Sao Paulo, Brazil
The National Council of Christian Churches in Brazil has launched a campaign against the incentive to religious hatred and the systemic use of fake news by some evangelical leaders during the current electoral campaign in the South American country.
Named I’m Evangelical and I believe in democracy, the council (known by the acronym ‘Conic’ in Portuguese) launched the campaign on 12th September amid rising religious tensions and an upsurge in cases of religious intolerance fuelled in part by President Jair Bolsonaro, who is bidding for re-election in the October general elections.
“The President has been putting the electoral system – especially the voting machines – in doubt and has threatened not to accept the elections’ results if he is defeated,” said Lutheran Pastor Romi Bencke, secretary general of Conic. “Conservative Christians have been playing an important role in that process.”
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro greets supporters while he is escorted by members of presidential security during the 45th Expointer agricultural fair in Esteio, Brazil on 2nd September. PICTURE: Reuters/Diego Vara/File photo.
Since his first presidential campaign in 2018, Bolsonaro has cultivated strong alliances with conservative Christian leaders, including the founders of important Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal megachurches.
It’s part of a broader trend which has seen the strengthening of Christian conservatism in Brazil over the past few decades and seen many who once followed religions of African origin – especially Umbanda and Candomblé – migrating to evangelical churches.
But with that trend has come a rise in demonisation of their former religious practices by some Christian pastors which has led at times to physical violence. Attacks against terreiros – the religious centres of Umbanda and Candomblé – and against those who attend them (easily identifiable on the streets by their typical white garments and the adornments they wear) have consistently topped lists of cases of religious intolerance in Brazil.
Religious intolerance has also been evident during the current election campaign.
Brazil’s First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro recently came under criticism recently after she posted a video on 8th August to her social media account which showed former President – and current candidate – Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva receiving a “popcorn shower” from two Candomblé leaders in what is considered to be a healing ritual. The video, which was accompanied by comments in which Bolsanaro said – “This is okay, isn’t it? But I can’t talk about God” – was subsequently shared by a city council member and Bolsanaro ally Sonaira Fernandes who said Lula had “already given his soul [to the devil] in order to win this election”.
News website G1 has reported that Jairã Andrade dos Santos, one of the Candomblé leaders showed on the video, has since decided to press charges against Sonaira Fernandes and Michelle Bolsonaro for religious intolerance.
Conic’s Bencke said that since that incident she had “heard of at least three events of religious intolerance against African faiths in different parts of Brazil”.
“Of course, this kind of thing always happened in the country, but her words certainly intensified the problem.”
Among incidents mentioned by Bencke was a fire at a cultural memorial in the community of Linharinho, in Espírito Santo State, which had been founded by quilombolas – descendants of African slaves who had fled captivity. Police suspected the fire, which broke out on 9th August, was a deliberate act of intolerance.
“When authorities with presence in the media manifest hate speech connecting African culture to the evil, they are incentivising acts of violence,” Ivanir dos Santos, a scholar and Candomblé leader, told Sight.
Former President and presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva greets the supporters during a meeting with evangelical leaders in Sao Goncalo, in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, on 9th September. PICTURE: Reuters/Pilar Olivares
Dos Santos heads the Commission to Combat Religious Intolerance, an organisation that gathers and monitors denouncements of religious intolerance. He believes the election campaign has spurred hatred toward religious minorities in Brazil.
“Not only the President and the first lady are doing it, but many other candidates to legislative offices,” he said. “That agenda does not come alone. It is accompanied by criticism on the struggles of women, LGBT people, and other social minorities.”
Bencke, meanwhile, emphasised that the Brazilian evangelicals “are not all the same” and that more and more dissonant voices have been heard lately.
“[E]vangelicals are being stigmatised as intolerant, but many of them are not,” she said.
She described evangelicals as a “plural and diverse” group “and many of them do not accept hate speech”.
“In our campaign, we are building bridges with many people who have left their churches for not agreeing with it.”
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Conic has traditionally been focused on bringing together historical Protestant churches and Catholics but hasn’t had much connection with Pentecostals. The changing religious landscape caused by the rise of Bolsonarism means its now considering launching an initiative specifically aimed at welcoming people coming from that segment.
“Evangelicals have [made] a great contribution to Brazil,” said Bencke. “But many people do not know them well and tend to equate Pentecostals [with] the so-called prosperity theology. That is not right.”
Bencke said that growing numbers of evangelicals are demonstrating that they don’t want to be directly associated to Bolsonarism.
“There is a great dissatisfaction nowadays with that situation. Conic could work as a space to strengthen the people who want change.”
