From "evangelical politicians" to "politicians of Christ": the trajectory of the actions and political mentality of the Brazilian evangelicals in the passage from the 20th century to the 21st century

Abstract

The political behavior of Brazilian evangelicals and Pentecostals haschanged during the last half of the XX Century, going from a state of apathy andhatred for politics to an involved participation, which considers the political mandateas a missionary “gift”, originating from a “divine calling”. In order to betterunderstand these new religious-political agents and mentality, we propose, followingWeber’s school of thought, two types of ideal: “Evangelical Politicians” and “Politicians of Christ”. In our proposition, the first one have built their careerswith tactful support from churches, and the latter are “produced” by largePentecostal churches, which select their agents, work on marketing strategies andfinally have them elected. As a consequence, they have a debt to these churchesand their hierarchies. We use examples from the political action of the UniversalChurch of the Kingdom of God, the Evangelical Church Assembly of God andthe political experience of Anthony Garotinho, Rio de Janeiro’s former governor.These three models of political action were taken from different moments, but allhave in common the historical context of the 1998 and 2002 elections. The basicquestions that provoke this study originate in the context of authoritarian andvertical interactions which exist among pastors, bishops and believers.