"Family is a sacred thing. I am offended when they question our respect for the family," Lula tells evangelicals.

247 - Former President Lula (PT) announced this Wednesday (19), during a meeting with evangelical supporters, a letter by which commits to respecting religions and churches. in a possible new government.

Lula stated that he is the victim of a campaign of lies aimed at turning religious people against him. "The doubts they cast upon us are one of the weapons used to prevent us from carrying out the task of winning the election. Haddad suffered the same accusations in 2018 that we are seeing today in certain sectors of the churches. This is sad. Evangelicals do exceptional social work in many places in this country. There are many serious people who serve as pastors, dealing with people's spirituality and faith. When a family leaves home to go to church, they don't go to listen to political speeches. They go to pray, to make greater commitments to God and to their family." 

He took the opportunity to rebut the fake news about 'unisex bathrooms'"It could only have come from the mind of Satan." "They invented the story of the unisex bathroom. People, I have a family, I have a daughter, I have a granddaughter, I have a great-granddaughter. The story of the unisex bathroom could only have come from the mind of Satan. The amount of lies is something that... You know? I am the son of a woman who had 12 children, all by natural birth, with a midwife. This woman raised 12 children, four died. And this woman taught us what it is to have love at home. We were eight siblings, with my mother, nine, and four nephews who came from Pernambuco. We slept 13 people in one room and kitchen, and the bathroom was the bar's bathroom. It was the bathroom that the people who stayed at the bar drinking used, and my family had to go to that bathroom. A drunk could have gone there first, done anything, and that was the bathroom we showered in, the one we frequented. My mother never taught us to have any anger or hatred. My mother always believed that things would get better. In December we..." "I stayed home, we didn't have money to eat pizza, but we had this thing called Midnight Mass. My mother made us stay up until midnight so we could go to Midnight Mass. I was raised subordinate to the guidance of my family."

The Workers' Party member stated that "family is a sacred thing." "I'm one of those people who gets together with my mother and children every weekend for a barbecue. When I see people questioning our relationship and our respect for family, I get offended." 

Lula also criticized pastors and priests who use their position to engage in politics within churches. "I don't consider a pastor who lies a pastor. I don't. Is it possible for someone to live by telling lies? It's not possible for someone to disrespect a child who goes to church with their mother. A person can want to choose Bolsonaro for president, there's no problem with that, but a person can't lie. I defend people's participation in politics, but if a pastor wants to engage in politics, let him go to the streets. He can't go to church to do politics. If a priest wants to engage in politics, let him do politics, but don't take advantage of the altar to do politics. Go out, go to the streets, go defend or question whomever you want. We need to teach Brazilian society to make the right decisions."

He also commented on the climate of hatred that took over the election campaign and admitted to having underestimated the power of fake news on the internet. "I have never seen the amount of hatred established in this country because of lies, the most absurd lies possible. Lies that when I hear or say them, I think: 'it's impossible that anyone believes this.' But there are people who believe them. Because the one who speaks is the pastor, who within the church is an authority. And he cannot take advantage of his authority to lie. [...] When I decided to write the letter, it was out of respect for you. I know how much serious people suffer to confront liars, both in the evangelical church and in the Catholic church. My mother used to say: 'lies fly, and the truth crawls.' The truth is more difficult because the truth needs arguments, explanations. It takes time to convince. Lies don't. And today, with the internet, it has become much easier to lie. [...] I didn't imagine that lies on cell phones had so much power, I didn't imagine the power of multiplication of lies that WhatsApp has. And they have a monstrous factory for producing lies."

In the letter, Lula indicates that churches should be 'partners' of the government. In his speech, he pointed to the possibility of churches acting as a government arm in social policies. "A large part of the social policies that the government implements can be done by the churches. Evangelical churches and the Catholic Church have a proven track record. In several areas, churches are better than the government. It costs less than the government doing it."

 The former president also criticized Jair Bolsonaro (PL), even mentioning... case of "painted a climate""This current president is a lying psychopath, a compulsive liar. In the old days, people would blush when they lied. He doesn't. And what's worse: it's him and his whole family. It's absurd, people. The last serious thing he did was that visit to the girls in Venezuela, and then he woke up at 01 a.m. to try to explain himself to the public. He has no respect, no respect for the truth, for family. We can't continue living like this."

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