The Economist May 14th 2022 29
The AmericasBrazilThe cross on the ballot
P
olitical hopefulsalways cast doubt
on the abilities of their competitors. But
when Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva finally con-
firmed on May 7th that he would be run-
ning in Brazil’s presidential election in Oc-
tober, his campaign speech included at-
tacks which were more moralistic than
most. Lula, as he likes to be known, was
scathing about Jair Bolsonaro, the incum-
bent, arguing that a president who does
not cry for those rummaging for food in
rubbish or for the 660,000 Brazilians dead
from covid-19 is not worthy of the title. “He
may call himself a Christian, but he has no
love for his neighbour,” he said.
Lula, who was president from 2003 to
2010, has much to gain by doing down his
rival’s godliness. Evangelical or born again
Christians make up around a third of Bra-
zil’s electorate. In 2018 seven out of ten of
them chose Mr Bolsonaro over Fernando
Haddad, the candidate from Lula’s Work-ers’ Party, according to one poll. (Lula was
not on the ballot.) In April another pollster
found 52% of evangelicals would vote for
Mr Bolsonaro in the first round, compared
with 30% for Lula. “[Evangelicals] are go-
ing to decide the elections,” says Victor
Araújo, who writes about the politics of
Brazilian Christians.
That the presidency of Brazil, which has
more Roman Catholics than any other
country, would be determined by evangeli-
cals would have been hard to believe half a
century ago. Then they made up just 5% of
the population; Catholics, by contrast, ac-
counted for 92%. Evangelicals look set to
become the biggest religious group in Bra-zil within a decade. In São Paulo, the big-
gest city, the number of evangelical
churches increased by a third between 2011
and 2020, to over 2,000.
This shift is already transforming soci-
ety. Brazilians listen to gospel music more
than samba. Members of the Seleção, Bra-
zil’s revered football team, frequently
praise God on the field. Bigger churches,
which often operate as multinational com-
panies, report profits touched by the di-
vine. Church revenues almost doubled be-
tween 2005 and 2013, to over $11bn.
Evangelicals are also changing Brazil-
ian politics. Since the 1990s they have
sought to elect local representatives who
can protect their churches’ interests. To-
day, these interest groups are national. In
Congress, 195 of the lower house’s 513 depu-
ties belong to the evangelical caucus.
Mr Bolsonaro is Catholic but his wife,
Michelle, is evangelical. The family enjoys
the support of the country’s most powerful
pastors, such as André Valadão, who once
shared a pulpit with one of Mr Bolsonaro’s
sons. On Instagram, a social-media app, Mr
Valadão puts up posts explaining to his 5m
followers why it was acceptable for Cain to
marry his sister and why Christians should
not vote for the left. Edir Macedo, a billion-
aire bishop who owns Brazil’s second-larg-
est tvstation, backed Lula in 2002 but MrB ELO HORIZONTE
Evangelicals will help decide Brazil’s presidential election→Alsointhissection
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