Evangelicals are not a monolithic bloc, says journalist – 04/07/2024 – Power

There is nothing monolithic about the rise of Brazilian evangelical churches over the last few decades. Despite the popularity and influence of some better-known pastors, it is a complex phenomenon, highly fragmented and in constant transformation, shows “The Pulpit”, a new book by journalist Anna Virginia Balloussier.

Although the reporter from Sheet has specialized in covering relations between the evangelical movement and behind-the-scenes politics for more than ten years, the work gives equal weight to the social, behavioral and even economic aspects of the growth of this diverse community.

With this, some stereotypes fall to the ground, starting with the “caricature of the grim and severe believer, averse to anything other than divine grace”, she says. Balloussier describes the transformations in the evangelical milieu with good humor and a dose of irony, something that, for the author, is quite common among today’s “believers”.

“What you can’t do is give the impression that you are laughing at them, and not with them”, she explains. “As I’ve been going around churches for a long time, I can give myself this freedom with people closest to me, who I know don’t mind, on the contrary, they’re the first to use humor to talk about themselves.”

This strange combination, at least for outsiders, of intense devotion to the biblical text, on the one hand, and irreverence and flexibility, on the other, appears in the most diverse aspects of evangelical expansion.

This scenario ranges from the creation of erotic products especially dedicated to spicing up the marriage (faithfully monogamous, of course) of the “sisters” to the competition for the religious product fairs, a market in which there are people eager to consume books, fashion and music designed for their worldview.

And there is also a convergence, in several cases, of Christian preaching with the language of “coaches”, filled with ideas of self-help and the search for personal ascension.

All of this starts to make a little more sense when one considers the demographic transformations that the evangelical tradition has undergone as it stopped being a minority in Brazil, says Balloussier.

“The evangelical profile started out whiter, because it was the religion of Protestant immigrants coming from Europe and the United States. But its presence in the population was still residual. Especially after Pentecostalism, evangelicals increasingly became the face of the Brazilian base “, resume.

“Today the majority in churches are black, female and come from the lower classes. The question is to understand why this religion has become so popular in the outskirts. I would say that it has a lot to do with the community ties it provides, and also with prospects for social mobility : with the help of his brothers, the faithful want to prosper.”

The numerical growth was accompanied by a concomitant advance in the relationship with politics and the media, viewed with reservation or even repulsion when the “believers” were few in the midst of a sea of ​​Catholics. The current association of the leaders of this advance with Bolsonarism was being built in stages, according to her.

“This nationally renowned evangelical leadership, the ‘big names’ that we see so much in the media and on social networks, had a more physiological tendency in the past, if we can put it that way”, explains Balloussier. “They supported the ruler of the time, arguing that it would be a biblical duty to pray and cheer for them. Just remember that, in the 2010s, you had in the portrait with PT Silas Malafaia, Edir Macedo, Magno Malta, [Marco] Feliciano, to name names that later repudiated Lula and company.”

Even within a single large ecclesiastical “umbrella”, that of the Assembly of God, the 2010 election brought widespread support.

In that election, of the large assembly subgroups, the Belém Ministry supported the presidential candidacy of José Serra (PSDB), the Madureira Ministry declared itself in favor of Dilma Rousseff (PT) and Santo Amaro endorsed Marina Silva. This is not surprising in the case of evangelical churches, which often do not have any type of central authority, even though they have a common origin.

The convergence in favor of Bolsonarism, for the author, was a multifactorial phenomenon, favored by the rise of social networks and their penchant for polarization, the reaction against the strengthening of identity movements and the difficulty of the left in dialoguing with this segment of the electorate. “Either it comes with guardianship or with offense. Then it’s easy for the other side.”

“As a bonus, I would highlight not only the greater ideological affinity between these pastors and [Jair] Bolsonaro, but an unprecedented space for them in Brasília. They were invited to the Planalto and held high positions. They felt prestigious beyond electoral convenience.”