https://journals.scientia.international/SIJSocial
Scientia International Journal for
Social Sciences
Vol. 1, 1 (2026)
Type: [Research Article] | DOI: 10.56365/dwg0pg25
XXXX-XXXX © 2026 The Authors. Published by Scientia.International S.L. (Spain).
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The Bolsonaro Government's Communication:
Twitter Quanti-Quali Analysis (2019 - 2022)
Evanway Sellberg Soares1*
1São Paulo State University Julio de Mesquita Filho – UNESP, São Paulo, Brazil; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8969-9177
* Corresponding author: evanways@yahoo.com.br.
Abstract
This study investigates the pressure capacity of neoconservative evangelical groups in the formulation of public policies in Brazil
during the Bolsonaro government (2019-2022). The main objective was to identify recurring themes in the speeches made on
Twitter (now X) by political figures linked to the government and religious leaders, seeking to understand the dynamics of influence
and the relationship between the religious agenda and governmental actions. The research employed a mixed methodology,
combining quantitative and qualitative analysis of 72,750 tweets collected between January 2019 and December 2022, using the
Twitonomy program for collection and MAXQDA software for analysis. The corpus included statements from Jair Bolsonaro, his
sons Eduardo and Carlos, ministers of Education and Women, Family and Human Rights, as well as religious leaders such as
Marco Feliciano and Silas Malafaia. The results revealed that religious themes, such as “God” and “customs” agendas, gained
prominence mainly in electoral years, and that the relationship between religious groups and the government was based more on
neoconservative political identity than on specific religious principles. The analysis demonstrated that the vocal support of religious
leaders was based more on defending neoconservative identity than on pressure for the implementation of specific moral or
religious agendas.
Keywords: Evangelicals; Neoconservatism; Bolsonaro Government; Social Media; Brazilian Politics.
Article details | Open Peer Review
Edited by:
Bruno César Alves Marcelino
Reviewed by:
Fabio do Vale
Gelson Weschenfelder
Citation:
Sellberg Soares, E. (2026). The Bolsonaro Government's Communication: Twitter
Quanti-Quali Analysis (2019 - 2022). Scientia International Journal for Social
Sciences, 1 (1), 29. https://doi.org/10.56365/dwg0pg25
Article history
Received: 16/12/2025
Revised: 02/04/2026
Accepted: 02/04/2026
Available: 27/05/2026
Scientia International Journal for Social Sciences 2 of 12
1. Introduction
One of the major debates in social sciences in recent decades concerns the theory of secularization, strongly
defended by Berger (1985) in The Sacred Canopy. The author argued that secularization is the process of
removing religious power from cultural and societal spheres, resulting in religious pluralism that would
weaken monopolies of meaning and lead to the privatization of religion. Berger (2000) later revised his
position, recognizing the existence of a desecularization characterized by the growth of religious
“conservative, orthodox, or traditionalist movements” (p. 13).
Casanova (2006) proposes a more nuanced approach, distinguishing three aspects of secularization:
institutional differentiation, decline in religious beliefs, and privatization of religion. For the author, only the
first aspect would be universal in modernity. This aspect is what is understood today as secularism
*
.
Mariano (2011) analyzes “Brazilian secularism,” characterized by a formal separation between state and
church, but with persistent religious influence in the public sphere. The author points out that “without the
secularization of the Brazilian state and the state guarantee of religious freedom, Pentecostalism could hardly
enjoy the conditions necessary to achieve such numerical, media, and political success” (MARIANO, 2002,
p. 20). Thus, Brazil presents itself as a fertile field for the study of relations between the state and the church,
especially considering the change in the actions of evangelical groups after redemocratization.
During the 1986 Constituent Assembly, evangelicals mobilized around a religious moralism focused on
attacks on communism, sexual activities, and reproductive rights, and protection of the family (PIERUCCI,
1987, 1989). This conservative position was maintained in subsequent terms, intensifying with the numerical
growth of evangelicals and changes in their form of political action (CARVALHO; SIVORI, 2017),
culminating in massive support for Jair Bolsonaro in 2018.
Evangelical support for candidates has been a constant in Brazilian politics since redemocratization. There
was support for Collor, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Lula, and Dilma Rousseff, always based on moral
agendas. The first major division occurred in 2002, when the Assembleia de Deus and Quadrangular
supported José Serra, while the Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus supported Luís Inácio Lula da Silva
(BURITY, 2006, p. 198).
*
The principle of secularism is understood here as the formal separation between the state and religious groups, as presented in
Brazil since the 1891 constitution, but which encompasses a set of processes throughout history that present a range of tensions
and, in the case of Brazil, are more closely related to evangelical and Catholic groups. For more information on the discussions
surrounding the concepts of secularization and secularism, we suggest the studies by:
CATROGA, Fernando. Entre Deuses e Césares: Secularização, laicidade e religião civil. Coimbra: Almedina, 2010.
WILLAIME, Jean-Paul European Integration, Laïcité and Religion, Religion, State and Society, 37:1-2, 23-35, 2009.
SILVA, Luis Gustavo Teixeira da Silva. Secularism of the State: analytical-conceptual dimensions and their normative operating
structures. Sociologies, Porto Alegre, year 21, no. 51, May-Aug, pp. 278-304, 2019.
And for the specific case in Brazil, we suggest the studies by:
CAMURÇA, Marcelo Ayres. CAMURÇA, M. A. “The question of secularism in Brazil: a mosaic of configurations and an arena
of controversy.” Horizonte, vol. 15, no. 47: 855-886, 2017.
_______. An evangelical power in the Brazilian state? Electoral mobilization, parliamentary action, and presence in the Bolsonaro
government. Revista NUPEM, Campo Mourão, v. 12, no. 25, p. 82-104, Jan./Apr., 2020.
MARIANO, Ricardo. Brazilian secularism. Catholics, Pentecostals, and secularists in dispute in the public sphere. Civitas, Porto
Alegre, v. 11, no. 2, p. 238-258, May-Aug. 2011.
_______. Expansion and political activism of conservative evangelical groups: Secularization and pluralism under debate. Civitas:
Porto Alegre. v. 16, n. 4, p. 710-728, Oct.-Dec., 2016.
BOSSIO, María Pilar García. Secularism as a problem. Its use in thinking about state organizations. Religion & Society; 38(2);
148-173; 2018.
TANAKA, Marcela. "Secularization, Secularism, and Public Space: How to Think About Contemporary Brazilian Politics in Light
of Religion?" Religion & Society, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 169-188, 2020.
Scientia International Journal for Social Sciences 3 of 12
With Dilma Rousseff, the scenario changed due to the abortion agenda used in 2010. During her term, she
faced strong opposition from the Evangelical Parliamentary Front due to moral issues, the result of a
conservative Christian ethos (TADVALD, 2015), culminating in the segment's support for the 2016
impeachment and subsequent support for Jair Bolsonaro's candidacy in 2018.
The Bolsonaro government is recognized as belonging to a group of far-right governments that align
themselves with neoconservative religious values and groups, similar to Donald Trump in the United States,
Marine Le Pen in France, and Viktor Orbán in Hungary (LÖWY, 2019).
In this context, the specialized literature identifies transformations in evangelical political action. Almeida
(2017) points to a “conservative wave” that articulates religious values with right-wing political positions.
Machado (2018) analyzes how the Christian discourse on “gender ideology” has become central to
contemporary political disputes, mainly focused on conservative positions
†
.
Brazilian neoconservatism, as analyzed by Almeida (2018), articulates economic liberalism with moral
conservatism, using religious symbols for political legitimacy. This combination differs from traditional
conservatism in its adaptation to capitalist modernity.
However, Prandi and Santos (2017) demonstrate that, despite the visibility of the evangelical caucus, there
is significant heterogeneity in the evangelical electorate, questioning generalizations about uniform political
behavior.
Thus, this study contributes to the debate on secularization, adding to discussions about religious influence
on the state, both in the actions of elected politicians with religious capital and in the use of religious precepts
to mobilize public debate.
2. Research Objectives
This study sought to understand the relationship between neoconservative evangelical groups and the
Bolsonaro administration, analyzing whether these groups sought to pressure the government to formulate
†
For this work, extensive research on the evolution of the concept of conservatism and its discussions is not necessary; given
the time frame of the research and its object of study, the concept of conservative as presented by Almeida (2017) is taken as a
reference, a term in dispute and which in Brazil stems from four forces: economic; moral; security; and interational. Economic,
because it presents itself as meritocratic and entrepreneurial, linked to the theology of prosperity propagated by neo-Pentecostal
denominations, thus perpetuating the given economic and social structure (SMITH, 2019; ARAGUSUKU, 2019), which in both
cases appears to be a contradiction, given that a large part of the population negatively affected by neoliberal policies belongs to
the evangelical segment. Moral, in the sense of defending against the advances of secularism in behaviors and values, which would
result, according to the author, in an attempt to enforce Pentecostal morality in the legal order, with Marco Feliciano and Silas
Malafaia among the protagonists of these actions. Security, in the sense of presenting a more repressive and punitive stance by the
state security apparatus, linked to "the reduction of the age of criminal responsibility, the disarmament law, the anti-terrorism law,
the incarceration policy, the militarization of part of public administration, among others" (ALMEIDA, 2017, p. 22). Interational,
in the sense of how the conservative movement relates to other groups and, in this sense, Almeida points to the mobilization of the
terms revenge, phobia, and hatred in the conservative wave. For a more extensive and in-depth discussion of the concept, we
recommend as a starting point:
SOUZA, Jamerson Murillo Anunciação de. Ideological trends in conservatism. Thesis (Doctorate). Federal University of
Pernambuco: Pernambuco. (2016).
CAZETTA, Felipe. Conservative intellectuals and the struggle for power: Le Bon, Sorel, Action Française, and Lusitanian
Integralism. History (São Paulo) [online], v. 36, n. 00, e2, 2017.
Lacerda refers to the text FRESTON, Paul. Protestants and Politics in Brazil: from the Constituent Assembly to Impeachment.
Campinas: Thesis (Doctorate). State University of Campinas: São Paulo, 1993.
CHESNUT, R. Andrew. Born Again in Brazil: The Pentecostal Boom and the Pathogens of Poverty. New Brunswick: Rutgers
University Press, 1997.
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public policies
‡
or whether they act more as political support groups . To this end, it was necessary to identify
the most recurrent themes in the discourses of political and religious leaders on social media, as well as to
analyze the evolution of these themes over time during the presidential term. The relevance of the study is
justified by the need to understand the relationship between groups and religious groups in a democratic
context.
3. Research methods and methodology
This research, conducted between 2019 and 2022, adopted a mixed methodological approach, combining
quantitative and qualitative analysis to understand the discursive dynamics between political and religious
actors. The methodological design is based on the content analysis proposed by Bardin (2011), adapted to
the digital environment of social networks. The corpus consisted of tweets from twelve individuals,
categorized into three distinct groups:
Religious leader (1): Silas Malafaia, an evangelical pastor with over 1.8 million subscribers on YouTube
and 1.5 million followers on Twitter, known for his conservative political views.
Political-religious leaders (4): Marco Feliciano (Federal Deputy), Damares Alves (Minister of Women,
Family, and Human Rights), André Mendonça (Attorney General and later Minister of Justice), Milton
Ribeiro (Minister of Education).
Political leaders (7): Jair Bolsonaro (President), Eduardo Bolsonaro (Federal Deputy), Carlos Bolsonaro
(City Councilor), Ricardo Vélez Rodrigues (Minister of Education), Abraham Weintraub (Minister of
Education), Cristiane Britto (Minister of Women, Family, and Human Rights), Victor Godoy Veiga (Minister
of Education).
The selection of participants was based on criteria of political relevance during the period studied, potential
influence on social media, representation of different segments (religious, political-religious, political), and
active participation on Twitter during the period analyzed
§
.
Data collection was performed using the Twitonomy program, which uses Twitter APIs (currently X) for
data extraction. The total period covered January 2019 to December 2022, resulting in 72,750 tweets
collected
**
.
‡
This work will use the concept of public policy as defined by Souza (2006), since “public policy is the stage at which democratic
governments translate their electoral purposes and platforms into programs and actions that will produce results or changes in the
real world. [...] public policies, once designed and formulated, unfold into plans, programs, projects, databases, or information and
research systems. When put into action, they are implemented and then subjected to monitoring and evaluation systems" (2006, p.
26).
§
It is worth remembering that the Bolsonaro family included President Jair Bolsonaro and his first lady Michelle Bolsonaro,
Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, Federal Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, and Rio de Janeiro City Councilman Carlos Bolsonaro. It is also
important to highlight Michelle Bolsonaro's role in bringing the presidency closer to evangelical groups, as well as the role of
Renan Bolsonaro, who in 2021 was investigated for political influence peddling but was found innocent in 2022 by the Federal
Police investigation, even though the latter accused ABIN of interfering in the investigations. However, for this stage of the
research, it was decided not to include Michelle, Flávio, and Renan in the study. The reason for this choice was that Michelle and
Renan are not institutionally involved in politics, which in no way detracts from their participation, but at this stage of the research
on institutional relationships, it is not necessary. Flávio was disregarded because, for a bill to be approved, it must first pass through
Congress, and this sector is already covered by Eduardo Bolsonaro.
**
In 2019, 703 tweets from Jair Bolsonaro's ministerial team were deleted, with Eduardo Bolsonaro, Jair Bolsonaro, Damares
Alves, and Abraham Weintraub responsible for 436 of them (Metropoles.Com, 2023, https://www.metropoles.com/brasil/li-o-que-
voce-apagou-os-tweets-deletados-da-gestao-bolsonaro.Acesso on 07/15/2023). Assuming that this average of 109 deleted tweets
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The tweets were organized into document sets by author and year, allowing for longitudinal and
comparative analyses
††
. For example, “Jair Bolsonaro 2022” constitutes a set of spreadsheets containing all
of the president's tweets in the year 2022. The analysis was conducted using MAXQDA software, which
specializes in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods data analysis. The process included identifying
the terms most used by each participant and period, applying an exclusion list to remove articles, pronouns,
and other irrelevant terms; grouping terms by theme (e.g., “god,” “God,” “divinity” grouped as “God”),
allowing for a more accurate analysis of thematic relevance; identifying the most frequent contexts of use of
the terms, such as “God” used in the context of “blessing” or “care”; using Pearson's R coefficient to identify
correlations between terms, revealing patterns of discursive association; and, finally,
comparison of thematic evolution over the four years, identifying seasonal patterns and trends.
4. Development and Results
The total corpus of 72,750 tweets was distributed as shown in Table 1, with the Bolsonaro family
accounting for approximately 56% of total publications: Eduardo Bolsonaro (25%), Carlos Bolsonaro (18%),
and Jair Bolsonaro (13%). Silas Malafaia and Marco Feliciano also had high numbers, with 13% and 12%,
respectively.
Compilation of Tweets by year (2019–2022)
Name
2019
2021
Total
%
President Jair Bolsonaro
2216
1982
9217
13
Dep. Eduardo Bolsonaro
3081
4512
18,096
25
Dep. Marco Feliciano
1509
2114
8683
12
Minister Abraham Weintraub
2754
0
4682
6
Minister André Mendonça
430
89
880
1
Minister Cristiane Britto
0
0
168
0
Minister Damares Alves
1478
1145
5254
7
Minister Milton Ribeiro
0
1382
1843
3
Minister Ricardo Velez
154
0
154
0
Min. Victor Godoy
0
0
711
1
Pr. Silas Malafaia
2068
2456
9614
13
per person per year is maintained and extending it to 2022 for the profiles monitored (Jair Bolsonaro, Eduardo Bolsonaro, Carlos
Bolsonaro, Marco Feliciano, Damares Alves, and Silas Malafaia were monitored for four years, while those responsible for the
Ministry of Education and the AGU were monitored according to their terms of office, and Cristiane Britto was added when
Damares Alves had to step down to run for election), it would be possible to reach a total of 3,924 tweets, bringing the total number
of tweets to 76,674; assuming that none of the deleted tweets were captured by the search, it is possible to estimate a margin of
error of 0.11% with a 99% confidence level for the data presented on the topics that will be discussed below. It should be noted
that this projection of deleted tweets is most likely higher than the total, given the proportionality that each profile represents in
the total number of posts.
††
The search was performed on any word longer than one (1) character, with differentiation criteria by documents, by "higher
level" document groups and document sets, in addition to lemmatized and non-lemmatized searches, each specified in the text; in
all cases, links, email addresses, numbers, and the exclusion list with prepositions, articles, emoticons, authors' names, and other
insignificant terms were ignored.
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Councilman Carlos Bolsonaro
2609
2890
2194
5755
13,448
18
1 TABLE: Compilation of tweets per year. Own source
4.1. Longitudinal Thematic Analysis
To conclude this study, let us return to what Marco Codebò wrote, which we believe applies to Tenda dos
Milagres: “Archival novels perform the same type of meaning-making operations performed by the records,
archives, and inventories that characterize bureaucratic archival practices” (Codebò, 2010, p. 14), or what
Echevarría (2011, p. 8) says about the history of these types of novels being the history of the escape from
authority and that they are part of a subplot.
Analysis of the frequency of terms over the four years revealed thematic consistency, with significant
variations only at specific moments. The ten most frequent terms remained relatively stable, with some
occasional changes related to current events.
5. Evolution of the 10 most frequent terms per year
6. Position
7. 2019
8. 2020
9. 2021
10. 2022
11. 1
12. Brazil
13. Brazil
14. Brazil
15. Brazil
16. 2nd
17. Govern
18. President
19. President
20. President
21. 3rd
22. President
23. Govern
24. Govern
25. Brazilian
26. 4th
27. Country
28. Brazilian
29. People
30. People
31. 5
32. Power
33. God
34. Brazilian
35. Govern
36. 6th
37. Good
38. People
39. Power
40. Power
41. 7th
42. God
43. Power
44. Country
45. God
46. 8th
47. Work
48. Country
49. Vaccinate
50. Good
51. 9
52. Brazilian
53. Good
54. Good
55. Country
56. 10th
57. Family
58. Work
59. God
60. Democracy
TABLE 2: Evolution of the 10 most frequent terms per year. Own source.
The year 2019, the first of the presidential term, was characterized by the establishment of the government
agenda. Among the 10 most frequently used terms, only two were related to traditionally evangelical themes:
“God” (7th position) and “Family” (10th position).
Contextual analysis revealed that “God” appeared mainly as the expression “God bless” (64 times, 8.5%
of the total in 2019) and linked to the “Assembly of God” (46 times, 6.1%). The most frequent users were
Silas Malafaia, Marco Feliciano, and Eduardo Bolsonaro. “Family,” on the other hand, appeared linked to
the idea of “comfort” on 31 occasions (4.1%).
The low correlation between “God” and “family” (R = 0.24) suggests little numerical relationship between
these terms traditionally associated with conservative religious groups, as shown in Table 3.
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Pearson's R correlation: God and Family - 2019
Power
Country
President
Govern
Brazil
God
Family
Power
0.435
0.435
0.446
0.567
0.360
0.302
Country
0.435
0.485
0.675
0.685
-
0.214
-0.055
President
0.435
0.485
0.523
0.566
0.082
-0.051
Govern
0.446
0.675
0.523
0.563
-
0.028
0.052
Brazil
0.567
0.685
0.566
0.563
-
0.035
0.040
God
0.360
-0.214
0.082
-0.028
-0.035
0.242
TABLE 3: Pearson's R correlation: God and Family. Own source.
The year 2020 was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and municipal elections. The term “God” rose to
5th place, accompanied by increased activity from religious leaders Silas Malafaia and Marco Feliciano (31%
of publications compared to 22% in 2019).
Marco Feliciano and Silas Malafaia aligned themselves with the government during the pandemic,
defending the maintenance of economic activities and criticizing social isolation measures. The term “family”
was replaced by “people,” indicating a change in discourse strategy. In this context, the term “God” appears
as “God bless” with 153 appearances (12.7%), “Thank God” with 77 appearances (6.3%), and linked to the
term “Brazil,” with 67 appearances (5.5%), and “People,” with 59 appearances (4.9%). In the case of the
correlation between “Brazil” and “God,” there is a high significance (R = 0.6).
Pearson's R correlation: God and other terms from 2020
Brazilian
President
Govern
Brazil
God
Brazilian
0.668
0.656
0.769
0.641
President
0.668
0.621
0.759
0.401
Govern
0.656
0.621
0.779
0.546
Brazil
0.769
0.759
0.779
0.600
God
0.641
0.401
0.546
0.600
TABLE 4: Pearson's R correlation: God and other terms in 2020. Own source.
In 2021, the term “God” declined to 10th place, demonstrating the declining influence of conservative
religious groups. The analysis revealed that 54.72% of mentions came from Malafaia (203) and Feliciano
(110), confirming the pattern of religious leaders as government spokespersons.
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The correlation between “Brazil” and “President” strengthened significantly, rising from 0.759 in 2020 to
0.815 in 2021, evidencing a growing attempt to associate Bolsonaro with the country, as shown in Table 5.
Pearson's R correlation: God and other terms in 2021
Brazil
President
Govern
People
God
Brazil
0.815
0.786
0.336
0.270
President
0.815
0.830
0.382
0.347
Govern
0.786
0.830
0.270
0.211
Population
0.336
0.382
0.270
0.699
God
0.270
0.347
0.211
0.699
TABLE 5: Pearson's R correlation: God and other terms in 2021. Own source.
In the 2022 election year, “God” returned to 7th place. A significant change in the use of the term was
observed, with Eduardo and Carlos Bolsonaro accounting for 37.9% of the mentions, demonstrating the
instrumental use of religion in electoral strategy. However, the term does not show a high correlation with
any other significant term, as shown in Table 6. And the term “democracy” entered the ranking of most used
terms, replacing “vaccinate,” reflecting the electoral debate centered on democratic defense.
Pearson's R correlation: God and other terms in 2022
God
President
People
Brazilian
Brazil
God
0.511
0.643
0.460
0.477
President
0.511
0.328
0.391
0.766
Population
0.643
0.328
0.652
0.391
Brazilian
0.460
0.391
0.652
0.604
Brazil
0.477
0.766
0.391
0.604
TABLE 6: Pearson's R correlation: God and other terms in 2022. Own source.
The correlation analysis using Pearson's R coefficient revealed consistent patterns over the four years. The
steady growth in the Brazil-President correlation indicates a deliberate strategy to associate Bolsonaro with
national symbols. The increase in the God-President correlation in 2022 confirms the electoral use of religion.
61. Evolution of the main correlations
62. Correlation
63. 2019
64. 2020
65. 2021
66. 2022
67. Brazil-President
68. 0.566
69. 0.759
70. 0.815
71. 0.766
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72. God-President
73. 0.082
74. 0.401
75. 0.347
76. 0.511
77. God-Family
78. 0.242
79. -
80. -
81. -
82. Brazil-Governance
83. 0.563
84. 0.779
85. 0.786
86. -
TABLE 7: Evolution of the main correlations. Own source.
On the other hand, analysis of terms related to sexual and reproductive rights (“LGBT,” “Gay,” “Gender,”
“Feminism,” “Homosexual”) revealed a consistent downward trend, with Eduardo Bolsonaro consistently
being the most frequent user, followed by Silas Malafaia and Marco Feliciano, which was normally used in
contexts that sought to defend against the “left.”
87. Evolution of the frequency of LGBT terms
88. Year
89. Total Mentions
90. Annual Variation
91. 2019
92. 157
93. -
94. 2020
95. 133
96. -15.3%
97. 2021
98. 125
99. -6.0
100. 2022
101. 65
102. -48.0
TABLE 8: Evolution of the frequency of LGBT terms. Own source.
The contexts of use were predominantly negative, associating these terms with “gender ideology” and
positioning them as threats to traditional values.
4.2. Patterns of Action by Religious Leaders
The analysis identified three main patterns in the actions of religious leaders: Government Defense,
Institutional Antagonism, and Electoral Mobilization. Religious leaders acted predominantly in defense of
the government, not pressing for specific agendas. Silas Malafaia and Marco Feliciano acted as government
spokesmen, reproducing official narratives. Also, coordinated attacks on the Supreme Court, the press, and
opposition governors characterized religious-political discourse. The Supreme Court was particularly
targeted, being presented as a threat to religious freedom. In addition to the intensification of activities in
election years (2020 and 2022), with calls for fasts, demonstrations, and religious events with explicit political
content.
In this sense, the research identified clear seasonality in religious themes. In non-election years, such as
2019 and 2021, there was less use of religious terms, with a focus on administrative and economic issues, in
addition to religion as an element of support, not mobilization. In election years, such as 2020 and 2022,
there was a significant increase in religious references, use of the motto “God, Country, Family, and
Freedom,” and the instrumentalization of Christian symbols.
5. Discussion of Results
The results confirm the central hypothesis that the relationship between neoconservative evangelicals and
the Bolsonaro government was based more on political identity than on specific religious principles. The low
correlation between religious terms and the decline in the use of traditional moral agendas indicate that vocal
support did not translate into effective pressure for specific policies. This finding is in line with the literature
Scientia International Journal for Social Sciences 10 of 12
on neoconservatism (ALMEIDA, 2018), which identifies religion as one element with t of a broader
ideological constellation, including economic liberalism, political authoritarianism, and cultural nationalism.
Furthermore, the rise in religious terms in election years (2020 and 2022) suggests the strategic
instrumentalization of religion for electoral purposes. The increase in the God-President correlation from
0.347 in 2021 to 0.511 in 2022 demonstrates the calculated use of religious symbols. This instrumentalization
is not a uniquely Brazilian phenomenon, finding parallels in the global right-wing populisms analyzed by
Löwy (2019) and in the strategies of leaders such as Viktor Orbán in Hungary and Donald Trump in the
United States.
Contrary to the common perception of evangelical influence, the data show limited pressure to influence
public policy formulation. Several factors may explain this limitation: the heterogeneity of the evangelical
group, internal divisions within the neoconservative collective identity, and the system of checks and balances
in Brazilian democracy (SOARES, 2025).
First, the Brazilian evangelical community is not a monolithic bloc. Internal divisions over economics,
security, and even moral issues have limited its ability to exert unified pressure. In addition, military,
economic, and technical groups within the government compete with religious influence.
The results contribute to the debate on secularization in Brazil, demonstrating that, even under a
government with strong evangelical support, the secular nature of the state, at least in the discursive field,
remained preserved given the low evangelical pressure against the government, so that political identity
prevailed. This finding supports Mariano's (2011) thesis on “Brazilian secularism,” characterized by formal
separation with persistent symbolic influence, but within democratic institutional limits.
Therefore, the research identified the role of religion in Brazilian political polarization, serving more as an
identity marker than as a source of pressure for specific policies. This polarization, although it seems intense
at the discursive level, did not show itself in reality. The pattern observed suggests that religion, in the
contemporary Brazilian context, operates more as a resource for political mobilization than as a source of
autonomous political authority, as well as a defender of previously established political identities.
6. Conclusions
This research analyzed 72,750 tweets from politicians and religious leaders during the Bolsonaro
administration, revealing specific patterns in the relationship between religion and politics in contemporary
Brazil.
Religious themes gained prominence mainly in election years, confirming their instrumental use. The God-
President correlation increased significantly in 2022 (0.511), contrasting with lower values in non-election
years. There was also a consistent reduction in the discussion of sexual and reproductive rights, with a decline
between 2021 and 2022, demonstrating that traditional moral themes were not central even in a conservative
government.
Leaders such as Silas Malafaia and Marco Feliciano acted more to defend the government than to press
for specific agendas, functioning as political spokespersons in religious language. The steady growth of the
discursive association between Bolsonaro and national symbols far exceeded religious correlations.
The results challenge simplistic interpretations of desecularization, demonstrating that contemporary
religious influence operates within secular frameworks, competing with other sources of authority and
identity, such as politics. The research confirms, at least in terms of communication, that Brazilian
neoconservatism articulates religion with other ideological elements, with political, not religious, identity
being the determining factor.
Scientia International Journal for Social Sciences 11 of 12
However, further studies are needed to verify whether Brazilian democratic institutions have demonstrated
the ability to resist extreme religious pressures, maintaining formal secularism even under a government with
strong religious rhetoric. The Brazilian case illustrates the structural limitations of religious populism in
constitutional democracies, where checks and balances restrict radical transformations. Thus, social networks
have emerged as a central space for the articulation between religion and politics, but their influence has been
limited to the symbolic plane and, even there, to the defense of a political identity.
This research has therefore demonstrated that despite the vocal support of evangelical leaders and the use
of religious symbols in election campaigns, the pursuit of effective pressure was limited. The relationship
was based more on neoconservative political identity than on specific religious principles.
The findings question narratives about “theocracy” or “confessional state” in Brazil, indicating that
religious influence, although present, operates within democratic institutional limits. The secular nature of
the Brazilian state has been preserved in terms of communication, with religious influence manifesting itself
mainly on a symbolic level, but in a less significant way. These results contribute to a more nuanced
understanding of the relationship between religion and politics in contemporary Brazil, highlighting
complexities that transcend simplistic dichotomies between secular and religious.
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