Amigo de fé: estudo sobre religião e amizade entre jovens assembleianos na Baixada Fluminense

Abstract

Based on a case study with members of an Assembly of God located in São João de Meriti, city of Baixada Fluminense at the Metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro, the present work aims to understand sociologically how young Pentecostal friendship relations are affected by their religiosity. The methodological option used was a triangulation, resorting to data generated by interviews with a qualitative and a quantitative basis samples of young Pentecostals (defined as those between 14 and 25 year old), complemented by observations of church services and of activities by those young people with their friends in their leisure time. The results of the research suggest that the dynamics between religion and friendship, within the scope of the present study, are explained primarily by a double movement: the congregational youth identity (term discussed in the present work) encourages young people to establish their sociability among those who are "separated from the world", but together in the "body of Christ." As a whole, the church offers a unique social space that ends up as a central place for youth sociability. Therefore, jointly and in an articulated way, these two factors tend to be central to the role of the church in the friendships of their youth.