Religion and Public Health: reconfiguration of Congregação Cristã do Brasil in COVID-19 pandemics time
Congregação Cristã do Brasil; Covid-19; Public Health; Religion.
The present work proposes a discussion on the relationship between religion and public health addressing the transformations/reconstructions of discourses, guidelines and practices within evangelical religious, especially the Christian Congregation in Brazil (CCB), due to the new epidemiological scenario that is currently presented with the infestation of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) caused by COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a pandemic. Through ethnographic research aims to understand the senses and meanings triggered by members of the CCB when dealing with the new forms of congregation due to the social isolation. Therefore, it is necessary (1) to ascertain the adequacy of the church to the sanitary requirements and the impact on ritual practices; (2) inquire how participation ritual operates as a symbol of prestige among the faithful; (3) investigate to what extent micro-relationships of power operate articulated to religious doctrines, producing disciplinary; (4) reflect on the relationship between religion and public health. The interviews were carried out with twenty-one people, all residing in Juazeiro do Norte.