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It is a common-place, but it has to be said: the emerging conversation in the south will have commonalities and differences with the north. The tension between liberal left and conservative (evangelical) right of the United States simply does not translate to Brazil. This axis from conservatives to liberals just does not exist for us. And there are no Republican and Democrat parties in Brazil. It is just not our reality. Even though American evangelical missionaries did have great influence in the formation of the Brazilian evangelical identity as it is conceived today, ecology, homosexuality, abortion and evolution are not the main items of debate of Christians here. And we don’t categorize generations into Boomers and Gen-X. Does that mean that there are no common denominators that emerging conversations in the north and the south may share? No. I believe there are deeper issues that are surfacing in the emerging conversation of the north that are very relevant to the south. These relate to the relationship of the church with culture, the view of the other/stranger, the Kingdom of God, use of language, community, Christian leadership, views of atonement, etc. Let me list some non-exhaustive factors that collaborate towards a proper environment for the emerging conversation in Brazil: the lack of credible leader figures and a generalized dissatisfaction with bad examples of behaviour, globalization and the Internet, social pressures, and a more communal culture. The first point, in my view, has a generic historical context and another specific component of the Brazilian evangelical milieu. The military dictatorship period in Brazil (1964-1984) was a period of violence, polarization, kidnappings, executions, torture, arrests and suspension of democracy. Also, “the exacerbated patriotism generalized by the military regime brought very grave consequences to the national culture. As the government started to associate every Brazilian aspect that was good to the regime, people immediately started to reject everything that was national.”<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[3]<!--[endif]--> The book “Brazil: Never Again”<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[4]<!--[endif]--> documents the story of 17,000 victims and 1,800 cases of torture. One story is that of frei Tito de Alencar Lima: “Accused of offering help to Carlos Marighella, frei Tito was arrested in November of 1969 in São Paulo. […] He undergoes long sessions of torture, mainly with the use of paddles and electric shocks.[…] In the hands of the Military Justice, frei Tito is taken to Operação Bandeirantes[…]. There, the frade undergoes the worst sessions of torture. According to the reports of many inmates, […] during three days the militaries hit the head of Tito against the wall, burn his skin with cigarettes and apply electric shocks to his whole body, mainly to his mouth, simulating the reception of the Eucharist”.<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[5]<!--[endif]-->
After “the tough years” as they were called, hopes of resuming the path of democracy and of the first civil president in 1985 die along with Tancredo Neves. Years after Collor stands up. He’s a young and modern president riding his jet-ski. He’s a “Maharajah-buster” (a chaser of corrupt billionaires). But he is corrupt himself. His house gardens alone cost US$ 2.5 million. Let’s impeach him. Then Ayrton Senna, the famous Formula 1 champion, dies in a tragic accident. There goes another super-hero. Then comes Lula, the first president “of the left”, sort of speak. There were great expectations of solutions to the social crisis. After a series of corruption scandals, the image of Lula is shaken. The idea of super-hero fades away for many along with hopes. Time after time the projections of fantasized heroes are destructed and the tough daily reality goes on. I would suspect that before this great and complex picture the evangelical crowd doesn’t know what to say. Perhaps they would rather shout “Brazil belongs to Jesus Christ” <!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[6]<!--[endif]--> louder, even without knowing well what it means.
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