Minister Andre Mendonça announced on Friday that he would adopt fellow evangelist Jorge Mesías’ campaign to the STF. On Saturday, a call for a prayer vigil led to the preventive arrest of Jair Bolsonaro. Are these events on a collision course?
Since Messias emerged as a potential replacement for Barroso, evangelical leaders have debated who would be loyal to him as a Supreme Court minister. Lola or the Bible? When judging topics sensitive to the conservative agenda — for example, childhood sexuality — which side will you side with?
Gestures like Mendonça’s answer the question. The Messiah will follow Jesus’ directives: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” In other words: follow Lula in politics and follow the Bible in customs.
This is bad news for the Christian branch of Bolsonarianism, which exists as political cells within the majority of the country’s evangelical churches.
Bishop Samuel Ferreira, leader of the Madureira Ministry of the Assembly of God, was attacked after visiting Lula in Planalto last month. He had to come out publicly to explain the reason for the meeting: to defend the candidacy of Christ.
Mendonça and Ferreira belong to two very different sects, one linked to the evangelical elite, the other to the popular sectors. However, they both affirm that Christ is evangelical first and that he will act as such in custom.
Even someone close to the Bolsonarianism, such as Senator Damaris Alves, said – although without declaring his support – that Messias is a “good boy.” The main name on the right of the Gospel, Pastor Silas Malavia, who rarely misses opportunities to speak publicly, preferred not to comment when asked by Bellino News Channel.
Mendonça’s own position made the hierarchy of loyalty clear. By offering to approve of Christ in the Senate, he is signaling that his priority is faith. Mendonça was first an evangelical and then a Bolsonarian.
Among anti-PT Christians, the prevailing assessment is that Messias is the “least bad” choice among the names Lula could propose. But with this choice, Lula equates Bolsonaro’s achievement with an evangelical nomination to the Supreme Court. The opposition loses the argument that the president favors religions of African origin.
The groups at the extreme ends of the political debate will be weakened if Christ is confirmed. Progressives will have a 45-year-old conservative on the court, with decades of experience under his belt. The far right will lose the argument that it is impossible to be evangelical or left-wing.
Another winner, if the nomination is confirmed, will be the STF itself, which has been criticized for its partisan appearance. “I hope Jesus Christ helps make a difference in the vindictive, polarizing and political STF issue,” an off-screen pastor said.
Until Bolsonaro’s arrest, Messias’ nomination was a referendum on the name proposed by Lula.
Now the opposition can adjust its rhetoric and claim that this choice would strengthen Alexandre de Moraes’ position in court. Andre Mendonça will now face increasing pressure.
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