ABSTRACT
The matter of religious liberty is a nebulous one in Brazil. As religious liberty is guaranteed by the Brazilian Constitution (Article 5, VI) and by Brazil's ratification of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), an analysis of the most recent precedents should point to a broad understanding of religion. This chapter demonstrates the gap between the constitutional and statutory protection given to religious liberty, on the one hand, and the narrow understanding of religions by the courts, on the other hand. It presents the constitutional guarantees related to religion and examines a few decisions of Brazil's Federal Supreme Court that relate to religion. There is one major flaw in Brazil's definition of religious liberty: it understands religion by metaphysical belief instead of by what Ronald Dworkin calls "ethical independence". The Brazilian Constitution also prohibits state organizations from establishing or subsidizing religious sects or churches: Article 19.
