MyNorthwest

News

Opinion

Sports

Tools

Connect

In sacred Brazil dunes, critics see evangelical encroachment

Members of the Indigenous community join Afro Brazilian community members in a protest march, in Salvador, Brazil, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. Protesters called on authorities to take action against projects that would have environmental impact on the dunes, including one to accommodate evangelical pilgrims congregating at the Abaete dune system, an area members of the Afro Brazilian faiths consider sacred. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Members of the Indigenous community join Afro Brazilian community members in a protest march, in Salvador, Brazil, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. Protesters called on authorities to take action against projects that would have environmental impact on the dunes, including one to accommodate evangelical pilgrims congregating at the Abaete dune system, an area members of the Afro Brazilian faiths consider sacred. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A resident walks past a school adorned with religious symbols representing Judaism, from left, Christianity, Islam and the Afro Brazilian faith Candomble, paired with the Portuguese words for peace, tolerance and respect, in Salvador, Brazil, Friday, Sept. 16, 2022. Members of Afro Brazilian religious groups say evangelicals' rising influence in the country's halls of power and politics are straining interreligious relations ahead of the Oct. 2 general elections. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Evangelicals pray while walking around the perimeter of an area of the Abaete dune system, that they have come to call the "Holy Mountain", in Salvador, Brazil, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. Evangelicals have been converging on the dunes for some 25 years but especially lately, with thousands now coming each week to sing, pray and enter trancelike states to commune with God. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A member of the Indigenous community takes part in a protest calling on authorities to take action against a series of environmental offenses in the Abaete dune system, at the the Abaete Lagoon in Salvador, Brazil, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Members of the Indigenous community join Afro Brazilian community members in a protest march, in Salvador, Brazil, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. Protesters called on authorities to take action against projects that would have environmental impact on the dunes, including one to accommodate evangelical pilgrims congregating at the Abaete dune system, an area members of the Afro Brazilian faiths consider sacred. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Women prostrate themselves in an area of the Abaete dune system, on a steep rise of sand evangelicals have come to call the "Holy Mountain", in Salvador, Brazil, late Friday night, Sept. 16, 2022. Evangelicals have been converging on the dunes for some 25 years but especially lately, with thousands now coming each week to sing, pray and enter trancelike states to commune with God. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Figures adorn an altar inside the temple of Jaciara Ribeiro, a priestess of the Afro Brazilian faith Candomble, in Salvador, Brazil, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. Ribeiro, who is known as Mother Jaciara of Oxum, says members of her temple have been insulted when walking past a dune where evangelicals congregate or had Bibles brandished at them. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Jaciara Ribeiro, a priestess of the Afro Brazilian Candomble faith, poses for a portrait inside her temple in Salvador, Brazil, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. Ribeiro is convinced that a public works project that includes building a plaza and welcome center is to accommodate evangelical pilgrims congregating on the Abaete dunes system, a ploy for evangelicals' electoral support. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A woman prays in an area of the Abaete dune system, on a steep rise of sand evangelicals have come to call the "Holy Mountain", in Salvador, Brazil, late Friday night, Sept. 16, 2022. Evangelicals have been converging on the dunes for some 25 years but especially lately, with thousands now coming each week to sing, pray and enter trancelike states to commune with God.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Newly baptized Casa de Oraçao church members Zerilda Souza, 57, from left, Bruno Jesus Santos, 32, and Joao Ferreira, 80, pose for a portrait on the shore of the Abaete Lagoon, in Salvador, Brazil, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. While Catholicism is still the largest religion in Brazil, in recent years it has slipped below 50% of the population to lose its status as a majority faith even as evangelical churches have gained. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Minutes before midnight, Pastor Cleiton Pereira kneels before a fire pit as he burns scrawled prayers on scraps of paper in an area of the Abaete dune system evangelicals have come to call the "Holy Mountain", in Salvador, Brazil, late Friday night, Sept. 16, 2022. Evangelicals have been converging on the dunes for some 25 years but especially lately, with thousands now coming each week to sing, pray and enter trancelike states to commune with God.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Practitioners of Afro Brazilian faiths gather around the Abaete Lagoon during a protest calling on authorities to take action against a series of environmental offenses in the Abaete dune system, an area they consider sacred, in Salvador, Brazil, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. Dressed in white, they marched to the lagoon, the traditional site for most of their rituals, and lined up along the water in a symbolic hug for the area.†(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Evangelicals are silhouetted against a sunset as they pray in an area of the Abaete dune system, on a steep rise of sand they have come to call the "Holy Mountain", in Salvador, Brazil, Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. An evangelical pastor and city councilman presented a bill to officially christen the area "Holy Mountain The Lord Will Provide." While backlash forced the withdrawal of that proposal, evangelicals still call the area "Holy Mountain," as does the mayor. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A woman slips on her sandals after descending a steep rise of the Abaete dune system evangelicals have come to call the "Holy Mountain", in Salvador, Brazil, Friday, Sept. 16, 2022. Evangelicals have been converging on the dunes for some 25 years but especially lately, with thousands now coming each week to sing, pray and enter trancelike states to commune with God. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A woman prays in an area of the Abaete dune system, on a steep rise of sand evangelicals have come to call the "Holy Mountain", in Salvador, Brazil, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. Evangelicals have been converging on the dunes for some 25 years but especially lately, with thousands now coming each week to sing, pray and enter trancelike states to commune with God.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Evangelical Pastor Edy Santos, right, spreads his arms as newly baptized Zerilda Souza, center right, is embraced by a church member, in the Abaete Lagoon, in Salvador, Brazil, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. Santos refuses to talk politics with his flock, even when they ask. "Our country is totally divided. It's a division of thoughts," says the 32-year-old pastor. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Baptist bishop Wedson Tavares holds flags of Brazil and Israel as he blesses elected officials from city councilors on up to President Jair Bolsonaro, in an area of the Abaete dune system, at a steep rise of sand evangelicals call the "Holy Mountain", in Salvador, Brazil, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. This year there are nearly 500 evangelical pastors running for state and federal legislatures, more than triple the number in 2014, according to data from political scientist Bruno Carazza. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Medaberel Baptist Church members walk to the top of an area in the Abaete dune system, to arrive at a steep rise of sand they call the "Holy Mountain", in Salvador, Brazil, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. This year the dunes have become a flashpoint after City Hall began building a plaza and welcome center at one spot along their base. Defenders of the project say it's necessary to protect the fragile dunes from the increasingly heavy foot traffic (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A woman holds a handful of sand as she prays in area of the Abaete dune system, that evangelicals have come to call the "Holy Mountain", in Salvador, Brazil, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. Evangelicals have been converging on the dunes for some 25 years but especially lately, with thousands now coming each week to sing, pray and enter trancelike states to commune with God. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Mag Oliveira embraces her daughter Najla as they pray in an area of the Abaete dune system, on a steep rise of sand evangelicals have come to call the "Holy Mountain", in Salvador, Brazil, late Friday night, Sept. 16, 2022. Evangelicals have been converging on the dunes for some 25 years but especially lately, with thousands now coming each week to sing, pray and enter trancelike states to commune with God.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In sacred Brazil dunes, critics see evangelical encroachment