This past Saturday, we witnessed the unfortunate presence of President Javier Milei at the inauguration of the largest evangelical church building (Portal del Cielo or Heaven’s Gate temple, which was renovated to host up to 10,000 people) in my country of Argentina.
The sacred space of the pulpit was used for the president to deliver a partisan diatribe.
I say this was unfortunate not because of his presence itself as the event organizers have every right to invite whomever they choose for such an important celebration, including the president. Rather, it was unfortunate because the sacred space of the pulpit was used for the president to deliver a partisan diatribe filled with false arguments, malicious distortions, and statements entirely contrary to the teachings of the gospel.
The event was promoted as a historic occasion. It marked the first time a president had attended such a ceremony in an evangelical church. That is true, but we must also point out that no president has ever attended a religious event in a Jewish, Catholic, or Muslim house of worship to give a speech either, and for good reason. Those religious traditions clearly maintain a respect for sacred spaces and events, something that we evangelicals evidently lack.
To the hateful and dismissive rhetoric that the president proudly waves as his most cherished banner in the public space, we must add what he repeated incessantly in his so-called sacred address on Saturday: the rejection of the State, which he argued must be fought until eliminated, and the assertion of absolute individual freedom, where each person should achieve only what their own strength and abilities allow.
To millions of Argentines, this may sound like a siren’s song, as we are coming out of a State that left no area untouched by plunder, robbed the poorest, and left 52% of the population below the poverty line. Of course, no one wants that kind of State—it was a diabolical manifestation.
In making his argument within the context of an evangelical church, the president could find no better resource than to link capitalism with Protestantism (drawing on Max Weber’s thesis rather than any theological understanding), as if that connection alone were enough. The president, or those who write his speeches, either conveniently forget or willfully ignore that it was in capitalist and Protestant societies such as the United States and England where slavery and racism were industrialized and perpetuated elsewhere. Such problems remain unresolved around the world even today.
What the president forgets or ignores is that the countries with the highest standard of living for all, not just for a few, are the Scandinavian countries. These societies are based on Protestant principles, yes, but here is the key difference: those principles are implemented by a strong and active state oriented to the benefit of all their citizens.
Leaving people's well-being entirely to their own abilities and chances, in a survival-of-the-fittest jungle, is the most anti-gospel stance we can take.
God teaches us through Jeremiah 17:9 that the human heart is essentially inclined toward evil. In our theology, we call this “original sin.” Therefore, leaving people's well-being entirely to their own abilities and chances, in a survival-of-the-fittest jungle, is the most anti-gospel stance we can take.
Giving such a perverse and heretical message a platform in an otherwise sacred space in the church is deeply regrettable. Watching the congregation applaud and say “amen” to things that they neither understand nor know breaks my heart. Staining the testimony of the evangelical church—which, in its thousands of places of worship, serves the Lord sacrificially, with scarce resources, being salt and light in the most forgotten corners of society—is unequivocally a sin.
Yes, it’s true, this was the first time a president occupied an evangelical pulpit. But, what a shame it was.
Originally published on Diario Cristiano, Christian Daily International's Spanish edition.
Pastor Norberto Saracco is the founder of the FIET Theological Institute, co-founder of the Council of Pastors of the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a member of the Board of Directors of ACIERA. He is the pastor of the Buenas Nuevas Church in Buenos Aires.
