Religião, política e favela: influências sociopolíticas de igrejas evangélicas pentecostais e neopentecostais na cidade do Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the multiple influences exerted by Pentecostal evangelical churches in the Brazilian sociopolitical scenario, from their establishment in the favelas and peripheral areas of the city of Rio de Janeiro, places in which they spread in number and strength. It started from social relations and peripheral peculiarities that favored the growth of Pentecostals in these urban spaces. Further on, it was analyzed how the mass social adhesion allowed the expansion of the influence of religious institutions to the political and legal spheres, already outside the circumscriptions of the periphery. At first, it dealt with the common sense established among Pentecostal evangelicals, regarding aspects pertinent to the profession of faith; then the analysis of the authors that proposed and proposes to explain the influences of the researched churches was passed; finally, each sphere of influence of these churches was identified: social, political and legal. The methodology will be strictly qualitative so that it is possible to understand that the phenomenon researched does not result from purely numerical/quantitative factors. The analysis of interviews was used as a methodological tool to understand the religious conceptions rooted in the mentality of the faithful and the reasons why they led to devotional adherence to them.