Groups like the “Front of Evangelicals for the Rule of Law”, “Love Overcomes Hate” and “Evangelicals Against Bolsonaro” gain strength in the country / Photo: John Moore / Getty Images / AFP
- For evangelicals, the PSL candidate threatens values of the Kingdom of God such as love of neighbor, grace and mercy
With each new election the mix between religion and politics is more present. According to data from the Inter-Congressional Department of Parliamentary Advisory (Diap), in this electoral process the Evangelical Bancada in the National Congress passed from 75 federal deputies to 84. Eduardo Bolsonaro (PSL), federal deputy reelected by the state of São Paulo, reached the highest vote nominal in the country with 1,843,735 votes.
The “Bolsonaro wave” of the family that preaches the morality and honor of the traditional family has been driven by sectors linked to the Evangelical Churches such as the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD) and the Assembly of God in which religious leaders campaign for Jair Bolsonaro (PSL), using the space of the church.
Christianity x Bolsonaro
However, the aspect that has most worried religious entities in the candidacy of Jair Bolsonaro is the incentive to violence, disunity and hatred in his speeches. From the beginning of his political life as a parliamentarian, Bolsonaro never hid his admiration for military accused of torture during the Civil Military Dictatorship and his appreciation for the regime that was marked by the absence of the basic principles of democracy.
In 2016, Jair Bolsonaro exalted Colonel Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, a torturer recognized by the Brazilian Justice in 2008 for crimes committed in the military regime, during the vote on the acceptance of the impeachment request of President Dilma Roussef (PT) in the Chamber of Deputies.
For psychologist Sonia Gertner, who grew up in the evangelical religion and is part of the Baptist Church, candidate Jair Bolsonaro represents an affront to Christian values and moves in the opposite direction of what Jesus Christ preached.
“The Gospel of Christ is greater than any political ideology, but we can not fail to recognize that the Gospel denounces social injustices and that Jesus stood with the poor and oppressed,” she says.
Sonia points out that at this moment the union of Christians, especially evangelicals, is fundamental to denounce that there is no unanimity among evangelicals about support for Bolsonaro. According to her, the candidate of the PSL is a threat to the values of the Kingdom of God as the love to the neighbor, grace and mercy.
“Fascism, which the Bolsonaro government can implement in our country, does not recognize these values. This is the real threat on our minds. It is necessary that the Christians stand and say that this group does not represent us and that there is no homogeneity in the Evangelical Church in accepting the candidacy of Bolsonaro as messianic, that is a decoy and will end very badly “, emphasizes the evangelical.
Evangelical Movements and Democracy
The statements that propagate the violence, hatred and segregation made by Bolsonaro have encouraged the formation of evangelical groups that denounce the risk of the values disseminated by the candidate that in no way resemble the teachings of Christ.
Groups such as the “Front of Evangelicals for the Rule of Law,” “Love Overcomes Hate” and “Evangelicals Against Bolsonaro” have gained strength in recent weeks in several cities. The religious, who stand in defense of the presidential candidate Haddad (PT), have organized demonstrations in defense of democratic principles and Christian values.
Juliana Duarte is an English teacher and integrates the Baptist Church of the Way. The teacher participated in the demonstration of the movement “Love Overcomes the Hate” that occurred in the center of Rio de Janeiro last Thursday (18). She explains the purpose of the walk and stresses that “blind religious fundamentalism present in the speech of Bolsonaro” does not bring benefits to society.
“Our goal is to show that we, as Christians, are against this kind of discourse. We do not see this as consonant in our faith in Jesus. We are on the side of the poor, of compassion, of love, of the right for all people, of equal rights for men and women. This makes a lot of sense with our faith because, for us, this has to do with what Jesus came to teach us: that the most important thing is love, “Juliana explained.
The next walk of the group “O Amor Vece odio” will take place in the city of Niterói, on Friday (26), from 17h, in the center of the city.
Edition: Mariana Pitasse
Translated by Internationalist 360°
