ABSTRACT
In early 1996, a remarkable meeting took place in Brasilia. Representatives of black movement organizations from throughout Brazil came together at the invitation of the Movement for African Religious Freedom and Citizenship to discuss how to respond to growing attacks by evangelical Christian churches against the Afro-Brazilian religions of candomblé and umbanda. The meeting's final document reveals some of the gathering's high emotion. “The violence of the nazi-pentecostal churches against the African world-view,” the document affirms, is an “assault against all black people.” It continues: “To the extent that Afro-Brazilian religions are blamed for all the social ills that assail this country, an enormous contingent of marginalized blacks are being incited to act against their ethno-racial peers.” The meeting resolved to call upon the Minister of Justice to apply the country's antiracism law “to pentecostal churches that practice racism through their publications and other vehicles of communication.” 1
