Brazilian Indians want church off tribal lands

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More than half a millenium after the first Catholic missionaries landed in the New World, a group of Indians from the state of Mato Grosso do Sul are asking federal authorities to ban churches from their reserves, reports O Globo. The indigenous representatives fear further dilution of cultural identity, especially from evangelical sects with galloping membership in Brazil.

Federal officials signaled their intention to comply with the Indians’ request, despite likely opposition from organized religious groups. A spokesman for one sect said the church had brought only ‘joy and peace of heart’’ to indigenous communities.

Indian groups throughout Latin America were outraged last year when Pope Benedict XVI, during a visit to Brazil, gave a rosy assessment of the colonial conversion in the Americas, saying the Indian masses had been ‘secretly longing’’ for Christ. The pope later acknowledged that ‘unjustifiable crimes’ took place during the colonial-era evangelization.

— Marcelo Soares in Sao Paulo and Patrick J. McDonnell in Buenos Aires.