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AMERICAS

Temple in Brazil Appeals to a Surge inEvangelicalsBy SIMON ROMERO JULY 24, 2014

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — It occupies an entire block in this teeming megacity:a 10,000­seat rendition of Solomon’s Temple.

Towering in sharp relief against the graffiti­splattered tenementsnearby, it beckons with monumental walls of stone imported from Israeland the flags of the dozens of countries where its owner, the UniversalChurch of the Kingdom of God, is nourishing an evangelical Christianempire.

A helicopter landing pad will allow Edir Macedo, the 69­year­oldmedia magnate who founded the Universal Church in a Rio de Janeirofuneral home in 1977, to drop in for sermons. The sprawling 11­storycomplex features other flourishes, too, like an oasis of olive trees similar tothe garden of Gethsemane near Jerusalem, and more than 30 columnssoaring toward the heavens.

“The Universal Church spared no expense,” said Rogério Araújo, thearchitect for the project, which is scheduled to be inaugurated on July 31.On a tour of the site, he added, “We sought to build a colossus, somethingthat would make people stop and gaze, and that’s what we delivered.”

The replica of Solomon’s Temple, which took four years to build at acost of about $300 million, captures the surging growth of evangelicalfaiths in Brazil. Although this country of 200 million people still has more

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Roman Catholics than any other nation, the number of evangelicals in

Brazil climbed to 22 percent of the population in 2010 from 15 percent in2000, according to census figures.

Large evangelical churches, particularly Pentecostal institutions likethe Universal Church, are also wielding greater political clout across Brazil,reflecting a sizable evangelical voting bloc in Congress and the efforts ofcandidates across the political spectrum to appeal to evangelical voters inthe presidential elections this year.

Brazil’s leftist president, Dilma Rousseff, is expected to be here for theinauguration of the temple, underscoring how she draws support for hergoverning coalition from a bloc of conservative evangelical leaders,including Mr. Macedo’s nephew, Marcelo Crivella, a Universal Churchpastor and gospel singer who until recently was the minister of fishing.

No one has reshaped Brazil’s religious landscape quite like Mr.Macedo. A religious broadcaster and founder of the church, Mr. Macedonow travels by private jet on a special diplomatic passport (a privilege alsoallowed in Brazil for high­ranking Vatican officials), espousing prosperitytheology and Pentecostal tenets like exorcism and faith healing.

With a personal fortune sometimes estimated at $1.2 billion, Mr.Macedo rose from obscurity through his control of Rede Record, one ofBrazil’s largest television networks, and his aggressive expansion of theUniversal Church, during which he has fought accusations of corruption,including tax evasion and money laundering.

Mr. Macedo was jailed for 11 days in 1992 on accusations ofcharlatanism and fraud. He has successfully fended off other criminalinvestigations, including allegations by prosecutors that he and otherchurch leaders siphoned off donations from followers to enrich themselves.In the past year, he has cultivated a somewhat wizardly appearance,growing a flowing gray beard while occasionally donning what appears tobe a skullcap like those worn by many observant Jews.

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The replica of Solomon’s Temple includes several menorahs inside thestructure, where sermons will be given, in addition to a large menorah nearthe entrance that resembles the one in front of the Knesset, Israel’slegislature. The flag of Israel also flies nearby, alongside those of theUniversal Church, Brazil and the United States, among dozens of othercountries.

“There is just one biblical faith; it is impossible to disassociateChristianity from its Jewish roots,” said Cássia Duarte, a spokeswoman forthe Universal Church. She emphasized that Mr. Macedo had been absolvedin an array of judicial investigations into corruption allegations,strengthening the church’s “preaching of the gospel.”

Scholars say that the Universal Church’s promotion of Jewishsymbolism in its replica of Solomon’s Temple stems from a quest forhistorical legitimacy in a church that is just 37 years old. The originalSolomon’s Temple is thought to have been constructed in ancientJerusalem by King Solomon around 1000 B.C. and destroyed about fourcenturies later in a siege led by a Babylonian king.

“Macedo was a pioneer in seeing symbols and rituals connected to theOld Testament and Judaism as linchpins in the creation of a church capableof capturing hearts and minds,” said Rodrigo Franklin de Sousa, a specialistin biblical history at Mackenzie University in São Paulo.

So far, leaders in Brazil’s Jewish community have generally taken arelaxed approach to the new Solomon’s Temple. “On the one hand, there’sthe favorable way in which Jewish culture and history are treated in thestructure,” said Nilton Bonder, a Brazilian rabbi whose writings on spiritualthemes are widely published. “On the other, there’s the bizarre aspect of theproject’s dimensions and aggressive marketing.”

The temple will be one of Brazil’s largest religious structures, makingthe iconic Christ the Redeemer overlooking Rio de Janeiro, which is onlyabout half as tall, look like a trinket in comparison.

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“The monumental temple will be a powerful symbol both of Brazil asthe epicenter of global Pentecostalism and of the Universal Church as theleading congregation challenging the Catholic Church in Brazil,” said R.Andrew Chesnut, an expert on Latin American religions at VirginiaCommonwealth University.

The project is already rallying support among some Universal Churchworshipers. “I get thrilled just by seeing the temple in a photograph,” saidMauricea dos Santos Ribeiro, 72, a retired bank employee who frequents abranch of the church in Rio de Janeiro. She said that a group from hercongregation was planning a trip here to see the temple. “I’m counting thedays until we go.”

As if emphasizing Brazil’s competitive religious landscape, the templedwarfs two other churches located just across the street, one Catholic andthe other operated by another Pentecostal group.

While the Universal Church projects its influence through Mr.Macedo’s television network and its web of operations in more than 100countries, including about 60,000 worshipers in the United States, theinstitution faces important rivals in Brazil that have adopted similarexpansion strategies.

Ricardo Mariano, a sociologist at the University of São Paulo, said thatthe Universal Church recently lost some ground in Brazil, with membersdeclining to about 1.8 million in 2010 from about 2.1 million in 2000, evenas Brazil’s evangelical Christians grew in proportion to the rest of thepopulation during that time.

If the new Solomon’s Temple is meant to lure new attention to theUniversal Church, that strategy is working.

Passers­by stop in front of it day and night. Some take pictures withtheir cellphones. Many stare at it in amazement, expressing their reactionson a crowded sidewalk where watchmen, described as “Guardians of theTemple” on their uniforms, patrol the entrance.

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“The temple is so enormous, so beautiful, but also so ostentatious,”Solange Barbosa de Nascimento, 58, a seamstress who worships at anotherBrazilian evangelical church called Peace and Love, said one recentmorning. “I wonder if they could have spent all that money another way,just caring for the poor.”

Mariana Simões contributed reporting from Rio de Janeiro.

A version of this article appears in print on July 25, 2014, on page A4 of the New York editionwith the headline: Temple in Brazil Appeals to a Surge in Evangelicals.

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