The Spread of a Neo-Pentecostal Brazilian Church among Immigrant Populations in West-ern Europe
Neo-pentecostalism is a recent form of an emotional neo-evangelical religiosity which developed in Latin America throughout the XXth Century. Brazil has been very important in the dynamics of this movement and is the cradle of the Universal Church of Kingdom of God (Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus), considered by various scientists as the paradigma of transnationalized Latin-American Neo-Pentecostalism. Founded in 1977 in Rio de Janeiro, the IURD is implanted in America, in Africa, in Japan and in Eastern and Western Europe. In this last region, except Portugal, it has little success with the natives but is massively joined by immigrant populations, especially the Portuguese and West-Africans in Paris, the Afro-Caribbeans and Pakistanese in London. After having circumscribed the elements defining the different categories of Pentecostalism and Neo-Pentecostalism, this paper presents briefly some ceremonies, and analyzes the specific ritual strategies used for proselytism, and the probable reasons of such a large spread for a symbolic universe that is roughly different from the cultural traditions of its new followers.