On the Struggle for the Right of the Other to be Diferent

Abstract

The article aims to discuss the resemblance processes in Colonial and Imperial Brazil that were imposed by the racism of slaveholders to the different African peoples who were brought here in order to supply the labor needed for large plantations and mining of gold and diamonds. As the black and feminist theologies, the article is developed from the narrative of the author’s personal ecumenical experience in the process of becoming aware of his blackness, to then reflect on the ecumenical processes of confrontation with the rooted racism in Brazilian society throughout its history. The article seeks to emphasize that racism has dimensions that escape and transcend the struggle against economic exploitation and the political repression of the racially excluded. In the process of subjection imposed upon them, the churches have played a key role in the destruction of their culture. Fear, ignorance, intolerance and violence are the elements that nourish racism in its different expressions, especially in the religious field. The overcoming of racism impliesnecessarily in the affirmation of the different - in his or her right to be different. Thus, the question of religious freedom is of fundamental importance for the interreligious ecumenical practice in today’s Brazil, teaching us that the differences can coexist without ceasing to be what they are, thus building each other in the encounter of the different ones. All are challenged to affirm their differences without denying each other: being includes nonbeing, without ceasing to be.