¿De movimientos religiosos a organizaciones políticas?La relevancia política del evangelismo en América Latina

Abstract

Evangelical movements have been developing in Latin America since the mid-1980s. The important growth of churches and the social and cultural relevance makes these movements, especially the neoPentecostals, have been the object of frequent study from different perspectives: anthropological, cultural and sociological. However, there is hardly any analysis of the political role of these organizations, of their presence in the political institutions of some countries in the region or of their transformation into political organizations, after the crisis of the traditional party systems and parties. This article will attempt to answer these questions based on several hypotheses: 1) religious identity does not automatically generate political identity; 2) the proposal of evangelical political alternatives depends on the demographic weight of these churches in some countries (Central American case), and the progressive weakening of traditional political parties, involved in corruption cases; therefore, the institutional crisis, opened the political space to these evangelical organizations that solidified new principles of aggregation, and 3) the evangelical churches have shown high pragmatism and developed new political strategies, allying with right-wing political parties in defense of what we call “a new moral agenda”, extremely conservative and reactionary. To do this, the document will also review the rise of evangelical political movements in the different countries of the region. Finally, an attempt will be made to explain the triple conservative alliance: neo-Pentecostal evangelism, the most conservative Catholicism and the neoliberal right, specifically in the fight against the COVID-19 in the region.