Brazilian Society - Religion

Religion

According to the IBGE census: 74% are Roman Catholics (about 130 million); 15.4% are Protestants (about 28 million); 7.4% consider themselves agnostics, atheists or without a religion (about 12 million); 1.3% are followers of Spiritism (about 2.2 million); 0.3% are followers of African traditional religions such as Candomblé and Umbanda; 1.7% are members of other religions. Some of these are Jehovah's Witnesses (1,100,000), Latter-day Saints (200,000), Buddhism (215,000), Judaism (86,000), and Islam (27,000) and some practice a mixture of different religions, such as Catholicism, Candomblé, and indigenous American religions.

Brazil has the largest Roman Catholic population in the world.

Followers of Protestantism are rising in number. Until 1970, the majority of Brazilian Protestants were adherents of "traditional churches", mostly Lutherans, Presbyterians and Baptists. Since then, numbers of Pentecostal and Neopentecostal adherents have increased significantly.

Islam in Brazil was first practiced by African slaves. Today, the Muslim population in Brazil is made up mostly of Arab immigrants. The US Department of State claims there is a recent trend of increased conversions to Islam among non-Arab citizens.

The largest population of Buddhists in Latin America lives in Brazil. This is mostly because Brazil has the largest Japanese population outside Japan.

About 8% of Brazilians declared themselves to be non-religious (with 2% declaring themselves atheists) and 58% of Catholics considered themselves "not very practicing" or "not at all practicing".

According to IBGE 2000 Census, the following are the largest religious denominations in Brazil, with those with more than a half million members only shown.


Rank Group Members Other information
1 Roman Catholic Church 135 million
  • Its Charismatic Renewal branch is fast growing; the Progressive Branch (Liberation Theology) and the Conservative branch are in decline. Only 30% of the Roman Catholic Church's membership attends the church regularly.
  • The Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney in Campos dos Goytacazes is one of the most leading traditionalist Catholic groups in the world.
  • See Roman Catholicism in Brazil.
2 Non-religious 12.5 million
  • including, but not limited to, Atheists and Agnostics
3 Assemblies of God
(Assembléias de Deus)		 8.4 million
  • General Convention of the Assemblies of God (Affiliated with the American Assemblies of God, Springfield, MO): 3,6 Million.
  • National Convention of the Assemblies of God: 2,5 Million. A.k.a. Madureira Ministry of the Assemblies of God.
  • Other independent Assemblies of God: 2,3 Million, such as Bethesda Assemblies of God.
4 Baptist 3.1 million
  • Brazilian Baptist Convention: 1,2 Million adherents. Affiliated to US Southern Baptists.
  • National Baptist Convention: 1 Million. Pentecostal Baptists.
  • Independent Baptist Convention: 400,000. Scandinavian Baptists.
  • Other Baptists: 400,000.
5 Christian Congregation of Brazil 2.4 million
6 Spiritist 2.2 million
  • Kardec Spiritualist; does not include Afro-Brazilian Sincretists. Their influence is much larger than their numbers.
7 Universal Church of the Kingdom of God
(Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus)		 2.1 million
  • Neo-Pentecostal Movement.
8 Foursquare Gospel Church 1.3 million
  • Classic Pentocostals in US, but second-wave Pentecostals in Brazil.
9 Adventists 1.2 million
  • Seventh-day Adventist Church: 900,000.
  • Promise Adventist Church: 150,000. Indigenous Pentecostal Adventists.
  • Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement: 50,000.
  • Other Adventists: 100,000.
10 Jehovah's Witnesses 1.1 million
11 Lutherans 1 million
  • Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confission.
  • Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil.
  • Other Lutherans.
12 Calvinists 981,000
  • Presbyterian Church of Brazil: 500,000.
  • Independent Presbyterian Church: 250,00.
  • Congregationalists: 150,000.
  • Other Calvinists:100,000.
13 God is Love Pentecostal Church 774,000
  • Divine Healing movement.
14 Afro-Brazilian 525,000
  • Umbanda (397,000) and Candomblé (128,000)
15 Brazilian Catholics 500,000
– Others and no religion declared 3.5 million

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