RIO DE JANEIRO is better known for bikinis than fire and brimstone. But on October 30th Cariocas, as the city’s residents are known, elected a Pentecostal bishop, Marcelo Crivella, as their mayor. Mr Crivella, a senator from the conservative Brazilian Republican Party (PRB), trounced Marcelo Freixo of the leftist Socialism and Liberty Party.
Mr Crivella’s victory—after two unsuccessful campaigns—has rekindled talk of Pentecostals’ ascendancy in Brazilian politics. The PRB is the political arm of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG), Brazil’s second-biggest Protestant sect. It was founded in 1977 by Edir Macedo, a former Rio state lottery official (and Mr Crivella’s uncle). The UCKG’s prosperity gospel, preached in thousands of churches and through the 16 radio and television stations that helped make Mr Macedo a billionaire, appeals to Brazil’s aspiring poor. Besides capturing Rio, the PRB increased its nationwide vote share by half compared with its performance in the last local elections four years ago.
This has liberal Cariocas and other like-minded Brazilians quaking in their Havaianas. Many fret...Continue reading
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