The ecumenical movement in contemporary Brazil: 1980-2000

The research analyzes the ecumenical movement during the decade of 1980 and beginning of the decade of 1990 using as a reference the Centro Ecumenico de Documentacao e Informacao (CEDI) [The Ecumenical Center of Documentation and Information] through its journal Tempo e Presenca. The ideas and relationships established by the movement underpinned the constitution of various popular movements in Brazil. The ecumenical movement established itself in Brazil mainly through non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and showed itself to be dynamic and creative in the sense of elaborating projects and actions in various areas of the social field. The ecumenical movement concerned itself with popular education, with the organization of the church based on the people, supported popular movements, provided advisory services for the union struggle, defended Human Rights, struggled for the demarcation of indigenous territories and participated in the Brazilian political life struggling against the military dictatorship. The perspectives of the ecumenical movement after the changes which occurred in the 1990s - with the re-democratization of Brazil and Latin America, the establishment of a new international order with the fall of the Berlin wall and the environmental issues - led to a new action of the ecumenical movement. It began seeking new ways to do politics, such as supporting the World Social Forum (WSF), seeking inter-religious dialog as an imperative in the construction of a society of peace and the formation of a new agenda of the movement with regard to social justice and the environment.