The rise of evangelical Christianity

In the last four decades, Protestantism, whether in Rio de Janeiro, Seoul, Mexico City or Lagos, has experienced an impulse towards ultraconservatism that has had an influence on social, economic and diplomatic issues as well as entire societies. The evangelical branch of Protestantism has 660 million adherents worldwide and is growing dramatically. In the early 20th century, 94% of South Americans were Catholic and only 1% Protestant. Now the number of Protestants there has grown to 20%, while that of Catholics has fallen to 69%.

In Brazil alone, in 1970, 92% were Catholic but, by 2010, that had declined to 64%. The country's many evangelical churches are the main beneficiaries of the switch — especially Pentecostalism, which has grown exponentially in Brazil. The evangelicals swung the country's 2018 presidential election for Jair Bolsonaro, who secured 70% support from them (11 million votes), enabling him to defeat Fernando Haddad of the Workers' Party (PT).

In 2016 Donald Trump courted US evangelicals even more overtly than his Republican predecessors Ronald Reagan and George W Bush, and he regards this electorate as vital to his re-election prospects in November. The evangelical movement is now inextricable from politics.

The evangelicals are medieval in the worst sense. Politically, they change everything. We’re no longer in a discussion between conservatives and progressives in a democratic context. When the government’s slogan is 'God is above all things’, everything is called into question Valdemar Figuerdo

The rise of evangelical Christianity began in the US. Pentecostalism originated there in the 1910s; it emphasised the story of Pentecost (the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles). Missionaries then spread the principles of Pentecostalism around the world: beginning a new life through personal conversion, undergoing a 'second baptism' and putting the Bible, regarded as literal truth, at the centre of daily life. (…)

Full article: 1 221 words.

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Akram Belkaïd & Lamia Oualalou

Akram Belkaïd is deputy editor of Le Monde diplomatique; Lamia Oualalou is a journalist and the author of Jésus t'aime! La déferlante évangélique (Jesus loves you! The evangelical wave), Cerf, Paris, 2018.

(1) Except where indicated otherwise, all statistics in this article come from studies published by the Pew Research Center, an independent organisation based in Washington DC, which studies 'the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world', including religion (www.pewresearch.org).

(3) In France, the growing movement already has almost 700,000 followers.

Source: mondediplo.com