How Evangelical Conservatives Are Gaining Power in Brazil

Chayenne Polimedio wrote about conservative evangelicals in Brazil and morality politics for Foreign Affairs.

A powerful evangelical bloc has emerged in Congress. The Evangelical Parliamentary Front unites members from the Assemblies of God, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, and other Pentecostal denominations, and makes frequent alliances with conservative Catholics represented by the Catholic Parliamentary Front. Through this legislative juggernaut, Brazil’s conservatives have greatly amplified their political power relative to their numbers.

Evangelical lawmakers have moved to block the distribution of sex-education materials, which Bolsonaro, when he was still a federal deputy, dubbed “gay kits.” They have sponsored legislation to limit access to abortion and create financial incentives to prevent victims of rape from interrupting pregnancies. They have proposed bills that promote the “moralization of the family,” which would recriminalize same-sex marriage and prevent same-sex couples from adopting. More recently, Brazil’s Supreme Court of Justice began a hearing on a new law that would criminalize homophobia. The hearing has since been put on hold, but not before stirring up Brazil’s newly empowered cohort of religious conservatives: many of them see the bill as a potential threat to their religious freedom, suggesting that it could lead to the criminalization of sacred texts that condemn homosexuality. As this trend continues, politics and policy will continue their rightward turn in Brazil, and the line between church and state will become increasingly blurred. Bolsonaro stands ready to seize that opportunity.