(Re-)Sacralization of Politics or Healing of a Nation? – The P lace of Islam Within Pentecostals' Discourse on Politics and Nationalism in the Philippines

Giovanni Maltese (Heidelberg University)

On Feb 2, 2010 the largest Filipino flag was unfolded as Bishop Eddie VILLANUEVA kicked off his presidential election campaign at Manila's Ground Zero. Throughout the campaign Villanueva, founding president of the Philippines' largest Pentecostal denomination Jesus is Lord Church, was strongly supported by US-evangelical leaders, such as Generals International founder Cindy JACOBS, who has close ties to several conservative US-politicians, as well as by exponents of what has been called 'Asia's longest-running insurgencies': Nur MISUARI, Muslim leader and symbol of the armed secessionist Moro National Liberation Front, Eid KABALU, Spokesman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Zafrullah ALONTO, member of a politically very influential Muslim clan. Against the backdrop of the Philippines' history of colonization and Christianization and in the light of recent studies on global Pentecostalism this constellation appears rather surprising, if not bizarre. Is this just a tactical alliance forged by independent politicians against the so-called Catholic trapos (traditional politicians), in order to improve one's own winnability? Or is there a theological explanation for this coalition? How is it received by ordinary church-goers on the ground? What is the place of Islam and Muslims within Filipino Pentecostals' discourse on Healing of the Philippine Nation and its Politics? These questions will be discussed on the base of more than 120 narrative and semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and of grey literature collected in the Visayas, Mindanao and Manila just before the presidential elections of 2010 and during the midterm elections campaign 2013. The paper argues that a discourse analytical approach, informed by Chantal MOUFFE's and Ernesto LACLAU’s works is best suited to deal with these apparent paradoxa, if the researcher wants to take his informants seriously, without ignoring their contradictory articulations or homogenizing them along preconceived categories, which are external to the discourse they try to engage with.

Full paper available for download here !