An aspect of this text by Claudia Guedes that I really thought was very interesting and new to me was the realization that the Christian Church as a whole had a very large impact on sports becoming standardized and present inside the livelihoods of young men throughout Brazil in the late 1870’s to the 1930’s. Inside this passage, I learned that after the civil war of the United States, the Christian gospel integrated into a broader ministry as missionaries sought to spread their faith to the world around them. As seen throughout this time, the Christian ministry spread to countries in South America like Brazil, and the establishment of their religious council was present in the creation of reformations throughout the importance of education. According to the article,
“American interest in spreading the Christian gospel abroad grew considerably. Education proved to be one of the most productive means.”
This caught my attention as I realized that these educational reforms brought not only academic benefits, but also physical health befits through the encouragement of the existence of regulated sports inside the school systems. I was really interested with these facts because I am a Christian myself, and I have seen the really good, and unfortunately the terribly bad operation of ministry groups throughout the span of American history inside the US. Religious ministry was seen as an important aspect in expansion of America, especially through the transformation of Native American removal policies during the settlement of western states. Reading this article, it gave a different perspective that I really enjoyed learning about, and the positive affect’s gospel ministries had on the expansion of sports throughout the culture of Brazil’s youth. I thought that the Brazilian Law 630, which had been enacted in 1851, had stated that callisthenic/gymnastic exercises were to be included as part of the elementary school system was a really cool historical aspect inside the education system of Brazil.
