Friday, November 11, 2022

SojoMail - The US isn't the only country with a Christian nationalism problem

SojoMail

“Why does Brazil feel so much like Texas?” I wondered. My family and I were in the first weeks of a yearlong family sabbatical in South America, which we started in Brazil.

We came for the tropical climate, gorgeous natural areas, and to volunteer at Eco Caminhos, a permaculture farm. During my time in Brazil, I’ve also been observing the leadup to and aftermath of one of the most polarizing and contentious elections in Brazil’s recent history.

[...] In October, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, representing the leftist Workers’ Party, ran against incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. Many observers have argued that Bolsonaro’s policies and personality disturbingly mirror those of former U.S. President Donald Trump. In many respects, Bolsonaro’s presidency has felt like a reply to the fall 2020 elections in the United States: COVID-19 misinformation running amok, Bolsonaro claiming the election was rigged, and political divides deepening to the point of neighbors and friends refusing to speak to one another. In the Oct. 30 runoffs, Lula won by a sliver, capturing 50.9 percent of votes.

This election is just the most recent manifestation of deeper social divides in both the U.S. and Brazil. Benjamin A. Cowan, a historian at the University of California San Diego, notes that, since the 1980s, both countries have experienced a coalescing of “moral majorities” and right-wing populist groups, often with conservative Christians on the front lines. In Brazil, like in the U.S., certain affinities are grouped together. In the United States, a political slogan like “Jesus, guns, babies” attracts conservative constituents. In Brazil, conservatives rally around “beef, Bible, and bullets.” No wonder it feels like Texas.

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