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Collapse of Brazil church roof kills 9

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Tuesday January 20, 2009

Church belongs to controversial sect

Reporting from Bogota, Colombia, and Sao Paulo, Brazil — Fire department officials in Sao Paulo sorted through tons of debris Monday to determine what caused the roof of an evangelical church packed with worshipers to collapse just as evening service ended, with the toll in the disaster climbing to nine dead and 113 injured.
AP: Worshippers Killed in Brazilian Church Collapse
Inspectors theorized that the Sunday evening collapse of the building owned by Renascer, one of Brazil’s fastest-growing evangelical sects, may have been caused by the weight of air-conditioning ducts.
Rescue officials worked late into Sunday night pulling victims from the ruins of the neo-Pentecostal church, a converted movie theater built in the 1950s in the middle-class Cambuci neighborhood. All of those killed were women.
The collapse occurred as 600 people were filing out of a service that included a videoconference address from church founders in the United States. Without warning, tons of roofing material fell on top of the assemblage.
Renascer, or Reborn in Christ Church, has employed a musical format, celebrities and an eclectic approach — including the use of staff on roller skates — to attract an estimated 1 million followers since its founding in 1986. Brazilian soccer star Kaka was married in the church three years ago.
The church has also been plagued by scandal. Husband and wife founders Estevam and Sonia Hernandes, now living in the U.S., have been charged by Brazilian officials in connection with alleged fraud and money laundering.
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