Day 16 - Tuesday, June 2, 2009: Foundation Getulio Vargas

by Adam McCoy

Rio de Janeiro is truly a marvelous place. Everywhere you go in all Rio’s varied neighborhoods, Cristo de Redentor watches over you from his mountain. Thus, sitting in a classroom in Rio seems a fitting setting to have an inter-cultural exchange about religious freedom. As part of our colloquium at the Foundation Getulio Vargas, our class composed of both American and Brazilian students set out to discuss what an “establishment of religion” is in the American sense of the phrase. As part of this discussion our class discussed two very convoluted cases in American jurisprudence over the public display of the Ten Commandments. Religion is often a tense issue in the United States, but in Brazil, it seems not to be so.

Religion is evident everywhere one goes in Brazil, but nowhere is it more so than in Rio. The dominating presence of Christ the Redeemer is the most obvious example, but there are many others. We learned that religion is a part of everyday life in Brazil. While we were touring the Rocinha favela here in Rio, our guide Daniella explained that most religious Brazilians carry some token of their faith with them, or at least keep something reminding them of their faith close at hand. For example, one of our van drivers kept a small statue of the Virgin Mary suction-cupped to his window. Daniella herself wore a silver crucifix about her neck. It was not surprising to learn then from our fellow students at FGV that public displays of religion are not really a talked-about issue here in Brazil. In contrast, religion’s role in government and legislation is a hotly contested debate in the United States.

This is not to say that America is not a religious country. I recently read a figure that approximately seventy percent of Americans attend some form of religious service on a weekly basis, compared to figures in the mid teens to high twenties in most parts of Western Europe. America clearly is a religious state, albeit with a more varied array of religious practices. However, as discussed by our Justice Scalia in one of the cases that we studied, more than ninety five percent of America is made up of Christians, Jews, or Muslims – religions sharing a common ancestry. So, one cannot say that in practice Brazil is so different religiously than the United States. In fact, despite all of our differences, Brazilians are not that much different than Americans.

Although displays of religion are largely prohibited in the United States, while Christ the Redeemer stands boldly above Rio, our goals are no different. We are all simply looking for something to believe in. America, at least in public life, takes a more secular approach, but we both have our symbols of cultural, national, and religious identity, and regardless of their form or function, these symbols help promote the idea that through togetherness we can achieve more than we can apart. And this is truly what this trip has been about for me. When we step outside of our box where we live our day-to-day lives, we can really learn what it is to live together in the world that we all share despite our many differences.