversion in Brazil • religions in Brazil • religious differentiation • religious pluralism • religious statistical data

International Sociology, Vol. 15, No. 4, 629-639 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/0268580900015004004


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