RELIGION AS A SOCIAL PRACTICE: POWER RELATIONS IN THE DISCOURSES OF THE WORLD CHURCH OF THE POWER OF GOD FROM A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This article seeks to analyze religion as a social practice and the significant rise of neo-Pentecostalism, focusing on the Worldwide Church of the Power of God (IMPD), led by the apostle Valdemiro Santiago. The study presents and analyzes religious leaflets from IMPD campaigns, collected by the author of this work in church units and on the internet, with the aim of understanding them from the perspective of power relations from the perspective of Michel Foucault. The methodology used is Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), based on the works of Fairclough N (2001), Van Dijk TA (2015) and Wodak R (2004), in addition to using authors such as Batista Junior, JRL, et al. (2018), Hoover S (2014) and Thomas ESS and Oliveira SL (2023), among others. To contextualize the analysis of the leaflets, the work also addresses the history of IMPD and its fundamental characteristics, as well as the main events that led to the formation of the church. The study revealed how the discourses present in these leaflets convey and exercise power, offering an in-depth understanding of neo-Pentecostal dynamics and their social implications, in addition to explaining the power relations in these materials.