Church of the Lord Risen

The Church of the Lord Risen, also known as the Lord Risen Church or CLR is an evangelical protestant denomination. It is headquartered in São Vicente, Encarnação, where the vast majority of its followers reside. The church has locations across the whole island of Encarnação, but primarily on the capital city.

History
The organization sees its origins in the Evangelical church of Encarnação, of which founder Nuno Viriato Delgado was a minister since the late 80s. Nuno's church followers prior to the separation of the church from the mainline Evangelical belief followed unorthodox beliefs that involved a high level of syncretism with many beliefs including the native Taino's beliefs, Haqiqatan, Judaism and others. In 1996, due to a barrage of criticism, Nuno officially split his church from mainline Evangelism, forming the Church of the Lord Risen and naming himself as founder and president of the new organization.

The start of the CLR saw low membership numbers, as many old followers left the organization to join back into many other mainstream Evangelical churches due to the unorthodox beliefs of founder Nuno Delgado. The church however began to saw a large amount of growth in the early 2000s due to the church's new access to public access television in the island and the use of radio and TV sermons to attract new followers. As new followers arrived the amount of syncretism in the beliefs of the Lord Risen Church's followers increased significantly. Figures such as San La Muerte began to be introduced as saint-like figures, a move that attracted much criticism from the mainstream Christian denominations at the time, which denounced the religion, calling it "not christian anymore" and "nothing more than a new religious movement".

As time progressed the CLR began to experience an increase in activity which has been described as "cult-like" by many experts. Members were punished by family for attempting to leave the organization and claims of extortion and corporal punishment of believers started to surface. Still, due to the religious laws of the island protecting all major religions, and due to the large number of followers of the Lord Risen Church, no action was ever taken by the government to investigate these claims or prosecute those involved in criminal activity. Nowadays the CLR is generally described as a New Religious Movement by many rather than a purely Evangelical or even Christian denomination, a claim that the leader Nuno Viriato disagrees with saying the religion is no less Christian than any other denomination in the island.

Beliefs
The CLR follows primarily evangelical theology, but the rest of their beliefs are syncretic and sometimes disjointed or contradictory at times. Many beliefs from other world religions are integrated into the Church's core beliefs, with many believers having personal saint-like figures they worship such as San La Muerte or other saint-like folk figures. Taino beliefs have been integrated into the religion too, alongside Haqiqatic and Jewish beliefs. The CLR has been criticized for this reason by many mainstream Christian denominations, who see the Church as a new religious movement rather than a fellow christian faith.

Controversies
Many controversies have rocked the believers of the CLR since its inception, primarily due to their alleged cult-like and sometimes illegal activities. Some schools property of the Lord Risen Church have been accused of promoting corporal punishment of students, which is illegal in the island. Alumni were told to forgive and ignore the punishment, being told that coming out would "damage the name of Christ's followers" and therefore damn them to hell in the afterlife. Several students organized protests after being kicked out of their schools due to their parents' complaints of corporal punishment and other abuses, and a small and largely ineffectual government investigation was launched on several of the schools were such abuses were primarily reported.

Other controversies involve the abuse of believers by high ranking church officials, the prohibition of leaving the church at risk of being "damned to live their eternal life in hell" or suffering physical abuse, illegal activities in church grounds, the extortion of businesses and people living in proximity to the CLR's churches and many other abuses and illegal activities that are yet to be properly investigated by government figures of the islands.