Pentecostal discourses around abortion and homosexuality in Brazilian society

Abstract

This article analyzes the perceptions of Pentecostal leaders about changes in gender order and the demands for extension of women and sexual minorities human rights in
Brazil. Divided into five sections, it presents at first a brief summary of the contemporary debate on the participation of religious groups in the political sphere and some methodological remarks on the research work which gave rise to the data reviewed herein. The second section discusses the dominant opinion among Brazilian Pentecostal leaders that one of the most important human institutions, the family, is
seriously threatened by transnational corporations and international social movements, which requires a political activism from religious actors. Next, the opinions of leaders
regarding the feminist claim for revision in abortion legislation in Brazil are discussed. In the fourth section, we review the opinions of Pentecostals on some demands of the
movement for sexual diversity which are producing important controversies in Brazilian society. Finalizing, the article demonstrates that the reconfiguration of the value systems
of Pentecostal groups has generated different discourses in this religious segment and encouraged alliances with actors from the catholic field.