New leader of the Evangelical Front says there is “bibliophobia” and “persecution” of religious people

Representative Eli Borges (PL-TO), new leader of the Evangelical Front in the Chamber, warned of what he describes as a scenario of “bibliophobia” and “persecution” of the religious segment in Brazil. Borges, who took office last week, attributed this situation to policies of the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

According to Borges, there is a growing intolerance that extends to religious freedom, evidenced by “churchphobia” and “priestphobia”. “We are living in a very dangerous time in Brazil, which I call churchphobia, bibliophobia. And now it seems that they are creating the figure of priestphobia. This is horrible, because these are people who are equipped with the federal government’s public policies,” he said in an interview with Metropolises.

Borges emphasized the importance of defending the family, following Jewish-patriarchal standards, in line with biology and science, to guarantee religious freedom in the democratic context of “respecting all religions”.

The parliamentarian expressed concern about the lack of dialogue between the government and religious leaders, highlighting the importance of President Lula respecting the more than 200,000 religious leaders in the country. Borges highlighted that many supported the president based on promises of dialogue and respect for religion during the election campaign, but perceive a disconnect between these promises and the current reality.

“It’s a decision in his head. When he was a candidate, he promised to respect us. He promised there would be frank and open dialogue. There is an expression in the Bible that says that, by the fruit, you know the tree. The fruit he bears when he verbalizes the relationship is not exactly from the records he made during the election campaign. Many people ‘made the L’ because they believed in these records. [O fruto] It’s not from a president who recognizes the importance of the religious segment”, he added.