Abstract
The authors discuss the phenomenon of religious and political leadership focusing on Bishop Marcelo Crivella from the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD), the current mayor of the city of Rio de Janeiro, in the context of the political involvement of his religious institution and the beginnings of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the article, selected concepts of leadership are applied in the background of the theories of a religious field, existential security, and the market theory of religion, to analyze the case of the IURD leadership political involvement and bishop/mayor Crivella’s city management before and during the pandemic, in order to show how his office constitutes an important part of the strategies of growth implemented by the IURD charismatic leader Edir Macedo, the founder and the head of this religious institution and, at the same time, Crivella’s uncle. The authors prove how Crivella’s policies mingle the religious and the political according to Macedo’s political alliances at the federal level, in order to strengthen the church and assure its political influence.
Highlights
The COVID-19 has become the main global issue of 2020
For more than 30 years already, the Neo-Pentecostal Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (IURD) has been an important part of the public sphere in Brazil, present in various elections, increasing its partnerships with the State, in compliance with alliances built by Edir Macedo, which puts its leaders in a clear contrast to the Luckmannian process of the increasing “invisibility” of religion
As we showed in our paper, Crivella’s policies as the mayor of Rio de Janeiro mingle the religious and the political in order to strengthen his church, currently aligning his policies with the federal government, even against the Rio de Janeiro state governor
Summary
The COVID-19 has become the main global issue of 2020. Reducing its effects on people, social relations, and economic sector has turned into a major challenge for any political leader and has reminded of the existing limitations in terms of human capacity and organizational structures, making strong and weak points in leadership styles and crisis management much more visible. Despite having a strong support from all Evangelical segments, Crivella, according to Machado (2006), did not want to restrict himself to the (neo)Pentecostal public, and he did eventually manage to expand his electorate beyond his religious brethren This long-term, successful strategy had already made him gain political space throughout several elections before the 2016 campaign for the mayor of Rio de Janeiro—he has always adopted, on the one hand, political pragmatism but, on the other hand, a moderate approach in many controversial matters, which is a typical policy applied by the IURD when promoting its political candidates, project, and investments (Camurça 2020; Burity 2018; Mariano 1999). Gomes and Leite (2019: 87) analyzed the decree 43.219/2017 and its 50% cut in the public funds for the Carnival while requiring a permit to organize the samba
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