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Purity and the Devil 63

in the favela, the immoral behavior was mostly associated with Afro-
Brazilian religious practices, even the presence of traficantes and the armed
confrontations among them (Oosterbaan 2006).
Many converts understand their crossing from a “worldly” to a “godly”
lifestyle as a way to protect themselves from the harsh circumstances of life
in the favela. Conversion to Pentecostalism is attractive because it offers
experiences of empowerment through collective rituals in combination
with a newborn identity in the complex power relations of the favela.
People can claim a status aparte, beyond the jogo de cintura (wealing and
dealing) and the violence of daily life. The trope of the spiritual battle is
crucial to understanding the nature of the conversions and the inherent
paradoxes. While their newborn identity is God-given, it is also an identity
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they must perform on a daily basis. The status aparte is generally granted,
but other inhabitants only accept it when people do indeed show the signs
of God’s grace and do not engage in the behavior they condemn of others.
This demands extra awareness and a multitude of self-disciplinary perfor-
mances. Evangélicos should no longer practice those diabolical things they
did before: no more baile funk, samba, or pagode; no more adultery, drink-
ing, or smoking. Conversion thus restores the feeling of power over their
destiny (Mariz 1994) and heightens the responsibility to behave according
to the biblical norms (Oro and Seman 1999).
Whereas most studies on evangelical movements and media focus on
evangelical programs on radio and television to research its possible influ-
ence, the evangélicos in the favela of my research watched and listened to an
array of popular television and radio programs of many different genres
and many of their accounts of their place “in the world” and the meaning
of Christian doctrines and practices were based upon information from all
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kinds of programs, both “worldly” and “godly.” When we start from the
assumption that religion is a practice of mediation and that religion, media,
and culture are co-constitutive (Meyer 2006a), we can leave aside the nar-
row focus on the relation between media and religion and study their var-
ious intersections synchronically and diachronically.
Evangelical leaders try to convince people that the spiritual battle between
God and the devil also takes place in the domain of television and radio. The

devil works cunningly in various ways and he is always and everywhere busy
trying to “steal, kill and destroy,” as many of the people told me. Whereas
the devil operates through radio and television, by seducing men and women
with carnal pleasures that may seem attractive but eventually lead to death
and destruction, God can also work through media.
To the evangelicals in the favela, the electro-acoustic amplification of
church services strengthens their belief that they are reaching out to the
people who surround them. Likewise, radios and CD players that play