With drummers pounding out samba rhythms through the rain, this might almost have been just another one of the hundreds of street parties of Rio’s world-famous carnival.
But nobody at the I’m Full of Love Samba Street Party on Copacabana beach was drunk or in costume, few bystanders were dancing – and the group on the sound truck was singing about Jesus.
Evangelical Christians, a large and increasingly assertive demographic in Brazil, played a key role in the election of the far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, whose wife Michelle is the most famous congregation member at Rio’s Attitude Baptist church, the organizers of the party.
And, where once they would leave town during carnival, they are increasingly visible during the annual celebrations, said Attitude’s pastor, Josué Valandro Jr.
“The city was delivered up to immorality, drinking sprees, crimes, bad things,” he said. “The carnival revelry lasts four days but Jesus’s happiness is eternal.”
His congregation was here to save souls – and sign up new members. “It’s evangelism. The aim is to bring Jesus to people who are enjoying carnival,” said Larissa Rocha, 23, an educational assistant who plays in the church’s drum corps.
One recent survey found around a third of Brazilians are evangelicals – up from 9% in 1991 – compared to around half who are Catholic.
Valandro called the first lady “a woman of God” for her work with deaf people and blamed leftist governments for a moral and economic decline now being reversed under Bolsonaro.
“The president is a man of strong character, with strong convictions,” he said.
Although Catholic, Bolsonaro was baptised by an evangelical preacher in the River Jordan in 2016. Many evangelicals voted for him, unconcerned by his history of homophobic remarks, racist descriptions of indigenous people and praise for Brazil’s military dictatorship.
SOURCE: The Guardian, Dom Phillips
All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source