Vulnerable salvation: Evangelical Protestant leaders and institutions, drug use and HIV and AIDS in the urban periphery of Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

This analysis focuses on the evangelical Protestant responses to drug use and HIV prevention, treatment and care in the urban periphery of Rio de Janeiro. We question how religious institutions, and the positions of pastors, create or reduce various elements of societal illness and vulnerability. We aim to show that the views of pastors may symbolise a form of social regulation that may have a meaningful social impact on drug use and HIV and AIDS. The interviews of 23 evangelical religious leaders were collected. Two case studies of evangelical drug rehabilitation centres (DRC) are derived from five qualitative interviews. Evangelical DRC generally reflects pastors’ discourses of reintegration into social networks including marriage, family and employment. We found important differences in the discourses and practices in private versus state-funded rehabilitation centres that may reveal ways social and programmatic vulnerabilities may affect the efficacy of public health interventions.

Keywords:

• evangelical Protestant religion
• drug use
• HIV and AIDS
• vulnerability
• Brazil

Acknowledgements

This article is based on data collected from the research study titled “Religious Responses to HIV/AIDS in Brazil”, a project sponsored by the Eugene Kennedy Shiver US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (grant number R01 HD050118-05; principal investigator, Richard G. Parker). This national study is being conducted in four sites, at the following institutions and by their respective coordinators: Rio de Janeiro (Associação Brasileira Interdisciplinar de AIDS/ABIA – Veriano Terto Jr.); São Paulo (Universidade de São Paulo/USP – Vera Paiva); Porto Alegre (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul/UFRGS – Fernando Seffner); and Recife (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco/UFPE – Luís Felipe Rios). Additional information about the project can be obtained via email from [email protected] or at http:www.abiaids.org.br, the Associação Brasileira Interdiciplinar de AIDS (ABIA) website.

Jonathan Garcia was supported by F31 HD055153-02 from the Eugene Kennedy Shiver US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and by T32MH020031 from the National Institute of Mental Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NICHD, NIMH or the NIH. Support from the scientists at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS at Yale University and the Center for Gender, Sexuality and Health was very valuable in revisions.

Notes

1. In Brazil, there has been a growth of evangelical religions (from 9% in 1991 to 15% in 2000) and a diminishing number of Catholics (from 83% in 1991 to 73% in 2000), according to census data (IBGE 2000). These groups include historical protestant churches, such as Baptists, Presbyterians and Lutherans. Pentecostal groups include groups such as the Assembly of God, the Quadrangular Church, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God and numerous churches and missions with unique names and followings.

2. The study was approved by the Columbia University Institutional Review Board (IRB), the Committee of Research Ethics of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (CEP/UERJ), as well as by the Brazilian National Research Ethics Commission (CONEP).