The Churches and Democracy in Brazil

Towards a Public Theology Focused on Citizenship

Rudolf von Sinner

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN:
  9781608993857
  9781498255943
• eBook ISBN:
  9781630877279
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

Brazil is a rapidly emerging country. Brazilian theology, namely the Theology of Liberation, has become well known in the 1970s and 1980s. The politically active Base Ecclesial Communities and the progressive posture of the Roman Catholic Church contrasted with a steadily growing number of evangelicals, mostly aligned with the military regime but attractive precisely to the poor. After democratic transition in the mid-1980s, the context changed considerably. Democracy, growing religious pluralism and mobility, a vibrant civil society, the political ascension of the Worker's Party and growing wealth, albeit within a continuously wide social gap, are some of the elements that show the need of a new approach to theology. It must be a theology that is both critical and constructive, resisting and cooperative, a theology that is able to give orientation to the churches, valuing and encouraging their contribution in society while avoiding attempts of imposition. The Churches and Democracy in Brazil, the fruit of years of interdisciplinary study of the Brazilian context and its main churches and theology, makes its case for an ecumenically articulated public theology. It seeks inspiration mainly in Luther and Lutheran theology, emphasizing human dignity, freedom, trust, the disposition to serve, and the ability to endure the ambiguities of reality, as well as a fresh interpretation of the doctrine of the two regiments. These are the fundamental elements of what makes human beings full members of the body politic: citizenship, their right to have rights and to be able to effectively live them, together with their corresponding duties, in a move of growing political participation conscious of their religious motivation in view of the commonweal.

Part I

Citizenship And Democracy In Post-Transition Brazil

Democratic transition in Brazil is generally taken to have occurred between 1974, when President General Ernesto Geisel took power and initiated a “slow, gradual and secure” process of political decompression, and 1989, when the first direct presidential elections were held, thus completely restoring, at the least, an electoral democracy. Another important year was 1985, when power was handed over to a civilian president; this became a milestone in Brazil’s history of transition. It marks the beginning of the period the present study is examining more closely.

Democratic consolidation was considered achieved when Luis Inácio Lula da Silva assumed office in 2003, after a remarkably smooth government transition.1 In a moving ceremony, for the first time in over 40 years, a democratically and directly elected president, the distinguished sociologist Fernando Henrique Cardoso, handed over the presidential sash to another democratically and directly elected president.2 Lula had been elected by nearly 53 million voters (61 percent) on October 27, 2002.3 A charismatic metal worker from a humble, North-Eastern background, who became a powerful trade-union and, later, Worker’s Party (PT) leader, Lula had been the hope of all those longing for change in the country, over three consecutive election campaigns (1989, 1994, 1998), until he eventually made it in his fourth run. He won over common people and entrepreneurs alike with his program of marrying strict economic responsibility4 to an extensive fight against hunger.5 However, as we shall see, while the economy prospered, social transformation continued to be slow. A huge scheme of Government bribery involving deputies, which came to the fore in 2005, was a major blow to democracy.6 The democratic institutions withstood the blow, and the remarkable transparency of the investigation—with hearings broadcast live on TV—as well as the fact that some representatives lost their seats, showed that all was not simply doomed to end up in “pizza.”7 On the other hand, Lula was convincingly reelected in 2006 for a second (and last possible) term—partly because of his undeniable achievements in the economic area, partly because of a weak and divided opposition. Lula won not least because, unlike his government ministers and PT politicians, he was regarded by many as somehow above corruption—although it is barely imaginable to the observer that he really didn’t know anything and was simply “betrayed” by his staff. In any case, Lula succeeded in communicating that impression and showed that he was still representing people’s hopes of social ascent: if a humble mechanic from the poor and backward Northeast who had not even finished school could become president, then anything seemed possible. There is, of course, a dose of populism in this direct relationship between the president and the people, and indeed when he underwent the strongest pressures, Lula sought reassurance through direct contact with them.

In terms of democratic institutions and, partly, of their agents, I think it is still fair to consider Brazil a consolidated democracy. There is a fair degree of institutional stability and little chance of a breakdown. However, in terms of participation of the people and the effective availability of their rights and performance of their duties, there are considerable deficiencies, and “civil” democracy or “civil citizenship”8 cannot be considered consolidated.

The word cidadania (citizenship), which has emerged (especially since the 1980s) as a central term in the process of democratization, will accompany my reflections throughout this study, both in general terms and in theological use. The abundant literature using the concept rarely spends much time on a sharp definition; rather, it denotes a conceptual field for political participation and social inclusion, assuming the role of a utopian and open concept. Cidadania is, in the first place, the “right to have rights” in a situation of “social apartheid” where exclusion prevails.9 Thus, a major challenge to effective citizenship is for all people to realize that they indeed do have rights, that they are citizens. This may sound obvious, but it is not in a society with millions of people struggling for mere survival, living with less than two ore even one US-Dollars a day to spend, in appalling contrast to the income and wealth of a small number of very rich people. It is not obvious in a country where there are people whose first photograph ever is taken on the day of their death, where many newborns are not registered and thus do not exist legally, where people suffer total social abandonment, and where the police are known to be corrupt, incompetent, and violent. It is also not obvious in a country with a traditionally strong patriarchal and clientelistic social and political organization, where it is not the law that defines or even protects relationships.

This being the case, the concept of citizenship must be broader than just indicating the rights—and duties—foreseen by law. It must include the possibility of real access to rights and the consciousness of one’s duties, a positive attitude over against the constitutional State as such, as well as a constant molding and extension of the citizens’ participation in the social and political life of their country. It is a way of overcoming the distinction between “them” and “us,” making people feel they are part of the story. If others are not doing their part, especially those in public office, citizens have the right to denounce that and to press for improvement. Aspects of a citizen’s effective participation are, then, becoming central, as is the political culture by which such participation is encouraged or hindered. It is not least in this area, I contend, that churches can make a difference.

In this first part of my study, I shall describe and examine the story of transition in Brazil, with a short presentation of the preceding situation in which the “March/April Revolution,”10 or rather the coup d’état occurred, and the consequent advances and setbacks in democracy and citizenship (A). I then focus on the role of civil society, which in the present setup was arguably born during the phase of transition, and locate the churches within it (without yet exploring their contribution in depth) (B). The next chapter is dedicated to the concept of citizenship as it is currently being used and interpreted in Brazil, with some references to the wider debate (C). Finally, I shall look at the continuation of Liberation Theology and their hesitant entry into issues of citizenship (D).

1. Codato, Political Transition and Democratic Consolidation, IX.

2. The last one had been president Juscelino Kubitschek (1956–60), handing over to Jânio Quadros (1961). Quadros resigned still in 1961, and vice president João Goulart took over. Goulart was deposed by the military in 1964. The first civilian president after military rule, Tancredo Neves, was elected by an electoral college, and died without taking office. Vice president José Sarney assumed the presidency. In 1989, Fernando Collor de Mello was elected president by the people, but again had to leave office without completing his term due to his impeachment in 1992. Vice president Itamar Franco handed over the sash to Fernando Henrique Cardoso for his first mandate. Only at the end of Cardoso´s second mandate (the possibility of reelection was a novelty, introduced only in 1997 by the Constitutional Amendment number 16, of June 4), on January 1, 2003, 43 years after Kubitschek and Quadros, the passing of office ceremony came back to normality.

3. Almanaque Abril, Brasil 2003, 44.

4. This implied continued fighting against inflation, maintenance of a high primary budget surplus and loyal and even anticipated payment of debts (inter...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Part One: Citizenship And Democracy In Post-Transition Brazil
• A. The Story of Transition in Brazil—Advances and Setbacks in Democracy
• B. The Role of Civil Society in Brazilian Democracy
• C. The Concept of Citizenship in the Brazilian Context
• D. Liberation Theology and Citizenship
• Part Two: The Contribution of the Churches Toward Citizenship
• A. Methodological Preliminaries
• B. Churches and Religions in Brazil
• C. The Roman Catholic Church (ICAR)
• D. The Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil
• E. The Assemblies of God
• F. Concluding Remarks
• Part Three: Towards a Public Theology Focused on Citizenship
• A. Elements of a Theology Focused on Citizenship
• B. Public Theology in Brazil: Contribution without Imposition
• Conclusion: Boldness and Humility
• Bibliography