Chute na santa incident

The "Chute na santa" (Portuguese: Chute na santa - "kicking on the saint") incident was a religious controversy that erupted in Brazil in late 1995, sparked by a live broadcast of a minister of Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG), the largest pentecostal church in Brazil, kicking the statue of Our Lady of Aparecida, a Roman Catholic saint.

[1][2] That dawn, on O Despertar da Fé (English: The Awakening of Faith), a national live television program by UCKG broadcast on Rede Record (owned by the same church), televangelist bishop Sérgio Von Helder was expressing his thoughts about his church's biblical teachings on "imagery" and "idolatry" on the saint's day, when an actual icon of the saint was shown.

A few months prior to the incident, Globo had broadcast a mini-series by Dias Gomes titled Decadência (English: Decadence), which depicted the fictional tale of Mariel Batista (Edson Celulari), a corrupt Protestant pastor.

[1] The "kicking of the saint" episode is referenced in the 1997 song Guerra Santa (Portuguese: Holy war), written and performed by Gilberto Gil.

In this song, featured in the album Quanta, Gil criticizes prosperity theology, one of the tenets of UCKG and other popular Neopentecostal churches in Brazil.