RIO DE JANEIRO – At a mission church on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro on Sunday morning, the majority of the congregation dressed in green and yellow, the colors of the Brazilian flag and a traditional sign supporting the General. President Jair Bolsonaro.
Pastor Silas Malafaia, leader of the Congregation of the Victorious Lord in the Evangelical Church of Christ, announced the events and staff donations. Then he began to preach.
“I always say that the church does not vote or support anyone,” he said. “But I can, you as a citizen of a country can, and we who are in the same group and share the same beliefs can support someone.”
Mr. Malafaia was careful not to mention Bolsonaro by name in his lecture, but his green and yellow shirt made clear his support for the far-right president.
Evangelicals, who make up more than 30% of Brazil’s population, strongly supported Mr. Bolsonaro in 2018 and in the first round of the 2022 election. Polls show that at least 60% of them would. for President Jair Bolsonaro during Sunday’s runaway. Many preachers used their podiums to influence their congregations to vote for the Brazilian leader.
Mr. Malafaia added 25 minutes, repeating some of Bolsonaro’s usual lines: criticizing the media, warning that communists and “esquerdopatas” – an informal combination of “left” and “left” “gangster” in Portuguese – is a threat to schools. children and doubts about the security of Brazil’s electoral system.
“If hackers got into the most secure system in the world, which is the Pentagon, why can’t they hack Brazil’s election control system?” Mr. Malafaia said, calling on people to stand up, hold hands and pray together against election fraud.
