Paper short abstract:

This ethnographical work was conducted in a self-identified left-wing Protestant church in Niterói. While Protestantism is growing steadily in Brazil, they're, for the most part, seen as a conservative force. This paper discusses how this community sees itself inside that perspective.

Paper long abstract:

The growth of a Brazilian Protestant church has been a trend wildly observable, both in the last census taken by the Brazilian state, and by the ever growing role that politicians identified with Evangelical churches (specially, the Neo-Penteconstalist movement) play in the country's politics through its growing participation inside the country's parliament. As those churches have an appeal as being a conservative force both socially and politically, specially through the importance they have inside the Brazilian media, they are, in no ways, the only political representation inside Protestantism in Brazil.

My fieldwork takes place inside a small church of 40 members in Niterói, one of the most affluent cities in the country. Igreja Batista do Caminho (Pathway Baptist Church) is a self-identified left-wing church, which emphasizes integration of minority groups and sees as a part of religious experience in itself, the construction of a social justice.

Pastored by a local politician from the Socialist Party, and made mainly from young member (ages between 18-45), my work inside this church tries to identify how this church sees itself inside the evangelical movement in Brazil and its role as a social organization inside the city that they are a part of.