• Iberoamérica
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-30
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• 2020

Recently, in the conservative wave in Latin America, the political participation of the conservative Pentecostal Church has been highlighted. This article analyzes the impact of this political participation on democracy and its development, based on the case of Brazil. First, the Pentecostal churches contributed greatly to religious pluralism, but show an exclusive and aggressive attitude toward other religions and ideologies. Also, in the process of selecting official candidates, most members of the churches are politically mobilized according to the unilateral decisions of the leadership, and these elected candidates serve the specific corporatist interests of their own denomination or church rather than the public interest. In addition, the purpose of political participation to obtain public offices is also a stumbling block to the development of democracy in Brazil by placing it in the direct realization of a specific religious interests or values of the rebuilding of the Christian kingdom.