A inserção protestante no Brasil do século XIX: disputas por espaços e poder nos discursos sobre laicidade entre evangélicos e católicos em periódicos laicos e religiosos (1810-1891)

Abstract

The dissertation investigated the Protestant propaganda’s issue by foreign missionaries in the second half of the 19th century. The growing proselytism brought social changes, that's why we emphasize the conflicts related to marriages, generated by the growing number of immigrants. This was a sensitive issue for government officials, as the entry of people from other nations had increased since 1808, as they were attracted by economic opportunities, providing a cultural exchange regarding beliefs. On receiving immigrants, Brazil also welcomed ecclesiastics interested in expanding their religion. These people distributed Bibles in Portuguese, baptized those who were interested in following their teachings, built churches, participated in discussions on the press, and were hunted by civilians, public administration’s members, and part of the Catholic clergy. Therefore, the missionaries fought for religious association’s freedom, since the legislation recognized Catholicism as the official state religion. Starting from the Cultural History’s proposals, with analysis of publications in the press, memoirs, and official documents of the institutions, we sought to analyze how public services were performed by the Catholic Church, limited only to the believers, making marriage a hindrance to the confessional state, especially couples from different beliefs. In this regard, we visualize how missionaries’ work was crucial for the construction of a generating fact in Brazilian legislation.