Tag Archives: Brazil

Politics

Why Are Pentecostals Around the World Supporting the Far-Right?

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In our Facebook forum, the issue of Pentecostal politics was raised recently by a friend of the ministry, Elias Kruger:

I would like to pose a question to this group. While I am greatly encouraged by PCPJ work, I have noticed that Pentecostals (and apostolic movements in general) tend to align squarely with right-wing politics. Nowhere has this been more evident than in the recent election of both Trump in the US and Bolsonaro in Brazil.

Living in these two countries and growing up in Charismatic circles, this was a dominant reality. Why do you think Pentecostals tend to align with authoritarian right-wing leaders? Is there something about our theology or praxis that needs to change?

Here are some of the responses that were given:

The problem is that people confuse Holy Spirit power with guys who make a big noise and sound confident. CEO disease. You see how successful Mr. Exceptional President has been with that.  Continue reading Why Are Pentecostals Around the World Supporting the Far-Right? →

Creation Care, Politics

Hillsong Shouldn’t Put Their Trust in Powerful Men

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by Jacob Schönning.

This summer it was reported that the Australian liberal prime minister Scott Morrison was welcomend on  stage at a gigantic Hillsong meeting during their annual conference in Sydney.  He led the congregation of 30-35000 people in prayer and confessed his faith in a miracle working God. Andreas Nielsen, lead pastor of Hillsong Sweden, affirmed that the prime minister ”is a devout Christian”. He also said that that ”his participation in the conference is a recognition of the important role that the church in general plays in Australia and that it makes a difference.”

Fantastic, isn’t it?

Bildresultat för morrison hillsong

I am not so sure about that. On the contrary, I think that it is very dangerous for the soul of the Church in Australia. Last winter Magnus Malm wrote in Swedish Christian newspaper Dagen that God is not on the side of the powerful. In fact God says in Psalms 146,3: ”Never put your trust in powerful men.”  For centuries, Catholic and Orthodox churches have often been close to political power. That was the case when Spanish and Portuguese conquerors went ashore in South America, and it is the same today in countries like Russia and Poland. Continue reading Hillsong Shouldn’t Put Their Trust in Powerful Men →

Politics

Brazil’s Pentecostal Party: From Environmentalism to Alt Right in Five Years

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by Gutierres Fernandes Siqueira.

How can I explain Brazilian politics to the foreign public? This is not a simple task. The famous Bossa Nova’s musician, Tom Jobim (1927-1994), said once that Brazil is not for beginners.

The same thing can be said about the complex relationship of Pentecostal evangelicals with national politics. Since redemocratization in 1985, Brazilian politics has gone beyond the traditional division between conservatives and progressives.

For example, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who ruled Brazil between 1995 and 2002, was a Marxist sociologist early in his career in the 1960s and later became a Social Democrat in the 1980s. However, his government in the late 1990s had an economic management marked by classical liberalism.

Lula da Silva, left-wing president supported by evangelicals

Another example is President Fernando Collor that governed Brazil between 1990 and 1992. He was himself elected as a right-wing leader, but his administration confiscated investments in a disastrous economic plan, something unthinkable coming from a conservative politician. The last example that we can give is President Lula da Silva. This President, that governed Brazil from 2002 to 2010, is a leftist leader, but several right-wing parties have supported him, including most evangelical politicians.

The division between right and left in Brazil has  been always very nebulous. This started to change in 2018. The last Brazilian election was very similar to the North American electoral model.

Continue reading Brazil’s Pentecostal Party: From Environmentalism to Alt Right in Five Years →

Politics

How Right-Wing Politicians Captured the Hearts of Pentecostals in Latin America

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The last two years have been very important to Latin America concerning the relationship between religion and politics. In fact, there have been three significative cases in which evangelical-pentecostals have shown their will to participate in public debates.

First, there is the case of the 2016 impeachment against progressive president Dilma Rousseff in Brazil, led by the Pentecostal Assemblies of God congressman Eduardo Cunha, who besides belong to the so-called evangelical caucus, strongly conservative.

Second, there is the 2016 case of Peace Agreement in Colombia that intended to be a way to finish the war with FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia), in which the Christian and particularly evangelical-pentecostal vote was an important factor for the victory of “no” option. The agreement considered the possibility for FARC to integrate into the political system, but this was not the most problematic issue for evangelicals. The agreement also considered issues like gender inclusion and LGBT demands. Continue reading How Right-Wing Politicians Captured the Hearts of Pentecostals in Latin America →