Fora da Caridade não há Religião: Breve História da Competição religiosa entre Catolicismo e Espiritismo Kardecista e de suas Obras Sociais na cidade de Juiz de Fora (1900-1960)

This article discusses how the Christian concept of Charity, wich plays a central role in Catholicism and Kardecist Spiritualism, became a means by which each religion discredited the other and legitimized itself in the course of a long process of rivalry between the two faiths. We focus on the city of Juiz de Fora where several philantropic undertakings were sponsored by Catholics or Spiritists beginning at the end of the nineteenth century and during the first five decades of the twentieth century. Through these endeavors, the Catholics tried to hold on to their religious monopoly and the Spiritists attempted to again legitimacy in the wider society.This article discusses how the Christian concept of Charity, wich plays a central role in Catholicism and Kardecist Spiritualism, became a means by which each religion discredited the other and legitimized itself in the course of a long process of rivalry between the two faiths. We focus on the city of Juiz de Fora where several philantropic undertakings were sponsored by Catholics or Spiritists beginning at the end of the nineteenth century and during the first five decades of the twentieth century. Through these endeavors, the Catholics tried to hold on to their religious monopoly and the Spiritists attempted to again legitimacy in the wider society.O artigo visa discutir como o conceito cristão de caridade, central no Catolicismo e no Espiritismo kardecista, passa a ser utilizado como mecanismo de desqualificação e legitimação no processo de competição de competição religiosa  entre duas religiões. Enfocando a cidade de Juiz de Fora no final do século XIX e nas primeiras cinco décadas do século XX, situa uma série de iniciativas do Catolicismo e Espiritismo na constituição de obras filantrópicas, onde o primeiro buscava a manutenção do seu monopólio e o segundo, legitimação frente à sociedade