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SECOND SHIFT
God’s vote: how the candidates running in Camaçari intensified dialogue with evangelicals
The two candidates for vice mayor are Christians; on social media, there is content focused on this audience
Published on October 26, 2024 at 05:00
Professor Angélica and Flávio; Caetano and pastor Déa Credit: Reproduction/Instagram
When voters in Camaçari go to the polls this Sunday (27), they will choose between two candidates that, although ideologically distinct, have at least one aspect in common: candidates for vice-mayor who are evangelical. The choice of both leaders – professor Angélica Bittencourt (PP), on the ticket of candidate Flávio Matos (União Brasil), and pastor Déa Santos (PSB), on the ticket with Luiz Caetano (PT) – is just one of the examples of how the two campaigns have sought to dialogue with the Christian public.
This gesture includes everything from hand to hand, with events and meetings with pastors and churches, to online initiatives. On both their social networks, there is content that communicates directly with these voters. “There is very little left for our purpose. Let’s meditate together on the word of God in Psalms”, said Flávio, last Wednesday (24), in a video.
The recording is part of a daily panel he calls Good Morning with Jesus, in which he publishes videos with Christian reflections. “We have to deliver this city into the hands of the almighty who takes care of us while we sleep, our Lord Jesus Christ”, added the candidate, in the same video.
On the same Wednesday, a card shared by Pastor Déa and also on Caetano’s profile had the words: “Caetano mayor, Pastor Déa vice and God in charge, always”, he wrote, adding in the caption that the secret behind the change is put God before everything. The day before, a video with an excerpt from the rally with President Lula was posted. “No one fought more for the poor than Jesus Christ. We can do anything, just believe in the man up there, and He will help us”, said Lula, in the images.
This focus on evangelical voters is related to a new context in the country. For political scientist Claudio André de Souza, PhD in Social Sciences and professor at the University of International Integration of Afro-Brazilian Lusofonia (Unilab), there is a new social configuration in Brazil.
“Evangelical churches, including neo-Pentecostal churches, establish themselves as a space not only of faith, but also of civil society organization, of social organization,” he says, citing the social work carried out constantly by evangelical groups in neighborhoods and communities across Brazil.
National
Furthermore, the evangelical population has grown in the country in recent years. The results regarding religion in the 2022 Census will only be known next year, but researchers estimate that evangelicals could reach a third of the Brazilian population.
A study released by the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea) last year helps to understand the size of this growth: in 20 years, evangelical churches grew 228% in the country. Furthermore, seven out of every ten temples in Brazil belong to this religious segment.
Professor Cláudio André, from Unilab, recalled that evangelicals also do basic work for political representation, including directing votes to specific candidates. The strategy of getting closer to evangelicals, which can be seen in Camaçari, happened throughout the state, according to him.
In the city of the Metropolitan Region of Salvador (RMS), however, the initiative goes further: there is an attempt to represent the evangelical segment of the city, including to garner votes. In his opinion, this will be fundamental in the final stretch, in which polls have shown a balanced dispute between Flávio and Caetano.
“It is important that we realize that the message that these politicians want to convey is that they will seek to have a management fully aligned with the evangelical public, with the demands, with attention and even with political representation within the city hall, with secretariats and other positions”, he states.
This movement is similar to what is happening on the national scene, in which President Lula and former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) also seek strategies to approach the evangelical public. “What happens in Camaçari becomes the reflection of a trend that, certainly, must be consolidated at state and national levels”.
Candidate Flávio Matos said that dialogue with evangelicals has been built since the beginning of the pre-campaign. Good morning with Jesus was content that, according to him, emerged due to a need in the middle of the campaign to share his daily reflections.
The recordings are made at 5 am and, according to him, the followers have approved. “I am a man of great faith. I have always sought strength in the word of God, regardless of religion. We are living through a battle, an electoral race that affects our emotional and, consequently, our spiritual side a lot.”
Candidate Caetano did not respond to questions sent to his advisor until the publication of the report. On Instagram, it is possible to find posts in which he also speaks directly to evangelicals. “With God’s blessings and the help of each one of you, we will make real change in Camaçari”, he posted last week.
A Christian for more than 20 years, professor Angélica Bittencourt believes that her entry into Flávio’s ticket was God’s choice. “The campaign is very good, with the participation of evangelicals. Today, we have 70% or 80% of evangelicals with us, even the smaller churches”, she explains, who attends the Camaçari Baptist Church, in Parque Verde.
Angélica was elected as a councilor for the first time in 2020, but her career includes cleaning work, becoming a businesswoman and the social work she carries out in the city.
In the final stretch of the campaign, she says that she has had events with churches practically every day – sometimes three or four in a single day.
“The church today is where we can take young people off the path of crime. It is the church that reaches the tip, at home. Today, the municipality has an obligation to embrace and help these pastors”, he says.
Pastor Déa is the administrator and founder of Instituto Mãezona, which serves people in vulnerable situations. She also shares reflections and Bible readings in videos on her social media. This past week, one of those who posted was a ministration from the book of Isaiah, in a passage that talked about waiting on God.
“The waiting that the Lord speaks of here is not a waiting of passivity, it is not a waiting of laziness. It is a waiting to trust, to have faith in what the Lord promises. And He says: look, in difficult times, He will make us soar above it all, make us above our problems, because He is on our side”, he said.
At rallies, Déa has already said that she is proud, as a pastor, of the team she is part of. “Yes, we can always walk together for a greater purpose, which is to transform people’s lives.”
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