Religious Conflict in Brazil

Erika Helgen, assistant professor of Latin American and Latinx Christianity, Yale Divinity School

 (Yale University Press)

In this study , Helgen explores the transition in Brazil from a hegemonically Catholic society to a religiously pluralistic society. She shows that the rise of religious pluralism was fraught with conflict and violence, as Catholic bishops, priests, and friars organized intense campaigns against Protestantism. These episodes of religious violence were not isolated outbursts of reactionary rage, notes Helgen, but rather formed part of a longer process through which religious groups articulated their vision for Brazil’s national future.