On April 9, the Humanitas360 Institute held the 10th edition of its Difficult Conversations series, under the theme “Media, Religion, and Politics: Tensions and Limitations.” Moderated by anthropologist Juliano Spyer, the event took place at the CIVI-CO auditorium, in São Paulo, and brought together Anna Virginia Balloussier, a senior reporter at Folha de S.Paulo; Cláudia Pires, a journalist and pastor at Igreja Renascer em Cristo; and Ricardo Alexandre, a journalist and writer for TV Globo’s talk show Conversa com Bial.
Anna Virginia, author of “O Púlpito: Fé, Poder e o Brasil dos Evangélicos” (“The Pulpit: Faith, Power, and Evangelical Brazil”), highlighted how the social makeup of newsrooms — where evangelicals are largely underrepresented — leads to coverage of religious phenomena still marked by inaccuracies and bias. Cláudia, in turn, argued that churches themselves also need to improve how they communicate with the press. Ricardo, a Baptist and author of “E a Verdade os Libertará: Reflexões sobre Religião, Política e Bolsonarismo” (“And the Truth Shall Set You Free: Reflections on Religion, Politics, and Bolsonarism”), pointed out that many evangelicals hold a theology of work that tends to separate faith from professional life — a divide that can and should be overcome in the name of greater engagement with the wider world.
The event was streamed live on H360’s YouTube channel, where it can be watched in full. Check it out:
