‘I’m not a friend of Lula’, says leader of the evangelical bench – 08/16/2023 – Politics

Congressman Silas Câmara (Republicanos-AM) is not “Lula’s friend [PT] nor from the left”, but denying dialogue with the PT troupe would go against his “Christian background”, he says. “The Bible says: whenever possible, we should have peace with everyone.”

If he demonstrates disinterest in the bellicose mode, the new president of the Evangelical Parliamentary Front also does not miss the chance to point out that former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) is still the bench’s favorite — which, according to him, was not scratched in the midst of court setbacks and accusations of corruption.

In his seventh term, the member of a powerful clan in the Assemblies of God of the Brazilian North has already headed the bench between 2019 and 2020, Bolsonaro’s first biennium in power.

Chamber sympathizes with the idea of ​​restricting abortion even more and, in this interview with Sheetalso defends the “axis of the majority” to impose conservative views, such as the veto of LGBTQIA+ rights.

squid here

Chamber minimizes the fear that the bench, now under its baton, will be too affable with the PT government. But he also doesn’t want to blow up bridges with the Executive. “Does not make sense [ser acusado de ser próximo do PT] because I’m not a friend of Lula or the left, I’m just a person of dialogue”, he says.

“Being in dialogue is not being an ally. Talking is not giving in. My Christian background teaches me that, and that’s what the Bible says: whenever possible, we should be at peace with everyone. Whoever talks, talks.”

His inauguration generated noise in the evangelical backstage, as if his management could tame the oppositional pride that some parliamentarians want for the bench. Câmara took over in August, after an agreement with Eli Borges (PL-TO), who rivaled him in the election for the leadership of the front – they will take turns in the post until 2024, one semester for each year.

A Sheet Silas Câmara makes a point of emphasizing that he even agrees to give the benefit of the doubt, but does not see Lula as a natural ally. The petista, he says, “has agendas completely against what the past government’s agendas were”. The horizon remains cloudy “since we are not yet able to completely read what the government intends in several precious areas going forward”.

bridges

Not that the start of Lula’s third term was completely frustrating. “I think he is building a path to have this dialogue reestablished through public policies that actually reach the majority of the evangelical community”, he says. “It is good to remember that in Brazil we have an extremely strong population in the C, D and E classes, which have a strong link with the evangelical churches. In a gesture that strengthens income distribution, over time dialogue can be built.”

Rebuilding bridges between Lula and the evangelical camp, which embraced him in his first two forays into the Planalto Palace, may even be possible, but not necessarily likely. “I find it very challenging because the government is reaffirming its position against principles that we believe in.”

Take as an example a resolution of the National Health Council announced in July. It establishes indigestible guidelines for several evangelicals, on topics such as abortion, LGBTQIA+ and marijuana. One of them proposes to reduce to 14 years the start of hormone therapy in those who recognize themselves as transgender. The floor in the SUS, today, is 18 years old.

Abortion

The topic is a point of honor for evangelicals, and a bill that further restricts the procedure would count on the good will of the bench, says its leader. “We Christians will always be in favor of life and against abortion, whatever it may be.”

The report questions whether this means endorsing a proposal to narrow the hypotheses provided for in the current law: risk to maternal life, rape and anencephaly. Chamber says yes. “Whenever the front has to choose between life or murder, whatever the circumstances.”

LGBTQIA+

Rights of minorities with homosexuals and transgenders will have a difficult life depending on the evangelical bloc, says Câmara. “We do our job, which is to respect the representativeness of the Brazilian population. A country that has 96% of its Christian community [na verdade, em torno de 80%, segundo pesquisas]who believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman, as it is in the biblical principle, will always position itself against any type of initiative that removes this axis from the majority.”

His version of democracy implies a “majority that obviously stands by its convictions”.

Bolsonaro

Neither the eight years of ineligibility, determined in June by the TSE (Superior Electoral Court), nor the alleged involvement in a scheme to get rich selling gifts won while president constrain the evangelical support for Bolsonaro, according to Câmara.

“I don’t think it’s a nuisance. Until it becomes final, condemning him or judging him in advance is something evangelicals don’t usually do.”

Precisely because the former representative can still appeal the decision of the TSE, the leader of the Christian bloc finds it impolite to speculate on other presidential candidates for 2026. “Especially because it would be disrespectful to his right to defense.”

For the deputy, nothing is more organic than the affinities between the former president and the second largest religious group in the country, behind Catholics. “The main leaders saw in Bolsonaro’s proposal the security of the principles in which we believe, which, even though they are spiritual, bring blessings and prosperity to the nation to the material world. Another important factor was the very attention he gave, in the agendas, to showing affection and presence in the segment.”

bench in 2023

The priority, according to the parliamentarian, will be to maintain the “very strong presence in the committees” of the National Congress and to sophisticate “the structure for monitoring the processing of legislative guidelines” that could hurt evangelical pride.

The idea is to make a stand in all the collegiate bodies of the Chamber of Deputies and impose a “strong obstacle” to projects that displease the group. In the CCJ (Constitution and Justice Commission), for example, there are pastors Marco Feliciano (PL-SP) and Eli Borges. In the Education Commission, Gilberto Nascimento (PSD-SP), dean of the bench.

Supreme

For the deputy, the tendency of the STF (Federal Supreme Court) to decriminalize marijuana reinforced the vision, in the evangelical leadership, of a Judiciary that acts as a progressive trench. “Proof of this is the trampling [dos magistrados] about the legislature. There was so much talk, in the past government, about the undue form of relationship between Powers, and now it is proven that, in fact, the STF advances on the agenda of both the Executive and the Legislative, which is unconstitutional and regrettable.”

Câmara does not discount the opportunity to gain another representative of its religion in the court – Minister Jorge Messias (Attorney General of the Union), Baptist, is quoted for the vacancy that Rosa Weber will vacate when she retires. “Having an evangelical in every corner of this nation is always important, but the appointment is the prerogative of the president.”

Pastor André Mendonça became, in 2021, the second Protestant in the STF. Before him came Antônio Martins Villas Boas, Baptist named in 1957.

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X-ray | Silas Camara, 60

The businessman and pastor from Amazonas is in his seventh term as a federal deputy for the Republicans. He is part of a powerful family in the evangelical churches in the north of the country. His brother Samuel Câmara leads the Mother Church Assembly of God, the first of the Assemblies in Brazil. He led the evangelical bench for the first time in 2019 and returned to the post in August 2023.