The protestant eruption into modern Brazilian politics

Brazil's fast-growing Protestantism has contributed to a resacralisation of national politics in recent years. This is largely due to the politics practised by some of the large Pentecostal churches since 1986, using their corporate political power to strengthen internal leaderships and structu...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Freston, Paul 1952- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Carfax Publ. [1996]
In: Journal of contemporary religion
Year: 1996, Volume: 11, Issue: 2, Pages: 147-168
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Description
Summary:Brazil's fast-growing Protestantism has contributed to a resacralisation of national politics in recent years. This is largely due to the politics practised by some of the large Pentecostal churches since 1986, using their corporate political power to strengthen internal leaderships and structure Brazil's huge popular Protestant field, as well as to gain resources for religious expansion and dispute space in civil religion. Corporate Protestant politics have been marked by corruption scandals and by politically motivated attempts to create representative organs capable of mediating the increasingly important relationship with the state. One new Pentecostal group (the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God) has established one of the largest media empires in the country and, in the 1994 elections, considerably augmented its political power and polarised the Protestant community with respect to its project of hegemony in the religious field. Thus, while Protestant politics can be considered generally positive for Brazilian democracy, the rise of such a politically powerful hegemonic force within the Protestant field gives a more sinister character to the ever-present corporatist and triumphalist ambitions.
ISSN:1469-9419
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of contemporary religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/13537909608580765