Candomble and Umbanda Declared Not Religions by Brazilian Judge!

[rug]

Caminhada dos Terreiros de Pernambuco by Nathalia Verony. Edited for this article. Licensed under CC 2.0

May 18, 2014 By Lilith Dorsey

According to a decision by a Brazilian judge on April 28, 2014 Candomble and Umbanda are not to be legally considered religions in Brazil anymore. We have entered the 21st century but prejudice and oppression are as alive as they ever were.

Candomble and Umbanda are Afro-Brazilian religions that have been practiced for centuries. In my book Voodoo and Afro-Caribbean Paganism I mention that one of the earliest records of related practices date to 1618 when “an informant named Sebastian Beretto reported to the Jesuit priests an African-derived funeral practice of slaughtering animals and using the blood as a sacrifice to ensure passage to heaven.” The religions can be said to have similarities with other Afro-Diasporan religions like Santeria (Lucumi,) there is honoring of the Orixa, sacred drumming, dances, calls and prayers.

This entire legal mess started when a local group tried to have some Youtube videos removed which they considered offensive to their spiritual practices. The videos in question show the power of Christianity over the Afro-Brazilian religion, you can see one here:

The end result was the declaration by Judge Rosa Eugenio de Araujo , reported by O Globo news, “African-Brazilian practices do not constitute religion….they do not contain the necessary traits of a religion namely a basic text ( Koran, Bible, etc.), lack of a hierarchical structure and the absence of a God to be worshiped.” Why does this judge get to decide what is “necessary” for a religion?

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/voodoouniverse/2014/05/candomble-and-umbanda-declared-not-religions-by-brazilian-judge/

http://oglobo.globo.com/sociedade/mpf-recorre-de-decisao-da-justica-que-nao-reconhece-umbanda-candomble-como-religioes-12507234

[TM99]

1. Bigotry by the dominant Christian faith

and nothing more.

Candomble & Umbanda are the Brazilian equivalents of Lucumi (Santeria) and Palo here in the US and the Caribbean countries.

There are no basic texts because they are oral traditions. There definitely is a hierarchy with well-defined community structures. They have songs, prayers, rituals, creeds, and while each house is its own 'denomination' so to speak, they are all from the same root tradition.

This is quite appalling to me, and yet I am not really that surprised.

Hopefully this ruling is overturned on appeal or by legislative action.

[rug]

2. That "lack of text" stuck in my craw too.

All Afro-Disporan religions are oral traditions. They were passed on in secret by slaves that had been forcibly removed from their families and their homelands. This was the only method they had to preserve their traditions. Now this Judge has the audacity to penalize them again because of their tenacious difference.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

3. According to his definition, scientology is a religion

[rug]

4. There is a difference.

Hubbard virtually announced he was starting a deliberate fraud.

You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion. Response to a question from the audience during a meeting of the Eastern Science Fiction Association on (7 November 1948), as quoted in a 1994 affidavit by Sam Moskowitz.
This statement is similar or identical to several statements Hubbard is reported to have made to various individuals or groups in the 1940s. Variants include: The incident is stamped indelibly in my mind because of one statement that Ron Hubbard made. What led him to say what he did I can't recall — but in so many words Hubbard said: "I'd like to start a religion. That's where the money is!" L. Ron Hubbard to Lloyd A. Eshbach, in 1949; as quoted by Eshbach in his autobiography Over My Shoulder: Reflections On A Science Fiction Era (1983) ISBN 1-880418-11-8

Y'know, we're all wasting our time writing this hack science fiction! You wanta make real money, you gotta start a religion! As reported to Mike Jittlov by Theodore Sturgeon as a statement Hubbard made while at the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society clubhouse in the 1940s.

Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way to do it would be start his own religion. As quoted in the Los Angeles Times (27 August 1978)

Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion. As quoted in the article "Scientology: Anatomy of a Frightening Cult" by Eugene H. Methvin. Reader's Digest (May 1980)

I always knew he was exceedingly anxious to hit big money — he used to say he thought the best way to do it would be to start a cult. Sam Merwin, Editor of Thrilling Science Fiction magazine Winter of 1946-47; quoted in Bare-Faced Messiah, The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard (1987) by Russell Miller

Whenever he was talking about being hard up he often used to say that he thought the easiest way to make money would be to start a religion. Neison Himmel, briefly a roommate of Hubbard in Pasadena during the fall of 1945, in a 1986 interview, quoted in Bare-Faced Messiah, The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard (1987) by Russell Miller

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/L._Ron_Hubbard

The other difference is he then went out and wrote a text.

[okasha]

5. Give this judge a prize for outstanding stupidity

and exemplary ignorance.

As TM99 points out, indigenous religions are passed down orally from the elders to the next generation. There is neither a text nor a need for a text. (Only exceptions I can think of at the moment are the urbanized Meso-American civilizations.) Again with those same exceptions, hierarchy was very limited. A people followed a Medicine Chief--or a War Chief or Peace Chief--exactly as long as s/he was effective. My people have a story about a priestly caste, the Ani Kutani, who attempted to exert control over the whole society. The people rose up and killed them all when the Ani Kutani attempted to subjugate the Cherokee women.

Indigenous peoples also have liturgies and a wide-ranging variety of gods and other spirits who are honored and invoked.

[rug]

6. The question I have is what resources does this religion stand in the way of exploiting?

Dismissing it as a religion removes a big obstacle to the capitalistas getting whatever commodity it is.

The Black Hills come to mind.

[okasha]

7. That's an excellent question.

Brazil has been one of the worst examples of corporate-driven environmental destruction in South America.