O milagre pentecostal e a ciência: rumo a uma racionalização do discurso religioso*

Abstract

Considering the relevance of Pentecostalism to 25% of the Brazilian population, the socialization of the faithful of the Assembly of God (AG) and the reinterpretation of the hegemonic scientific discourse constitute relevant questions to study the renewed links between religion and science. This study is based on a literature that rethinks the theories of secularization, since the disenchantment of the world does not mean a disappearance of religion, that the religious matrix permeates the social imaginary and the constituent imagination. We understand science and religion as two systems of interpretation of the world that have fluid relations, but which are not necessarily excluded. Taking the constant pentecostalization of Brazil, the objective is to study the new configurations of the relations between science and religion in the imaginary and in the discourse of the faithful of the AG. This study proposes a bottom-up approach, whose object is the relationship between scientific discourse, religious beliefs and democratic expressions of the AG’s members. It is based on an empirical research by participant observation and semi-structured interviews in 4 churches of the State of São Paulo (2014-2015). The first result showed that although the social ascendance and entrance into the university of young members constituted an affront to Pentecostal values, the churchgoers found the means to use the knowledge acquired in higher education to renew the justifications of their religious beliefs. A second conclusion then revealed that the juxtaposition of two apparently contradictory types of arguments did not constitute a problem, as shown by the recurrent use of scientific arguments to justify their beliefs in the divine and their opinions about drugs, abortion, etc., thus constituting, a ‘balkanization of the brains’.