Why Brazil’s Churches Closed, Even Though President Bolsonaro Disagrees

Nine evangelical leaders explain why heeding public health experts on COVID-19 doesn’t violate their faith but instead demonstrates it.

Brazil’s churches have landed on the front lines of a disagreement between state governors, who have introduced quarantine measures designed to contain the spread of the new coronavirus that has sickened more than 11,100 Brazilians and killed 486, and President Jair Bolsonaro, who is actively undermining them and says a broad lockdown will ultimately destroy Brazil’s economy.

In late March, Bolsonaro passed a decree that added religious activities to the list of “essential services,” meaning sanctuaries could remain open even though citizens were asked to stay home. The decree was overruled by a federal court the following day. On the streets the following Sunday, he again defended people getting back to work.

“Open the churches, please, we need them,” one woman begged repeatedly in one of the videos Bolsonaro posted to social media. He replied with reassuring words.

Political analysts say Bolsonaro is addressing his electoral base—Brazil’s politically powerful Protestants helped bring the far-right president to power in the 2018 election—and letting them know they aren’t forgotten. Brazil is home to the world’s largest number of Catholics—some 123 million, according to the latest census, in 2010. But Protestants are a growing force, with 42 million believers, about 20 percent of the total population.

“No political party in Brazil manages to bring together as many people, in as many places, as many times a week as churches do,” Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in São Paulo, told The Associated Press (AP). “And people tend to follow the pastors’ directions.”

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