“In the name of God”: hypotheses about the characteristics of religious iconoclasm in contemporary Brazil

The paper proposes a survey of the phenomenon of religious iconoclasm in contemporary Brazil, as well as subsidies for its understanding. Our reflections are based mostly on sources such as news published in the press, and on the bibliography on iconoclasm related to the visual arts. Based on these references, we discuss iconoclastic attacks against symbols of Catholic faith, as well as the oldest iconoclastic wave targeting Afro-Brazilian sacred images, monuments, and places of worship. We finish the paper presenting some hypotheses about the motivations behind these iconoclastic acts, which directly confront the constitutional right to religious freedom in Brazil.

Keywords:
Iconoclasm; Sacred images; Catholicism; Afro-Brazilian religions; Religious intolerance.