Evangelicals and politics in Latin America: religious switching and its growing political relevance
Jair Messias Bolsonaro, the former army captain and recently elected Brazilian president from the Social Liberal Party (PSL) with the campaign slogan "Brazil above everything; God above everyone", is a paramount example of the linkage between politics and Evangelical values, interests, a...
| Published in: | SWP comment |
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| Main Author: | |
| Corporate Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Book |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Berlin
SWP
October 2018
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| In: |
SWP comment (no. 46)
Year: 2018 |
| Series/Journal: | SWP comment
no. 46 |
| Further subjects: | B
Church
B Ideology B Fundamentalism B Religion B Protestantism B Politics B Religious organization B Bolivia B Latin America |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Jair Messias Bolsonaro, the former army captain and recently elected Brazilian president from the Social Liberal Party (PSL) with the campaign slogan "Brazil above everything; God above everyone", is a paramount example of the linkage between politics and Evangelical values, interests, and actors in Latin America: In May 2016, Bolsonaro was baptised in the Jordan River by Pastor Everaldo Pereira, a prominent leader of the Assembly of God church and the head of the Social Christian Party (PSC); pictures and videos of the ceremony were circulated on the internet. Bolsonaro counted on the support of the Evangelical Parliamentary Front of the National Congress, comprising 199 deputies with diverse party affiliations and 60 percent of the Evangelical electorate’s voting intention for the electoral run-off. Edir Macedo, founder of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God and owner of the second largest media network in Brazil, endorsed Bolsonaro’s candidacy and broadcasted a favourable interview with him on his TV programme. In Latin America, candidates with conservative-value agendas and strong positions on authority and order as well as against crime and corruption are especially attractive to the rapidly growing number of Evangelical churches and believers in the region. At the same time, they have become an important target group of politicians of different parties searching for support. |
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