The influence of spiritism, which claims millions of adherents, shows no signs of waning.
Less than 30 years ago, Christian anthropologists were predicting the death of spiritism. Surely, they reasoned, the complexities of the urban age would create problems spiritism simply could not solve.
But it hasn’t happened that way. Today in Brazil, the most urbanized and industrialized of all South American nations, spiritism flourishes. “After more than 20 years in Brazil,” said Mennonite Brethren missionary James Wiebe, “I’ve never met one family that didn’t have at least some involvement with spiritism.” Wiebe challenged the theory that spiritism is dying in his 1979 doctoral dissertation at Fuller Theological Seminary.
Recently, the Brazilian Commission for Evangelization held a major meeting at which theologians and denominational leaders discussed spiritism and how to combat it (see p. 50).
Broadly defined, spiritism refers to the belief that man can contact spirits and influence them to act on his behalf. Through a variety of practices—some unusual and grotesque—spiritists seek to capture the attention and power of spirits, hoping for help for a problem or situation. People go to spiritist leaders, believing they have special abilities to summon and influence the spirits.
Wiebe is not alone in his assessment of spiritism’s popularity in Brazil. Pentecostal bishop and writer W. Robert McAlister cites census figures of 30 million Brazilian spiritists. But he says it is likely the true number is much higher. C. Wesley King, director of the Free Methodist Seminary of São Paulo, estimates that up to half of the Brazilian population is connected in some way to spiritism.
In Brazil, pictures of spiritist saints appear on postage stamps. Spiritist themes surface in television soap operas. Professional soccer teams routinely hire spiritists to work spells on opponents. Politicians have been known to consult spiritists before taking trips or making major decisions.
The Spiritist Federation of São Paulo operates a large office complex of counseling rooms attracting more than 3,000 people a day for spiritual consultations. Spiritists run welfare programs, orphanages, and literature operations. In short, spiritism is becoming institutionalized and thus “respectable.”
Brazilian spiritism crosses all barriers of social class. Some spiritist groups, such as Candomblé, feature black magic and animal sacrifices. However, these “lower forms” have comparatively fewer adherents than more sophisticated forms of spiritism, such as Umbanda and Kardecism.
Spiritism has flourished in Brazil even though it is one of the world’s most Catholic nations. (More than 90 percent of Brazil’s 135 million people profess Roman Catholicism.) Obviously, many practice both Catholicism and spiritism. In the Candomblé group, African spirit-gods are matched name for name with Catholic saints. Although Pope John Paul II has made clear his displeasure with such syncretisms, many baptized Catholics are known to take baptism into Candomblé.
Historical Roots
Spiritism’s roots grew deep in Brazil for a variety of reasons. Influenced by the culture of the Moors, Portuguese settlers were predisposed to the mystical and esoteric. Animistic beliefs entered Brazil with African slaves, who were transplanted all along the Atlantic seaboard.
By and large, slaves accepted Catholic baptism but never abandoned their ancestral beliefs. They maintained these beliefs to preserve their identity, and in some cases, to get spirits to work against their white owners. African beliefs swept across the culture partly because black nursemaids raised generations of Portuguese children, meanwhile passing on spiritist beliefs. Noting this, Wiebe cited the adage “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.”
A distinct form of spiritism for Brazil’s white culture developed in the mid-nineteenth century. Known as Kardecism, it was started by a French medical doctor who believed he was the reincarnation of a Celtic druid, Allan Kardec. It consists of different strands of European spiritism.
Kardecism first became popular among Brazil’s French-speaking elite. Its elements include reincarnation, seances, healings, and enough Christian terminology to confuse people. It teaches, for example, that Jesus’ reference to “born again” indicates a belief in reincarnation.
Brazil’s largest spiritist group, Umbanda, was born in 1920. Some call it the one, true Brazilian spiritism. It was founded by a Kardec medium who felt the African Candomblé too “low” and Kardecism too “high.” Umbanda is characterized by rituals designed to get the spirits working on an individual’s behalf to solve life’s problems.
Christians Are Affected
The influence of spiritism has not escaped Brazil’s evangelicals, many of whom are thought to dabble on occasion in spiritism. Said British missionary Betty Bacon, “I wonder how many people are not going on in their Christian lives because they’ve sinned in this area and not confessed it.”
According to King, only Pentecostals among evangelical denominations are growing at a pace equal to that of spiritists. Like the spiritists, Pentecostals have high appeal among lower economic classes, said King, adding, “In a real sense, spiritists and Pentecostals are locked in a spiritual battle for the soul of this nation.”
Spirit possession is common in spiritist practice. Followers of Candomblé believe a spirit-god enters the person. Those who follow Umbanda believe it is the spirit of a deceased human. Umbanda followers beat wildly on drums to call down spirits. Umbanda offers grieving survivors a chance to communicate with departed loved ones.
“What we are dealing with is not a psychological or an anthropological phenomenon,” said Bacon. “Spirit possession is real. Teaching concerning it is in the Bible. And we need to see it as the Bible sees it if we are going to deal with it adequately.”
Church services in Brazil are sometimes interrupted by people apparently under demonic possession. Pentecostal leader McAlister has had demon-possessed people dropped off at his church by ushers from other churches. He states candidly, “If a missionary can’t cast out demons, he might as well go home.”
Long-time Christian workers in Brazil affirm that spiritism is no game. Bacon tells of a college girl in a Bible study who said, “I’m scared to come to your meetings because every time I come, something bad happens to me on the way home.” The girl said she believed a spiritist leader was working spells against her.
People still talk about the late spiritist healer José Pedro de Freitas, who performed eye operations in the presence of journalists and doctors. Reportedly, he used kitchen knives and other crude utensils to extract the eyeball from its socket, work on it, and put it back in place. (The accuracy of these reports has been challenged.)
Bacon has called for a complete renunciation of spiritist practices by believers. She said this means getting rid of all spiritist paraphernalia, harmless as it might seem. Bacon emphasized that Christians need not be frightened by spiritists, stating that the Christian “has the Lord’s authority and protection in this field.” Citing Colossians 2:8–10, 14–15, she added, “Jesus Christ is Lord. He’s already disarmed the powers and authorities. He’s already conquered.”
JOHN MAUSTin Brazil
The Bible vs. ‘Brazilian Reality’
Some of the evangelicals in Brazil who have studied the phenomenon of spiritism estimate that more than half the country’s people have dabbled in spiritist practices. The recent growth of spiritist cults prompted the interdenominational Brazilian Commission for Evangelization to hold a conference on the problem.
The four-day event, the first of its kind, brought together many of the country’s leading evangelicals to analyze the popularity and growth of spiritism, and to formulate a strategy for combating it.
In a resource paper, Holiness Church leader Key Yuasa urged participants to consider Brazilian spiritism in all its many forms. They range from the “high spiritism” of Allan Kardec (the nineteenth-century French reincarnationalist whose Le Livre des Esprits is considered the spiritist Bible) to the various forms of “low spiritism,” which sometimes incorporate bizarre African tribal rites.
Presbyterian theologian Joao Dias de Araujo observed that “the main reason spiritism is so popular among Brazilian masses is that in its ‘highest’ form (Kardecism), it is very rational. In its ‘lowest form it appeals to people’s natural curiosity about the paranormal and, for the most part, promises to solve people’s physical, romantic, and job-related problems by using magical formulas to invoke the power of good and evil spirits.”
Julio P. Zabatiero, a young evangelical theologian, maintained that spiritism thrives because it is totally Brazilian. He argued that all foreign elements have been completely contextualized to “Brazilian reality.”
In contrast, Zabatiero maintained that Brazilian evangelicalism is laden with foreign (especially North American) “cultural baggage” and is therefore less than ideally suited to appeal to the masses. Said Zabatiero, “Brazilian evangelicals must meet all of the people’s unique needs if they are to be as successful as the spiritists.”
Organizers plan to publish a book containing the conference’s main papers and the results of its working sessions. The conference is widely regarded as a major step in the effort to combat evangelical ignorance about spiritism and to fight cults with the truth of the Bible.
MARK CARPENTERin Brazil
