Adieu to God: Why Psychology Leads to Atheism by Mick Power

Author:Mick Power [Power, Mick]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2012-02-06T13:00:00+00:00

Candomblé was originally confined to the slave population, and was subsequently banned by the Catholic Church. Over the centuries Candomblé has incorporated an increasing number of elements from Christianity. Crucifixes are sometimes displayed in Candomblé terreiros (temples), and Candomblé houses in Brazil often display statues of the Catholic saints. In addition, Candomblé followers often participate in Catholic celebrations for the particular saint that corresponds to their Candomblé deity. Even after the end of slavery, the claim that ritual dances of Candomblé were in honour of Catholic saints was often used by practitioners and authorities alike as an excuse to avoid confrontation. The slave context has led Candomblé to be one of the ultimate syncretic religions, even if the Catholic Church has come to reject it. The anthropologist Mattijs van de Port has written recently of “Candomblé in pink, green, and black” (van de Port, 2005), meaning that Candomblé appeals not only to the blacks (the black Africans brought to Brazil by the slave trade), but also now to the pink (gays, who are treated badly within Catholicism) and to the green (the environmental movement which is growing in Brazil). There is even an Islamic sect within Candomblé because some of the slaves from West Africa had already been exposed to Muslim ideas, plus there has been some incorporation of local Native American gods. Hence, not only does the new religion take hold through the incorporation of some of the old beliefs, but, in cases such as Candomblé, the old religion actually survives through the superficial adoption of some of the beliefs and practices of the new religion. Still, the Candomblé practice of the ritual sacrifice of animals such as chickens in public was always hard to disguise as anything other than of African origin rather than Catholicism.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.