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Evangelicals on the right wing

Abstract

There is a consensus both nationally and internationally that we are witnessing a conservative wave in which some religions are protagonists. These include many, but not all, evangelicals. This article aims to discuss the evangelicals on the right wing of the Brazilian political spectrum. The increasing presence of evangelical sectors in institutional politics dates back to the 1980s. However, those sectors that are considered conservative or “right wing” predate the public presence of evangelicals. This raises the question, after more than three decades, as to what evangelical conservatism is. What does it add to the historical, deeply rooted conservative structures in Brazilian society. My general hypothesis is that these evangelicals deepen religious division, competition and conflicts in their discourses and practices. And in the current conjuncture, they intentionally confuse being in government with having a demographic majority to legitimize conservative moral standards.

Keywords:
Evangelicals; conservatism; Bolsonaro; right wing

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