Evangelicals and politics as seen by ACIERA

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, April 25, 2007

"We are in an election year and, as has occurred in recent years, we hear Taxi Heathrow Airport of the offer of candidacies or political space that Evangelicals receive from the political parties or of candidates looking for the support of the ‘Evangelicals.’ We also observe how some pastors try to gain support for certain candidates or parties, be it because they have been promised ‘benefits’ for Evangelicals or some share in political power. Within this context there are those who have spoken of ‘an Evangelical political party,’ an idea that thanks be to God has never prospered in this country and is now not even mentioned.” With these words the Christian Alliance of Evangelical Churches of the Argentine Republic (ACIERA in Spanish), begins a statement on politics and the churches during the election campaigning taking place with full force.

The politicians are mistaken when enthused by the increasing number of Evangelicals believe that if they add one or more of their leaders to their cause, that behind them will come “the Evangelical vote.” They do not understand what the Evangelical church is and how it functions. Such thinking is a result of the idea that the Evangelical churches are sects and the belief that their members are docile followers of their leaders. Such a direct relation of influence between the leaders and the Evangelical people does not exist. The majority of those in Latin America who have attempted this have not been able to even count on the votes of their own congregations, the statement convincingly argues, while remembering concrete cases from the not too distant past.

Rubén Proietti and Jorge Sennewald, as President and Vice-President of the Alliance ask: “Is it wrong for an Evangelical to take part in politics?” and their answer is, “of course not. We should encourage our brothers and sisters to be active in all spheres of society, demonstrating excellence, commitment and holiness. This also includes the political sphere. Nevertheless, to attempt to participate in the political struggle as a church or “Evangelical people,” is a distorting of the mission of the church. Social transformation will never come about as a result of the exercise of power. Whoever wants to change society in the name of Jesus Christ will do so through service and not the exercising of power.”

Some few months ago the daily newspaper Clarín, the largest morning newspaper in circulation in Argentina, published a news story showing contacts between religious and political leaders, principally in the urban outskirts of the capital city of Buenos Aires. In what both pastors and leaders said, the growing power of the “Evangelical masses” was accepted as being a fact.

There are three federations of Evangelical churches in Argentina, the Argentine Federation of Evangelical Churches (FAIE in Spanish) that mostly binds together those communities identified as being “historic,” ACIERA, that gathers together those churches popularly known as being “Evangelical,” and FECEP, the Pentecostal Evangelical Fraternity, a grouping together of Pentecostal organizations.