Igreja Universal

The Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (IURD) is a Latin American Pentecostal Christian movement (founded in 1977 by Edir Macedo) that by 2010 had more than 6 million adherents in most parts of the world. It is similar to some neo-Pentecostal churches [Page 543]in the sense that it is more interested in alleviating current human problems (e.g., poverty, unemployment, hunger, and illness) than in effecting the salvation of sinners, spiritual conversion, and moral purification. Demons and evil spirits, not the people themselves, are considered responsible for sins and crime. They are believed to possess human beings, who then become evildoers or get sick. They have to be exorcized by pastors because only they have the spiritual power for this task. This operation, however, comes ...