Religion as a business
The strong importance of religion brings to Brazil a lot of important values and even a feeling of security to the population, who have to face insecurity and corruption. But there are not only positive attributes that can be considered with the religious liberty in the country. The lack of governmental control concerning religion and the liberty of creation of religions brings to the country advantages but also disadvantages. On the one hand, people can act out their religion without being discriminated, but on the other hand some Brazilians establish their own churches/religions to make profit. To these people religion in Brazil appears to be more as a business than a temple of faith. Some institutions try to exploit the numbers of raised money and the increasing membership for religion. “With such large amount of money surrounding Brazilian churches, these institutions seem to work as companies, and religion seemsto act as a business.”How do Religions make Money?
In Brazil members of religions are asked to pay the tithe, which means that they can voluntary pay or give a tenth part of their income for the support of the church. In 2011 the Universal Church of God's Grace in São Paulo introduced the possibility to contribute their monthly amount by automated bank draft. The members can also contribute with other types of donations, like food and clothes, but money is the most usual one.
The sale of religious articles such as rosaries, medals of saints or status also brings money to the churches. They a financial advantage of the faithful people, who believe that the goods are sacred, even if that is not all the time the case, and bring luck and health to them. A lot of people in Brazil carry in their wallets a photo of a saint with the purpose of always being protected by it.Obviously religion has become a sort of market in Brazil raising a large amount of money.
The non-governmental intervention in religion leads to the fact that political parties and syndicates, the temples, churches and any other type of religious centres are not included in federal government taxation system. Even though this type of places do not have to pay any federal taxes, they force people to pay for some services provided. In the case of weddings and baptisms that happen inside the churches or temples these places must be paid to the religious institution for being used. However, to guaranty a minimum of control, the institutions must declare every year the quantity and the origin of their income to the Federal Revenue. This sort of declaration is named DIPJ.
Another Brazilian way to generate income with religion is the religious tourism, basically most of this tourism takes place at religious dates. Places such as Aparecida, in São Paulo, Belém do Pará and Nova Trento, in Santa Catarina, are famous destinations chosen by Brazilian religious to pilgrimage. To benefit from these special dates, which bring a mass of tourists to the country, prices for hotels, museums visitations and other events increase significantly. Due to the fact that Brazil is a catholic country, the religious tourism has got a huge development space in Brazilian territory and seems to be a “market” with future.
Katharina Grewing
Sources:
http://thebrazilbusiness.com/article/religion-‐as-‐a-‐business-‐in-‐brazil)
http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/71275264/heaven-‐credit-‐church-‐brazil-offers-‐credit-‐card-‐tithe-‐by-‐automated-‐bank-‐draft
http://thebrazilbusiness.com/article/religion-‐as-‐a-‐business-‐in-‐brazil)
Photo credits :
1.
http://brightsblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/kirchen-geld-kreuz-tilly.jpg
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http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51plgObAqVL._SX300_.jpg
3. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Santuario_nacional.jpg/220px
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