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Brazilian Evangelical Jurists and the Vernacularization of Law: Religious Legal Advocacy in the ANAJURE Observatory
The intersection between religion, law, and politics has become a central space to observe phenomena that are reshaping the ways in which religions and rights interact, whether in disputes over the meaning of religious freedom or in producing new materialities of law. With the constitutional reforms of the 1980s, new political actors began to incorporate legal strategies in their advocacy efforts, becoming constitutional interpretation actors, among them evangelical groups and associations, which have been increasing their presence and capacity to interfere in the legal field. Through the use of religious advocacy platforms, evangelical jurist organizations have managed to influence legislation and navigate the Brazilian legal framework, joining the contentious process of vernacularization and localization of law – that is, adapting international legal concepts to local cultural and religious contexts. The article analyzes the actions of the Associação Nacional de Juristas Evangélicos (ANAJURE, National Association of Evangelical Jurists) during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly its Observatório das Liberdades Civis Fundamentais (Observatory of Fundamental Civil Liberties), demonstrating how this organization leverages the human rights framework to promote and represent the interests of evangelical leadership communities, connecting religion, law, and politics.