Pastor is convicted of encouraging parents to hit children

Judge Luiz Guilherme Cursino Santos, from the district of Pindamonhangaba, in the interior of São Paulo, decided to convict pastor Leandro Rafael Cezar for incitement to crime, due to a video in which he allegedly instructs parents to hit children. In reply to People’s Gazettethe pastor explained that the statement was taken “out of context” (see below).

According to the report from Brazil Agency, the sentence is four months in open prison and the religious leader must also pay compensation of R$10,000 for collective moral damages. The fine will be reverted, according to the decision, to the Municipal Fund for the Rights of Children and Adolescents of Pindamonhangaba.

In a video broadcast on the social network Tik Tok, pastor Cezar uses an interpretation of the biblical book of Proverbs to defend physical punishment against children. “’Pastor, but I hit.’. But how did it hit? Slap on top of the diaper? You make the child laugh and not suffer. The stick has to hurt, but it’s not meant to be beaten”, says the excerpt from the video transcribed in the process.

“If the Bible says the rod has to be used and it has to inflict pain, there needs to be a limit too, of course. And what is the limit that Scripture sets? Proverbs 19:18: ‘Punish your son while there is hope, but do not go so far as to kill him’. In other words, hit, hit, hit and you started wanting to die, you stop. That’s what the text says. Do you laugh? It’s the text that, of course, what I said is exaggerated. But there is a limit and the limit is not to exceed yourself to the point of killing him. It’s for you to see that there needs to be pain! There really is pain! Then it’s there, yes, you have to hit your son, my brother, after he’s been hit by sticks there, he has to limp away, otherwise it’s no fun”, emphasizes the religious leader of Igreja Resgatar in the post on the social network , as published by Brazil Agency.

In the decision, the judge highlights that Cezar confirmed that he had given the sermon in a series of sermons in which he “spoke about the importance of parents loving their children”. However, according to the judge, the pastor admitted that he “used words that exaggeratedly exceeded the freedom of religious expression” and that he removed the publication as soon as he was notified by the Public Ministry.

In the judge’s assessment, the pastor encouraged “the practice of ill-treatment against young children”, with the aggravating factor that statements were made via social media, “with the potential to affect an indeterminate number of people, anywhere in the world ”.

The pastor can still appeal the conviction. He is married, father of five children and has more than 27 thousand followers on Instagram.

Pastor’s Response

A People’s Gazettepastor Rafael Cézar reported on Wednesday night (14) that the video is “a cut from the fifth sermon in a series”, where he “had been saying that, on the part of parents, there must be love, dedication, patience, altruism ” and ended by talking “about the BIBLICAL subject of rebuke.”

He reinforces that he quoted Proverbs 19:18 “Correct your son while there is hope, but do not go so far as to kill him”. “I use some harsh expressions, it’s true, I regret those, and the part where I say “you just can’t kill me”, it’s obvious that it’s a joke, people laugh and then I say “that’s an exaggeration, of course”, he says .

Cézar also reinforced that he is against violence. “I’m against violence, I have 5 children who are examples of education and obedience, I’ve been with my first and only girlfriend for 23 years. If I were a bad father or husband, I wouldn’t have this blessed family”, he reinforces.

“You are not talking about a criminal, but about a father and honorable man of almost 40 years without a single criminal record, not even a street fight when he was a teenager”, he concluded.