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In Brazil, the evangelical vote has become an important factor in presidential elections. Jair Bolsonaro, whose wife is an evangelical, owes his victory in 2018, among other things, to the massive votes of this growing religious community. And this year, again, according to the polls, he has the majority of the evangelical vote, although his support has dropped a bit and the evangelical church, far from being a bloc, is made up of multiple currents, ranging from ultra-conservatives to progressives. .
With our special envoy to Manaus, Achim Lippold.
We are in an indigenous neighborhood in the north of Manaus. Pastor Renato prepares for the service, while his daughter reviews the songs for the ceremony. The congregation has 26 members, all of them indigenous from the Amazon.
Also read: The Brazilian Amazon, divided before the presidential elections
In this Pentecostal temple there is no room for other spiritualities. Pastor Renato defends traditional values, as does President Jair Bolsonaro: “Jair Bolsonaro’s intention was correct. He has not been able to do everything he wanted, but I think that if he manages to win and build a good team, he will lead Brazil to a better future”, he affirms.
LGBT churches
In São Paulo, it is another story. There, the Cidade de Refúgio temple, “refuge city”, is successful: founded by a couple of lesbian pastors, this place of worship welcomes LGBT people. LGBT churches are still very much in the minority in Brazil, but they are growing, especially in large urban centers.
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“From a very young age, I was evangelical and gay. But my old church did not accept my sexuality. I moved to São Paulo on purpose to attend this church. I didn’t want to go to a church where I was condemned for my sexual orientation,” says Muka.
A diverse and important role
“When you talk about evangelicals in Brazil, you talk about a very specific profile of the population. They are poor and black. They are people who are generally attracted to the Workers’ Party program, they have often voted for the PT in the past. The problem is that the PT and the left in general have lost dialogue with this evangelical population”, sociologist Rafael Rodrigues da Costa explains to RFI.
Also read: ‘Lula’s best support is Bolsonaro’
Indeed, he details, “they did not understand how much religion and church mean to these people. Because for a poor person who lives, for example, in the suburbs of a big city, the church is not only the place of worship, the place where the person goes to express his faith, the church is also the place where the person goes to get food. At a time when hunger appears again in Brazil, the church offers meals, distributes basic food. People also go there to find a job or clothes, and when women flee domestic violence, the church is the place they go.”
