The people in dispute: conservatives, "left Christians" and public religion in Brazil

This paper develops an argument based on Laclau's theory of populism as a form of politics, rather than an ideology or a political style, as an appropriate conceptual basis for the interpretation of recent developments in Brazilian religious politics. The last ten years have introduced deep divisions among Christians - whether Catholic or Protestant - around issues of public engagement and power bids. The category of "the people" has been central to some of these disputes. First, as an attempt to legitimise Pentecostal and conservative evangelicals as recognised components of the national people. Then, through various strategies to achieve leading positions in every branch of government - executive, legislative, judiciary. The struggle for such constructions of the "evangelical people" and "the Christian majority" became particularly dramatic during the 2018 elections and subsequent Bolsonaro administration, marking the transition from the affirmation of particularity (minoritisation of evangelical Christians) to an attempt to implement a "Christian" hegemony along the lines of right-wing populism. In the process, antagonistic disputes have reactivated progressive and left-inspired forms of Christian (ecumenical) activism which helped turn the conservative tide during the 2022 presidential elections, in which Bolsonaro was defeated in his bid for re-election.