President Lula received it this Thursday (16). This sentence, loose like that, could even give the impression that the PT managed to make peace with a segment that has been giving it a hard time in recent years, attracted by the Bolsonarista siren song. Is that right?
Yes and no.
First, it must be said that the visitors to Planalto are not the usual suspects — the progressive group openly sympathetic to Lulista flags, who are often the target of ridicule from leaders with strong popularity, for having microscopic infiltration in the churches. Often, these pastors on the left serve more to dilute secular bubble prejudices with believers than to speak to believers themselves.
Those who arrived in Brasília were people from the Madureira Assembly of God, one of the largest ministries of this country’s largest evangelical branch. A troupe that definitely cannot be labeled as leftist.
If you are not familiar with the Assembly, it is worth emphasizing that it is not just one church: there is a common assembly line, but several internal compositions, which even have internal disputes. Silas Malafaia, for example, heads the Assembly of God Vitória em Cristo, which has nothing to do with the Madureira Ministry.
The bishop, who was with Lula, is the president of Conamad (National Convention of the Assemblies of God Ministry of Madureira), the second largest assembly convention in the country — second to another led by the family of pastor José Wellington Bezerra da Costa.
So it’s not much. Samuel Ferreira is big enough in the segment to generate episodes like this one from 2017: Alexandre de Moraes was unable to go to an event at his church that brought together Geraldo Alckmin (then governor of São Paulo and affiliated with the PSDB) and Gilberto Kassab (PSD). He sent an apology via WhatsApp: on that date, he took office at the STF (Supreme Federal Court). Or would.
It is good, however, to identify who Madureira is on the Brazilian evangelical map. She tends to jump quickly onto the government’s boat and even keep one foot in each boat when the political scenario is blurred.
Now, he meets with the president, minister Gleisi Hoffmann (Institutional Relations) and the Union’s attorney general, Jorge Messias, for the STF.
Just remember that, in 2021, deputy Cezinha de Madureira (PSD-SP), representative of the church and president of the evangelical group, rode on the back of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) on one of the motorbikes he promoted during his presidency.
In the same year, André Mendonça, the Presbyterian pastor whom Bolsonaro sold as his “terribly evangelical” minister to the Federal Supreme Court, in Brasília, celebrated his inauguration into office.
And also in 2021, nonagenarian Manoel Ferreira, bishop primate of the ministry, posed smiling with Lula after they enjoyed a dish of chicken and okra. The gesture horrified the evangelical leadership, then closed with Bolsonaro. But it didn’t surprise anyone.
History shows that the practice, in the evangelical leadership of national caliber, is to repeat, in each electoral cycle, a rapprochement with whoever assumes power. There is the biblical justification — the book of Romans talks about obeying and praying for authorities, as they would be constituted by God. And also the physiological card: it is more interesting for churches to be close to those in charge than to be in opposition.
The last decade, of strong polarization, has made this maneuver a little difficult. After all, it is becoming more difficult to explain to the base of believers why, after spending years mocking Lula, he stopped being the devil himself and became an ally of the church. Social networks make the demand greater, and there is always a Malafaia ready to point the finger at the “traitors” of the cause.
But there are signs that the old physiology is starting to show itself again. It is as if the crossing of the Bolsonarist desert had already yielded its fruits, and now it would be time to reposition.
Lula, painted as an enemy of the faith for so many years, tries to forge an institutional relationship with the evangelical camp without appearing to be begging for forgiveness. On the other side, leaders who know the game well know that resisting too much can be costly. When the wind changes, the pastoral compass goes with it.
