The Kingdom: what is the real power of evangelicals in Argentina

The series of Netflix The Kingdom sparked a heated debate on social networks. The debate escalated to the point that the screenwriter Claudia Piñeiro was threatened, while evangelicals accused that fiction discriminated against them. Do youWhat is the real power of evangelicals in Argentina? El Uncover spoke with experts in religion to learn more about the sources of church funding, the number of devotees they have and their history in the country.

A survey by the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (Conicet) show that the number of evangelicals in Argentina increased from 9 to 15.3 percent of those consulted. The number of people who adhere to this religion increases among people with no education (26.2%) and with only primary studies completed (21.5%). The same time, the number of Catholics increased from 76.5% to 62.9% between 2008 and 2019.

Financial financing is a key issue in the series and a source of controversy. Some devotees argued to El Uncover that although each church varies in its ways of expressing its faith, on several occasions they felt that they demanded a punishment greater than tithe in return for divine help. “There is a discourse installed where the concept of God’s blessing is mixed with material good., or a miraculous healing and many pastors in their preaching suggest that this blessing is subordinate to the “dadivosidas”, “argued a devotee.

The researcher of the Conicet and doctorate in social sciences from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Marcos Carbonelli, explains the Discovery What the growth of evangelical faithful does not translate into greater electoral influence. The author of Los Evangélicos en la politica Argentina asserts that followers of the religion have been systematically discriminated against and maintains that The largest fundraising funds come from the tithe of the faithful, investments in businesses such as the media, record sales, and remittances from large churches in the United States and Europe.

“In Argentina, most of the evangelicals come from the popular sectors and then what happened is a discrepancy between the Catholic pastoral and this popular religious world which made people feel much closer to the evangelicals”, Carbonelli said.

– In Argentina there is a growth in the population of the faithful, but a defeat at the polls?

-Exactly, population growth has no direct correlate of political party, in fact, the purely evangelical expressions which called for the vote of the brothers in the faith, failed. The book presents data linked to this phenomenon and which goes a little against the collective imagination linked to the subject.

-Why is there a defeat at the polls?

-First for a fundamental premise which is that in Argentina, religious adherence does not translate directly into political behavior. The second is that in Argentina the political system is in good health, has strong and consolidated political identities. Political divisions are what organizes the conversation and this good health with identities protects them from possible invasions that come from outside, in this case from the religious world.

-Why has there been a growth of evangelicals?

-There is growth in the world of evangelism at the expense of Catholicism. The Conicet survey in which I participated shows that more than half of evangelicals are converts, i.e. they come from other religions. There is a disenchantment, the relationship with their original religion cools and begins to be enchanted with another. In Argentina, the majority of evangelicals come from popular sectors and there has therefore been a gap between Catholic pastoral care and this popular religious world which has made people feel much closer to evangelicals.

-What is the reason that makes you feel closer?

-The idea of ​​horizontality is a world much less bureaucratic than the Catholic. He has an idea of ​​the miracle that is much more present in everyday life, many emphasize that there is a process of rationalization of the miracle, more and more located in the everyday and less in the transcendent. They have a holistic conception: which articulates spiritual restoration with material restoration. Having a job, making a partner, getting your child out of problematic drug use, are material dimensions of life which for evangelicals is linked to the presence of God. In the popular sectors, these material and spiritual worlds are united.

-What are the ideals of the evangelists?

-There are different types of schools of thought. Having said that, we can explain that in the evangelical world there is no Pope, there is no Vatican, there is no organizational pyramid. Churches have the autonomy to define what to believe. There is also the idea of ​​a much more horizontal dialogue between God and the believer who can have manifestations of God. On the other hand, the miracle also exists as something everyday and not transcendent. They also place a strong emphasis on the festive and the use of the body.

-Why did the Kingdom bother?

– It opened a debate, because it presented a very stereotypical image, with a thick line in certain chapters. On the one hand by associating the evangelicals with the idea of ​​the plot and on the other hand by linking them to the lucrative and not to the spiritual. They have shown that they are using the Church not for spiritual reasons but to earn money. It also caused a sensation because it is a sort of epilogue to the abortion debate. The stereotypes touch a very hurt identity, because evangelicals have historically been discriminated against by Argentina.

-How were evangelicals discriminated against in Argentina?

-In the fifties they were accused of foreign agents who came to erode the national culture, in the 1980s they were accused of brainwashing cults and now they are accused of fundamentalists. There is always a recurrence of putting evangelicals in otherness, threat and strangeness. There is a more institutional and structural question: with the exception of the Catholic Church, which also receives state funding, other religions must be entered in the National Register of Worship and allow the State to organize them. , to control and regulate them.

-What is the funding of evangelical churches?

-There is a distinctive feature of evangelical churches and that is tithe. Basically 10% of the income goes to the Church, whether it is small or large. Later, the most important churches made contact with other churches in the United States and Europe., who are the ones who send funds. Some churches have made a big foray into the media and there are also many cultural products such as records. The difference with the Catholic world is that the state scandalously finances the Catholic Church.

-What are the differences between Argentina and Brazil in terms of evangelicals in power?

–The big difference with Brazil is the political matrix, because they don’t have strong and long-lasting parties. They have an electoral system which favors the accession of minorities to government positions. This, added to the Workers’ Party crisis, along with other factors, led to the fact that in the last election Dilma was first affected, and then Bolsonaro came to power.. However, in another context in Brazil, evangelicals were part of the election of Lula Da Silva and also a transmission belt for the gigantic social programs implemented by the PT, like Bolsa O Familia. There are contingent times when they support some candidates or others, there are no solid, static identities.