Along with COVID denial, Bolsonaro marked all the spaces on right-wing bingo card: opposing Indigenous land claims, LGBT and abortion rights, and gun restriction. But Costa’s main theme is not about Bolsonaro, a figure of no charisma beyond some strutting arrogance, but on how evangelical religion in Brazil grew and translated into political power.
An estimated 30 percent of the Brazilian population identifies as evangelical Christians, up from five percent 40 years ago, a shift she calls one of the most dramatic in religious history. In her quest, Costa has considerable access to the players involved, including the former and current president, Lula of the centre-left Workers’ Party. Raised a Catholic, he agreed to uphold the anti-abortion laws, and places food insecurity as the country’s greatest problem.
His opposite in every way is the almost comically ill-tempered televangelist Silas Malafaia, who proudly brags about his talent as a political kingmaker and has his highest praise for the Jesus of John 2:15 who used a whip to drive the money changers and merchants from the temple.
Costa traces the rise of evangelism to the influence of the United States and that country’s Cold War concerns of the overlap between South America’s left-leaning Catholic “liberation theology” and socialism.
America’s most effective instrument was the evangelist Billy Graham, preaching his Christianity-vs-Marxism message, and drawing vast audiences in stadium tours in Brazil. The evangelical bloc grew, and politicians responded to their power.
