This paper examines some paradoxes experienced by evangelical military police actions-active members of congregations located in the barracks of the State of Rio de Janeiro Military Police (in Portuguese, PMERJ), in the search for dialogue between their faith, the prerogatives of their mission and the values that inform the dominant police practice. The study is based on the concept of "techniques of neutralization" of (Sykes and Matza, 1996) as well as the typology of Muir Jr. (1977) on police responses of the so-called "paradoxes of coercion". The analysis shows that the Manicheist rhetoric of "spiritual warfare" is transposed to the police environment and vigorously appropriated to the experience of coercion in police practices. This result seems to show the construction of evangelical ethical standards for police action, in which daily conflicts are conducted as visible expressions of the nefarious influence of the demon, responsible for crime, debauchery and all sorts of socially disapproved behaviors.
military police; police culture; evangelical churches; spiritual warfare; police discretion