G
Grim Reaper
Guest
Brazilian holyrollers and biblethumpers have learned well the lessons
taught them by their American counterparts: lie, cheat, steal -- and
when you're caught, shout "persecution."
Do you suppose this is what Jesus meant when he said: "Go ye into all
the world and preach the Gospel?" Or was it: "Go ye into all the
world and fleece the suckers."
---
Brazilians' Arrest Focuses Scrutiny on Evangelical Groups
By Monte Reel
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, February 3, 2007; A01
SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Before a service at Reborn in Christ Church this
week, a man hawked gospel CDs outside the front door. In the cavernous
nave, volunteers placed envelopes soliciting cash donations on each of
about 1,000 chairs, while cameramen working for the church's
television network focused on the altar.
Everything was ready, except the church's founders and spiritual
leaders.
Estevam Hernandes-Filho and his wife, Sonia -- who oversee more than
1,000 churches in Brazil and several in Florida -- were under house
arrest in Miami, accused of carrying more than $56,000 in undeclared
cash. Some of the money had been stuffed between the pages of their
Bible, according to U.S. customs agents who detained the couple last
month at the Miami airport.
The arrests and the accusations back home of systematic embezzlement
have resonated loudly in Brazil, where tens of millions of people have
joined evangelical Christian churches in recent years to create
powerful new cultural and political movements. Some of those movements
are now under increasing scrutiny from investigators, who say they are
receiving testimony alleging similar scandals among other faith-based
empires.
Arthur Pinto de Lemos, a state prosecutor who is heading the case
against Reborn in Christ Church, pointed to several stacks of folders
cluttering his desk this week.
"There are now a lot of other accusations coming in, all of which have
started to surface after this case," he said, slapping a palm atop the
files.
Defenders of the churches say the spotlight is little more than thinly
disguised persecution -- religious prejudice in a country that until
recently was overwhelmingly Catholic.
An attorney for the Hernandeses did not respond to repeated requests
for an interview. But the church's Web site posted a video interview
with lawyer Luiz Flavio D'Urso, who called the charges "absurd."
"I am absolutely sure that this is a mistake -- not only are the
accusations false, but the arrest is also a mistake," he said. "God
willing, this will be clarified, and their innocence will be proved."
Although Lemos said Catholic organizations are among the institutions
accused of wrongdoing, most of the recent attention within Brazil has
focused squarely on "evangelicals" -- a loosely used term here that
can include Baptists, Pentecostals and many other Protestant
denominations. Those movements have roots that stretch back to
Pentecostal missions that arrived via the United States nearly 100
years ago, but their numbers have exploded only in the past two
decades.
Between 1980 and 2000, the number of those who identified themselves
as evangelicals in national census counts doubled, to more than 26
million people in this country of about 185 million. The growth has
changed the religious complexion of Brazil, where about 90 percent of
residents identified themselves as Catholics in 1980. If the spread of
the evangelical denominations continued at the same rate -- an
unlikely possibility, according to analysts -- Catholics would be a
minority here within 20 years.
Reborn in Christ Church has been at the forefront of the evangelical
surge since the Hernandeses formed the church in 1986. The charismatic
couple -- known affectionately as "Apostle Estevam" and "Bishop Sonia"
to their congregation -- oversee several radio stations, a gospel
television network and a record company. Last year, their church
helped lead an annual "March for Jesus" rally in downtown Sao Paulo
that attracted a crowd that police estimated at about 3 million --
about twice as many people as it had drawn the year before. The
Hernandeses have opened multiple churches in Florida, where they also
own a home.
On Jan. 8, they were stopped by U.S. customs officials after Brazilian
authorities had warned Interpol that the couple was suspected of
smuggling money out of Brazil to pay for personal investments. The
Hernandeses, who were traveling with their son, had declared on
customs forms that they were carrying less than $10,000. Their
arraignment in a Florida court is scheduled for Monday.
According to prosecutors, the $56,467 they carried was part of a
personal fortune collected from church donations that has attracted
the attention of state tax collectors since 2002. Lemos, the
prosecutor, said the church owns a ranch where the family keeps a
stable of horses, and Brazilian media outlets have reported that they
own at least four houses, 14 cars and shares in a resort. Sao Paulo's
state government alleges that they owe more than $3 million in back
taxes.
"The church's goals are not spiritual at all but are purely
entrepreneurial," Lemos said.
Brazilian authorities said they have been investigating the
Hernandeses for several years, believing that they have embezzled
funds from church contributors and evaded taxes. Prosecutors are
preparing charges of tax evasion and money laundering against the
couple.
Other churches in Brazil that allegedly practice what critics label
"prosperity theology" -- or a connection between monetary donations
and spiritual blessings -- have also been touched by scandal in recent
years. For more than a decade, Edir Macedo, founder of Universal
Church of the Kingdom of God, has been accused of crimes including
embezzlement and tax evasion. But he successfully fought the charges,
and his church has prospered, boasting more than 8 million members
worldwide and holdings in Brazil that include thousands of churches,
television and radio stations, newspapers, a soccer team and its own
political party.
The evangelical movement's political connections grew last year to
include one of the Brazilian legislature's most powerful caucuses,
with 61 elected members. But the caucus's power within congress was
diminished significantly by another scandal last year, in which more
than half of the members of the caucus were accused of taking bribes
to award contracts to overpriced ambulance services.
"These criminal acts and accusations have not damaged the evangelical
movement, though," said Lisias Noguera Negrao, a sociology professor
who studies religious movements at the University of Sao Paulo. "The
accusations are viewed by their followers as persecution. That is what
is happening now among the followers of the Hernandeses, and it is the
same thing that happened with Edir Macedo. He overcame the scandal
with his image intact."
Outside one of the Hernandeses' churches in Sao Paulo on Wednesday,
Robson Franchini, 29, stood with a Bible cradled in his arms and
ignored the pleas of church leaders who have urged members of Reborn
in Christ Church not to talk to members of the news media.
"The charges are all false -- I believe 100 percent in the integrity
of the apostle and the bishop," he said, before an angry congregant
pointed him out to church officials for speaking without approval.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/02/AR2007020201964.html
taught them by their American counterparts: lie, cheat, steal -- and
when you're caught, shout "persecution."
Do you suppose this is what Jesus meant when he said: "Go ye into all
the world and preach the Gospel?" Or was it: "Go ye into all the
world and fleece the suckers."
---
Brazilians' Arrest Focuses Scrutiny on Evangelical Groups
By Monte Reel
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, February 3, 2007; A01
SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Before a service at Reborn in Christ Church this
week, a man hawked gospel CDs outside the front door. In the cavernous
nave, volunteers placed envelopes soliciting cash donations on each of
about 1,000 chairs, while cameramen working for the church's
television network focused on the altar.
Everything was ready, except the church's founders and spiritual
leaders.
Estevam Hernandes-Filho and his wife, Sonia -- who oversee more than
1,000 churches in Brazil and several in Florida -- were under house
arrest in Miami, accused of carrying more than $56,000 in undeclared
cash. Some of the money had been stuffed between the pages of their
Bible, according to U.S. customs agents who detained the couple last
month at the Miami airport.
The arrests and the accusations back home of systematic embezzlement
have resonated loudly in Brazil, where tens of millions of people have
joined evangelical Christian churches in recent years to create
powerful new cultural and political movements. Some of those movements
are now under increasing scrutiny from investigators, who say they are
receiving testimony alleging similar scandals among other faith-based
empires.
Arthur Pinto de Lemos, a state prosecutor who is heading the case
against Reborn in Christ Church, pointed to several stacks of folders
cluttering his desk this week.
"There are now a lot of other accusations coming in, all of which have
started to surface after this case," he said, slapping a palm atop the
files.
Defenders of the churches say the spotlight is little more than thinly
disguised persecution -- religious prejudice in a country that until
recently was overwhelmingly Catholic.
An attorney for the Hernandeses did not respond to repeated requests
for an interview. But the church's Web site posted a video interview
with lawyer Luiz Flavio D'Urso, who called the charges "absurd."
"I am absolutely sure that this is a mistake -- not only are the
accusations false, but the arrest is also a mistake," he said. "God
willing, this will be clarified, and their innocence will be proved."
Although Lemos said Catholic organizations are among the institutions
accused of wrongdoing, most of the recent attention within Brazil has
focused squarely on "evangelicals" -- a loosely used term here that
can include Baptists, Pentecostals and many other Protestant
denominations. Those movements have roots that stretch back to
Pentecostal missions that arrived via the United States nearly 100
years ago, but their numbers have exploded only in the past two
decades.
Between 1980 and 2000, the number of those who identified themselves
as evangelicals in national census counts doubled, to more than 26
million people in this country of about 185 million. The growth has
changed the religious complexion of Brazil, where about 90 percent of
residents identified themselves as Catholics in 1980. If the spread of
the evangelical denominations continued at the same rate -- an
unlikely possibility, according to analysts -- Catholics would be a
minority here within 20 years.
Reborn in Christ Church has been at the forefront of the evangelical
surge since the Hernandeses formed the church in 1986. The charismatic
couple -- known affectionately as "Apostle Estevam" and "Bishop Sonia"
to their congregation -- oversee several radio stations, a gospel
television network and a record company. Last year, their church
helped lead an annual "March for Jesus" rally in downtown Sao Paulo
that attracted a crowd that police estimated at about 3 million --
about twice as many people as it had drawn the year before. The
Hernandeses have opened multiple churches in Florida, where they also
own a home.
On Jan. 8, they were stopped by U.S. customs officials after Brazilian
authorities had warned Interpol that the couple was suspected of
smuggling money out of Brazil to pay for personal investments. The
Hernandeses, who were traveling with their son, had declared on
customs forms that they were carrying less than $10,000. Their
arraignment in a Florida court is scheduled for Monday.
According to prosecutors, the $56,467 they carried was part of a
personal fortune collected from church donations that has attracted
the attention of state tax collectors since 2002. Lemos, the
prosecutor, said the church owns a ranch where the family keeps a
stable of horses, and Brazilian media outlets have reported that they
own at least four houses, 14 cars and shares in a resort. Sao Paulo's
state government alleges that they owe more than $3 million in back
taxes.
"The church's goals are not spiritual at all but are purely
entrepreneurial," Lemos said.
Brazilian authorities said they have been investigating the
Hernandeses for several years, believing that they have embezzled
funds from church contributors and evaded taxes. Prosecutors are
preparing charges of tax evasion and money laundering against the
couple.
Other churches in Brazil that allegedly practice what critics label
"prosperity theology" -- or a connection between monetary donations
and spiritual blessings -- have also been touched by scandal in recent
years. For more than a decade, Edir Macedo, founder of Universal
Church of the Kingdom of God, has been accused of crimes including
embezzlement and tax evasion. But he successfully fought the charges,
and his church has prospered, boasting more than 8 million members
worldwide and holdings in Brazil that include thousands of churches,
television and radio stations, newspapers, a soccer team and its own
political party.
The evangelical movement's political connections grew last year to
include one of the Brazilian legislature's most powerful caucuses,
with 61 elected members. But the caucus's power within congress was
diminished significantly by another scandal last year, in which more
than half of the members of the caucus were accused of taking bribes
to award contracts to overpriced ambulance services.
"These criminal acts and accusations have not damaged the evangelical
movement, though," said Lisias Noguera Negrao, a sociology professor
who studies religious movements at the University of Sao Paulo. "The
accusations are viewed by their followers as persecution. That is what
is happening now among the followers of the Hernandeses, and it is the
same thing that happened with Edir Macedo. He overcame the scandal
with his image intact."
Outside one of the Hernandeses' churches in Sao Paulo on Wednesday,
Robson Franchini, 29, stood with a Bible cradled in his arms and
ignored the pleas of church leaders who have urged members of Reborn
in Christ Church not to talk to members of the news media.
"The charges are all false -- I believe 100 percent in the integrity
of the apostle and the bishop," he said, before an angry congregant
pointed him out to church officials for speaking without approval.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/02/AR2007020201964.html
