Religião e política: ideologia e ação da Bancada Evangélica na Câmara Federal

Abstract

In Brazil, the Evangelical churches have entered into the political sphere and have consolidated their strength in the national scenario. Today, they are relevant political players that have power to interfere in the parliament s decisions, and it is no longer possible to ignore their presence in the public space. The interest in politics has expanded so much that Pentecostal denominations of significant importance in the religious field have started to have political assistance regarding the development of electoral strategies, thus enabling the amplification of parliamentary representation and the acquisition of elective offices in the municipal, state and federal spheres. In this way, they started to hold positions of power and became political agents of national significance. In view of the growth of the Evangelical parliamentary representation in Congress, the present study aims to investigate the system of political-religious ideologies of the Evangelical congressmen, in the 2007/2011 term of office. The methodological procedure was semi-structured interviews with congressmen and assistants. Data analysis, based on the concept of ideology developed by Ignacio Martín-Baró, revealed that the members of the Evangelical Parliamentary Front present in their speeches the following ideological presuppositions: the myth of unity and consensus, the denial of antagonism, the commitment to generic representation, the normalization of politics, the conservation of the instituted morality, the preservation of the status quo and the combat against the transformation of the legislative code