Is God Brazilian?
Regardless of the situation, Brazilians are more predisposed to believe that God will bring the necessary relief for them.
Brazilians take their Faith very seriously, maybe because Brazil has received religious influences everywhere, and much of this influence is still there. Blacks took Afro religions to the Country, such as Umbanda and Candomblé. From the Portuguese came Catholicism, from France, the Spiritism, and the same happened with other beliefs that came to build religiosity in Brazil. While there are conflicts between religious groups worldwide, Brazil accommodates different views in an almost peaceful environment, despite the terrible prejudice against Afro religions. We grow up in Brazil, learning to be faithful.
This plurality of religions has been suffering attacks since the Country’s discovery when Catholic catechists’ arrival ignored the Faith of those indigenous and forced them to follow Catholicism. Centuries later, they did the same with blacks brought from Africa to be slaves for 400 years, defaming African religions that suffer prejudice from followers of other faiths still today.
Historical facts almost gave Brazilians no choice but to have Faith.
Brazil is a contradictory country that shows it through religions too. Simultaneously, Brazilians feel free to bring into their religious experience ideas from different beliefs than those they chose. It is relatively easy to find Catholics who believe in traditional spiritual healers, practitioners of Candomblé who evoke spirits in dance rituals and at the same time have the habit of saying the Our Father’s prayer, by Catholics.
Also, because of this religious freedom scenario, in my view, most Brazilians put Faith above religions. Faith, this power to believe, makes the Brazilian people believe that the Country’s great future is yet to come.
Since the Country’s discovery in 1500 AD, the population has been chronically suffering from corruption, street violence, racism, and social and racial inequality. Even with so many painful situations, Brazilians continue to believe that things will improve and even consider Brazil a blessed country for not having natural catastrophes such as earthquakes and hurricanes.
The fact is that regardless of the situation, Brazilians are more predisposed to believe, even without reasons, that God will bring the necessary relief. Since we were children, we learned the importance that Faith has in all areas of our lives. Brazilians have a solid personal relationship with God. A famous saying in the Country affirms God is Brazilian. Maybe it’s a way to say how blessed their Country is.
Rich, poor, black, white, indigenous, famous, homeless, children, men, women, gays, transgender people. It doesn’t matter much. Faith is universal.
