O crescimento da população evangélica e suas implicações na cidade de Uberlândia - MG

Abstract

This work is the result of a survey carried out in the city of Uberlândia-MG, to verify the growth of evangelicals in the urban area of the city, to listen to people directly and indirectly involved with the municipality both in the religious field and in other segments of the population. The work also aims to know the transformations of the growth of the Evangelical Churches and their implications with the increase of this follow-up for the urban agglomerate. The methodology worked with the bibliographical survey carried out, interviews with subjects close to the process, geographic and historical data of the city and mappings were presented in order to verify this growth. The theoretical framework focused on the definition of Geography of Religion, sacred and profane space, the genesis of Christianity, the reform of Martin Luther and the teachings of John Calvin, the historical Protestants, the emergence of the evangelicals in the country, the Pentecostals, the first evangelicals in the city, the neo-Pentecostals and new trends like the cell churches. Also discussed were the transformations caused by the installation of the evangelical temples in Uberlândia from the 1980s, as well as the significant increase in religious follow-up; some evangelical churches that have emerged in the city as Salt of the Earth and Shalom and their concentration in the urban periphery with less purchasing power. The concepts used gave theoretical support for the understanding of the effects caused by the growth of evangelicals from different points of view; the work was complemented with data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, Getúlio Vargas Foundation and the churches themselves, comparing the growth of evangelicals, population and the fall of Catholics. The social actions of the evangelicals, the traditional, Pentecostal, Neo-Pentecostal, and other currents were also discussed. Also the use of the media that favored the growth, the importance as a point of attraction of Prosperity Theology in the Neo-Pentecostal churches, the Gospel Shows, the concentration of the churches in the periphery and the political participation of this follow-up in the municipal elections. Research has shown social changes as well as landscape and space transformations.