Between rupture and assimilation

discursive struggles in reviews of the igreja cristã contemporânea

Abstract

This paper analyzes reviews on the official Facebook page of the Igreja Cristã Contemporânea (ICC), an evangelical denomination known as an inclusive church for including sexual and gender diversity within Christianity. The reviews are studied as discursive materialities in which a struggle over the legitimacy of the ICC can be observed. Based on Material Discourse Analysis and in dialogue with Queer Studies, this research investigates the production of discourses about the ICC through the identification of discursive formations in tension and the saturation of discourse determinants in lexical items referring to the church. The analysis discusses positions that: a) sustain traditional religious models by disqualifying the ICC; b) defend the legitimacy of the ICC while silencing issues related to sexual and gender diversity; and c) challenge cisheteropatriarchal hegemony by legitimizing the inclusion of LGBT+ subjects within evangelical Christianity. The study highlights the tension surrounding the discursive determinant 'inclusive' and contributes to debates on Christian religions and sexual and gender diversity by revealing inclusive projects constituted through a permanent tension between rupture and assimilation.