Page 75 - Aesthetic Formations Media, religion, and the Sense

60 Martijn Oosterbaan

Subsequently, the evangelical churches in the favela were often imagined
as permanent safe havens against the dangers of the favela. An example
comes from the missionária (missionary) Angela, who lived in a house in
the favela, close to the site where the drugs were sold. The first time I
talked to her she explained that her house used to be of the Comando
Vermelho and that the boys of the tráfico used it to store their drugs and
hide when the police would enter the favela. When I interviewed her, she
gave me her long testimony, explaining that she was sent by God to buy
that house and preach to those who had not heard the word of God. She
outlined her mission as follows:

I have a team of youngsters, ex-feticeiras, ex-prostitutas, ex-ladrões, ex-
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matadores, who have done horrible things, but today they are cleansed
(limpo) by the word of God and they are ministers of the gospel (evangelho)
of the Lord Jesus Christ here on Earth . . . I have this team of youngsters that
are sons in faith, produced by the word of God, recovered not with chemi-
cals but with the power of Jesus Christ who is the liberator.
When I asked her if there had been no complications with the traficantes
when she bought the house, she explained:

When I bought it, they came and when I presented myself as the buyer they
left the house. I did not encounter problems with them. I am praying for
them that God will save them and He will save them in the name of the
Lord Jesus. They only charge those that interfere with them, I am here pray-
ing . . . originally it was a hell here, and mind you, I am talking about differ-
ent periods, it was a hell. Now there is peace in this place, a peace that Jesus
Christ granted, before I came here, He had shown me He was going to send
me to a place that was a hell and that would be transformed into heaven.

The homology between practices of spiritual purification of individual bod-
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ies and of space is enforced by other mechanisms as well. In the Igreja
Universal a heavy emphasis is placed on objects (pamphlets, envelops but
also stones, salt, and other objects) and fluids (oil and water mostly) as bibli-
cal mediators of the Holy Spirit and containers of curative and protective

powers. By means of their words and prayers the bispos bless and consecrate
these objects and fluids, after which the powers can be transmitted to indi-
viduals (see also Kramer 2001). The consecrated salt is meant to be taken
home to cleanse and protect the houses of the church attendants against the
perceived evil that surrounds them. People are instructed to pour the salt on
their doorsteps to safeguard the boundaries between the spiritually purified
inside and the threatening outside. Similar practices of spatial demarcation
of metaphysical domains of good and evil are also found in other evangelical