The Crossroads of Political Participation in Colombian Pentecostalism

Abstract

Since the Political Constitution of 1991 in Colombia, the evangelical church in general and the Pentecostal church in particular began a path of political participation in an institutional way. This participation has generated a crossroads between the political approach, the theological position and the figures eligible and/or supportable as political representatives. These three factors generated tensions in the Pentecostal political endeavor between supporting traditional parties or their own parties; between participation as individual responsibility or body thinking; between political participation as the establishment of the kingdom of God or political participation as a struggle against the corrupt powers of this world. Pentecostal political participation in Colomba has been framed in the designation of caudillo leaders recognized as "anointed ones" who represent God's will for the nation, this with marked social aspects of Hispanic political personalism and its combination with principles of Dominionist Theology. This posture represents in itself a crossroads for the participation of the Pentecostal in civil society in the political aspects since it deprives him, underhandedly, of his individual civil responsibilities and makes him a prisoner of political postures that alienate his rights.