In the midst of the dispute for the presidency in Brazil, candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been forced to deny false news accusing him of seeking to diminish religious freedom in Brazil.
Despite the fact that during Lula da Silva's government Law 10.825 was approved, which determined the free creation and structuring of churches, allowing the formalization of worship spaces for different religions, the former president and now candidate has been accused by Marco Feliciano, pastor and candidate of the PL-SP and even by his opponent Jair Bolsonaro, of having intentions of closing churches and "having a pact with the devil".
Jair Bolsonaro's accusations, were replicated as part of his electoral campaign, however Da Silva has on numerous occasions rejected the use of churches and religion as "political space".
The current president leads the voting intentions among evangelicals because throughout his government and his campaign for the presidency, he has repeated a speech based on the defense of Christian values.
Lula speaks out against accusations
Faced with the recent dissemination of videos on social networks and messaging platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp - media that Bolsonaro has used since 2018 in campaigns for the presidency - that pointed out that Lula da Silva "has a pact with the devil," the candidate was forced to deny these false news.
"For me, faith is something very sacred. I take my spirituality very seriously. I like to do things with a lot of truth inside me," da Silva noted on his account on Twitter.
"I take religion very seriously. Faith and spirituality cannot be trivialized. People know me and know that I am religious. I did the Religious Freedom Act, the day of the March for Jesus. I have an 8 year legacy with 87 percent approval," the candidate noted in another tweet.
Moreover, this false news has been denied by several members of the evangelical community and even Father Júlio Lancelloti, who fights for homeless communities, has declared that "Lula does not close churches, but opens his heart".
Independent churches show support for Lula da Silva
Thanks to Law 10.825 in Brazil, there is freedom to create and organize churches without the need to link them to large institutions such as the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, Renacer and the World Church of the Power of God, which has increased the number of independent evangelicals.
In this sense, Pastor Ariovaldo Ramos, considers that it is an opportunity for the Workers Party - PT - to which Lula da Silva belongs, because "in the independent churches, politics is not a frequent topic as in the big churches where there is a great support for Bolsonaro". Besides, the Front of Evangelicals for the Rule of Law has shown its support to Da Silva.
With information from Brazil de Fato.
This article was produced with the support of the organization Global Exchange in collaboration with Peninsula 360 Press.
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