For the former deputy, the field is to look for votes in evangelical churches, because “whoever goes and votes for the left is not a real evangelical”. How hegemonic is this idea in the segment?
The first part of the speech by the former president of no, the talk show of Sheet and UOL, has wide support among pastors with national influence. It has expanded to such an extent that today there is very little that can be done to dilute this animosity, say leaders with whom the newspaper spoke about Cunha’s statement.
Less unanimous is the diagnosis that supporting progressives at the polls discredits someone as a “real evangelical”.
This framework gained momentum with the rise of Bolsonarism. Bishop Renato Cardoso, son-in-law of , did so in 2022. Considered his father-in-law’s likely successor in command of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, Cardoso summarized his arguments in a text published at the time.
If in 2010 the church defended in its newspaper, Folha Universal, “seven reasons to vote for Dilma Rousseff”, 12 years later the bishop listed “five reasons that show that it is impossible to be a Christian and be left-wing”. Ali argued that left-handed ideologies want to undermine “conventional marriage” and encourage “freedom from drug use.” They would be intrinsically incompatible with values bequeathed by Jesus Christ.
Cardoso is expected at “Família ao Pé da Cruz” this Friday (3). Universal will promote the event simultaneously in several stadiums across the country, such as Rio’s Maracanã and São Paulo’s Pacaembu and NeoQuímica Arena.
In a video, the bishop introduced him as “the greatest”, a joke about the Acadêmicos de Niterói parade in honor of the president (PT) at Rio’s Carnival. The group, called “neoconservatives in preserves”, brought revelers dressed up in cans whose label displayed a straight couple with two children, the so-called “family in preserves”.
The pastor aligns himself with Cardoso when he says that a believer “formed by beliefs, values and character can never vote for someone who fights our principles”, which for him “is a perennial truth”.
Malafaia does not go so far as to disqualify those who position themselves on the left as an arak believer. “I regret that part of the segment, even for cultural reasons, the poorest people, ends up voting for Lula, but they are the minority. And I’m not going to say that they aren’t real evangelicals.”
Quotes passage from the Old Testament about a people “destroyed by lack of knowledge”. The phenomenon repeats itself today, he says. “These people have no idea what the PT stands for ideologically. Due to lack of knowledge and out of necessity, some evangelicals who are even true vote for them, but it is not the mass”, says the pastor who, like Edir Macedo, has supported Lula in the past. According to him, at the time the PT member did not say nonsense that he began to reproduce against “family, customs and homeland”.
The former president of the evangelical group, now leader of the Chamber, projects that only 20% of evangelicals opt for the left, which he attributes to “antagonistic agendas” to Christianity.
Research institutes estimate that 3 in 10 voters of this religion. The data gains nuances when we observe that the base of evangelical churches is mostly poor, black and female, a profile that also makes up the hard core of the Lulista electorate. When religious identity enters the scene, this alignment loses strength, and Lula sees his support dwindle in the face of speeches that oppose faith and the left.
If they converge on the right being a better alternative, some leaders do not see theological aberration in the left-wing evangelical. Bishop Robson Rodovalho, from the Sara Nossa Terra church, follows this line.
“In evangelical ideology”, it would be correct to point out noises in this pairing, but “in practice it is different”, he says. The financial explanation would explain this predilection for Lula.
Rodovalho says he has met, over the years, thousands of believers, especially the “little aunts with a bun”, “sisters of the prayer circle”, who do not give up voting for the PT because they depend on social benefits such as Bolsa Família. “No way”, according to him, can you say that they are not legitimate devotees of the Christian faith. “These people don’t put biblical doctrine above their needs. They say the government will not be anti-Christ.”
For federal deputy Otoni de Paula (RJ), who went from Bolsonaro to Lula’s advisor, this group “cannot be called leftist, but rather Lulist”, because they identify with the person of the president, and not with the political field he represents.
“Vote for Lula out of gratitude, since a considerable part of those covered by the social programs implemented by him are evangelicals. Most of them are part of the base of the social pyramid, where these programs arrive as almost a divine response to their needs.”
It helps that his government has never sent Congress a bombshell agenda for conservatives, such as abortion or drug release, he says. The main defeats suffered by conservatism were not at the hands of the president, “but because of the Federal Supreme Court”, points out Otoni.
Pastor Teo Hayashi, behind Dunamis, a missionary movement strong in universities, says that “Marxist ideology conflicts with the Bible”, and it is impossible to ignore that statements by Karl Marx, such as that religion is the opiate of the people, would be “at the heart of the ideology of the left”. But “on the periphery of ideology”, he adds, “you can even see some moments in which there is convergence between the Christianity of caring for others and the caring bias of the left”.
In his church, Zion Church, there are people on the left, which is not a problem in itself, he says. “But I would say that in the process, they either end up feeling uncomfortable or seeing something they didn’t see before.” There is, however, no guidance to only vote for the right.
Apostle Estevam Hernandes, who created Renascer em Cristo and the March for Jesus in Brazil, is on the team that does not exclude believers who prefer progressive candidates. “A Christian’s voting options are determined by their convictions and Christian principles, and they can vote for the right or left, which does not determine whether or not they are a true Christian.”
