THE CHURCH AS A PARTY: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND REPUBLICANS

How does the Republicans’ party organization reflect the relationship of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) to the party? The UCKG was the first Pentecostal church to launch its own official candidates, initially in different parties, until the emergence of the Republican party who, since its creation, has been polled as the church party. In this research, I present evidence that formalizes the relationship between institutions based on two hypotheses: 1) the dominant coalition of Republicans is composed of top church tier; and 2) the structure composed of provisional commissions (PCs) reinforces the concentration of power in the dominant coalition. The analysis is divided into two parts: in the first, I describe the political activities of the UCKG, while in the second I present the party organization of the Republicans. As the main results, I highlight how the party organization guarantees the church's control over the Republicans, using the following mechanisms: with the widespread use of provisional commissions instead of directories, the church avoids the formation of local leaders “from outside”, while the top party tier, predominantly composed of individuals linked to the UCKG, guarantees church member power in party decision-making.

Keywords:  Universal Church of the Kingdom of God; Republicans; electoral strategy; evangelicals; party organization