The memories of the military chaplaincy and Religious Assistance Service of the Brazilian Army: history, (in)tolerance and castrense leadership

Abstract

In this paper, I discuss the memories of the Lutheran chaplain Elio Eugênio Müller, his life story and part of the military history of “Serviço de Assistência Religiosa do Exército Brasileiro (SAREx)” – an army religious assistance service – between 1998 and 1999. Since 1964, when the military service became compulsory due to civil-military coup, Müller became inclined to the military chaplaincy in Brazilian Army. In 1983, Müller joined the military chaplaincy and experienced stressful situations in the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil. Anticommunism, Araguaia Guerrilla, religious tolerance, homosexuality intolerance among military chaplains and the context in which Müller became the head of SAREx are issues presented in this article. I use unpublished documents placed aside the historiography and an oral history interview. I conducted discussions in the context of listening to oral history from the narrator's memory that has the "institutional memory” of the Brazilian Army; so that the oral history of life gained productive dimensions in the scope of this article.