Jair Bolsonaro and evangelical politicians

Abstract

This is an analysis of the alliance of a sector of evangelicals with the Bolsonaro government, which includes the formation of the Evangelical Parliamentary Front (FPE). To do so, it goes back to the 1980s, when the evangelicals began their participation in the political party, presenting candidates for deputies. They were an important support to Fernando Collor de Melo's candidacy to the presidency of the republic, while the Catholics started to be seen by the Neo-Pentecostals as members of a "communist alliance" that supported Lula. From 2003, with the arrival of the PT as president, these groups established a pragmatic alliance with the government, conditioning their support to the candidate's commitment not to promote abortion and to adopt a position agreed with them regarding homosexuality. Congressman Eduardo Cunha, elected in February 2015 as president of the Chamber of Deputies, promoted the impeachment of Rousseff and was an important member of the Evangelical Parliamentary Front. The widespread discredit of the political class and the devastating effects of the economic crisis on social life, as well as a formidable crisis in public security, the popular bases, which had supported the Workers' Party (PT) for its successful income transfer policies such as Bolsa Família, were migrating towards other options. These aspects reinforced the power of the evangelical pastors as references in the face of the fall of the main political leaders. As "savage sociologists", perceiving on a daily basis the popular anxieties, evangelical pastors were among the first to recognize the electoral potential of former Army Captain Jair Bolsonaro. Both Michelle Bolsonaro and the president construct a messianic religious narrative that Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)