Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus / IURD (Edir Macedo, Brazil)
Brazilian Pentecostal megachurch founded by Edir Macedo (1977). Owns Brazil's second-largest TV network (Record). Subject of multiple Brazilian money-laundering and tax-fraud investigations over decades.
CLCI radar
BITE breakdown
+1 for documented multi-decade financial-extraction patterns and money-laundering investigations.
Profile facts
In context
IURD is one of the largest neo-Pentecostal churches in the world, with operations in 100+ countries. Macedo's wealth (estimated $1+ billion) has drawn sustained scrutiny. Multiple Brazilian, Portuguese, and African investigations into money laundering and tax fraud have been pursued; convictions have been limited. The CLCI captures documented patterns of aggressive seed-faith giving, fear-based deliverance theology, and centralised power.
History
Macedo built IURD from a 1977 Rio de Janeiro start-up into one of the largest neo-Pentecostal denominations globally, owning Brazil's second-largest TV network.
Key control doctrines
- Seed-faith giving as path to deliverance
- Aggressive spiritual-warfare deliverance practice
- Bishop hierarchy under Macedo's apostolic authority
Recovery resources
See the full curated list at /resources.
Legal cases & controversies
- Multiple Brazilian money-laundering investigations (1990s+)
- Operação Querubim 2009
- Various Portuguese and African regulatory disputes
Evidence by BITE axis
- Substantial seed-faith giving (often weekly chains of escalating amounts)
- Multiple weekly service attendance
- Members donate significant assets
- Strict modesty / behaviour code
- IURD's Record TV network central information channel
- Critical media framed as Catholic-persecution
- Bishop interpretation authoritative
- Aggressive demonic-attribution framework
- Critics framed as spiritually compromised
- Black-and-white blessed/cursed framing
- Fear-based deliverance services
- Public testimony of breakthroughs creates pressure
- Severance from Catholic family encouraged
Timeline
- 1977IURD founded by Edir Macedo
- 1989Acquires Rede Record TV network
- 2009Brazilian Federal Police 'Operação Querubim' investigation
Sources
- Folha de São Paulo investigations search ↗
- BBC Brasil coverage search ↗
- Brazilian Federal Police investigations search ↗
We cite sources by name and outlet rather than fabricating links. Where a source includes its own URL, the open ↗ link opens it directly; otherwise search ↗ runs a Google Scholar query for the cited title — useful for verifying academic sources. For news outlets, search the outlet's own archive.
Voices of former members
“We were chained to weekly cycles of giving — every Wednesday a new 'campaign', every Friday a new chain of breakthroughs.”
— Anonymous composite, 2024
Quotes are either verifiable public testimony or anonymized composites drawn from documented patterns. See Survivor Voices for more.
Change history
Substantive edits logged per the score-updates policy.
- 2026-05-20Source-density flags derived from existing free-text sources[]: investigative journalism. Heuristic auto-flag; subsequent editorial pass will populate structuredSources[] with reliability tiers.
- 2026-05-20Score band scheme migrated from 4 bands to 5 (Minimal 0–5 / Low 6–12 / Moderate 13–20 / High 21–30 / Extreme 31–40). No CLCI value changed; the new Minimal band was carved out of the bottom of the previous Low band.
Relevant hubs
Curated entry points on CLCI Hub for situations connected to this group.
You may also want to explore
Found something wrong on this profile?
We accept correction requests from anyone — current and former members, researchers, journalists, family members, and the listed organisation. Submissions are reviewed by an editor; we do not auto-publish.