Black Women Are the Majority in Evangelical Churches in São Paulo, Datafolha Research Points Out

Small temples make up most of this Christian network, the research indicates

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São Paulo

São Paulo's evangelical churches have a majority of black women, in families with incomes of up to three minimum wages. This is the face of the average believer in a city where 71% of the segment attend small temples, which hold up to 200 people and multiply in the outskirts.

A panorama that has little to do with the imagination fed by those who follow the evangelical expansion in the city from a distance. The temptation to associate it with rich pastors, almost always white and owners of religious empires, is strong, but it does not reflect the portrait drawn by Datafolha research conducted between June 24 and 28 with 613 residents of the capital who declare themselves part of this Christian branch. The survey has a margin of error of four percentage points.

We are talking about a São Paulo where one in four people is evangelical. A predominantly female bloc: they are 58% among evangelicals and, according to the 2022 Census, 53% of the local population.

The black evangelicals in the municipality, including browns and blacks, are 67% —in the general average estimated by the Census, the bloc amounts to 43.5% of São Paulo residents.

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