All images © Kevin Moloney


A member of the Assembly of God church in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, shouts a rousing testimony over a Rio plaza about how his life was changed by joining the Pentecostal movement. Some 65 percent of converts to new home-grown evangelical sects in Rio associate their conversion with a life problem such as drug, alcohol or spousal abuse.



A congregation member of the Deus É Amor church in Rio de Janeiro kneels below the dais to be closer to orating ministers. Once Latin America held half of the world's Roman Catholics. Now one person in seven there is Protestant. The 1991 census for Brazil showed 12.6 million evangelicals, but estimates have run as high as 25 million.



Allegedly possessed by a demonic spirit from an Afro-Brazilian religion called umbanda, a congregation member is dragged screaming to the dais at the front of the church where the spirit will be cast out through fervent prayer. Deus É Amor has opened 7,500 churches throughout Brazil and others in almost every country on the South American continent in the last 30 years. Other evangelical churches claim similar growth rates.



A young woman claiming to carry a demonic spirit is exorcised by ministers at the Deus É Amor church. Pastor Odair Gomes had called all the spirits of umbanda to show themselves. Each spirit was then cast out by fervent prayer and the ‘laying on of hands.’



Pastor Odair Gomes, 34, of the Deus É Amor church in Rio de Janeiro, addresses his congregation during an evening service at the church. Gomes is responsible for the State of Rio de Janeiro and oversees more than 600 churches.


All images © Kevin Moloney

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