Wine into Water

Evangelical Christians in Brazil are gathering to fight against the manifest impieties of the carnival at Rio de Janeiro. Like similar noisy ministers of love and peace in the USA and elsewhere, the spiritual police have been enthusiastic campaigners for the political far right. They are naturally unconcerned by Jair Bolsonaro's homophobic remarks, which faithfully reflect the Saviour's own authoritarian belief that the Mosaic law was too free and easy; by his racist descriptions of indigenous people, which piously parallel the Saviour's disdain for the Canaanites; or by his praise for the military dictatorship, which echoes the Saviour's delight in genocide. It might even be argued that Bolsonaro's virulent campaign to destroy the Amazon forest constitutes nothing less than an industrialised tribute to the Saviour's demented loathing of trees. Beyond such theological subtleties, of course, the main point of the evangelical intervention is to further God's eternal purpose of preventing people having a good time. "The carnival revelry lasts four days but Jesus’s happiness is eternal," burbled the pastor of Attitude Baptist Church, where Bolsonaro's wife goes to commune with the Almighty. "We would only sing songs about family, about friendship, about goodness, and God. There would no alcoholic drinks nor drugs consumed. And everyone would be sober." Clearly much thought has been given to the means by which four days can be made to seem an eternity.