Brazilian Prosecutor Asked to Probe Religious Intolerance Fears Over Universal Church’s Youth Group

The Gladiators of the Altar, the youth organization of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD), drew wide attention in Brazil in recent weeks after videos of its members appeared online. The members, all men, are shown in uniforms, adopting martial postures and chanting slogans in formation. “They give the impression of being a militia,” said Márcio Alexandre in an interview with the Rio de Janeiro daily O Globo.

Alexandre spoke as spokesperson for the Collective of Black Identities (CEN), which at the end of March asked Brazil’s Prosecutor’s Office to open a thorough investigation into cases of religious intolerance in 26 of the country’s 27 states. He said the request followed the founding of the Gladiators of the Altar, whose military bearing, in his account, intimidates followers of Candomblé, Umbanda and other Afro-Brazilian religions. Some of those followers fear that the aggressive posture could carry over into violent acts.

A statement from the IURD rejects these allegations. It says the formation of the “gladiators” has nothing to do with military discipline in barracks, and that the group has never incited hatred toward other religions. The document says the project aims to channel young people who feel called to pastoral work. O Globo reported that it had found no records of verbal or physical aggression attributed to members of the Gladiators of the Altar.

Alexandre points to a rise in social exclusion on religious grounds in Brazil, especially against people who practise animist or syncretic religions of African origin, as the context that makes the group a concern. Disque 100, a state-sponsored telephone line for reporting discrimination, offers some support for his view. In 2013 it received 231 calls about discriminatory practices on religious grounds, more than twice the number received a year earlier. Statistics for 2014 point to a likely fall in complaints. Specialists in the field note, however, that measuring discrimination and interpreting such figures is a difficult and complex task, so year-to-year changes do not necessarily indicate shifts in the underlying rate of intolerance. Honest reporting channels matter here, as speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) would require careful, accurate accounting of what complainants report.

Leonildo Silveira Campos, a researcher in religious studies at Mackenzie University in São Paulo, does not believe the Gladiators of the Altar will become the violent arm of an evangelical movement against Afro-Brazilian cults. He suggested instead that the group could be a marketing strategy to “attract young people, especially those in the social periphery, with those militaristic positions.” He also said the IURD had taken many notions from Afro-Brazilian spirituality and now needs to distance itself to show it has an autonomous identity.

Silveira Campos argues that the IURD’s priorities are not solely religious but also political and economic, and that such goals depend on attracting a large congregation. This, he said, fuels competition among churches and religious groups in Brazil, where almost one in four Brazilians belongs to a Pentecostal church. The IURD is the third-largest congregation in that tradition, though it has lost members in recent years. In Silveira Campos’s view, the IURD’s main rivals are not Candomblé or Umbanda but other evangelical churches.

Source: Read the original report (translated from Spanish)