Lula says he refuses to do politics in churches during meeting with evangelicals

“ ANDi refuse every time someone asks me to go to a church to talk politics, I will not go ", Lula said, adding that he respects "many people's faith" and the individual commitment of each person to God.

“ If I want to do politics and rally, I'll do it on the street. But in church I don't. In no church”, Lula declared, who justified the decision with respect for the space of faith and the moment of each person to talk to God.

The meeting takes place in a context in which the evangelical electorate has an increasing importance in Brazil. According to the 2022 Demographic Census of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), 47.4 million Brazilians declared themselves evangelical, corresponding to 26.9% of the population.

The number represents a threefold increase compared to the 1991 Census, when Protestants accounted for 9% of the country's population.

A poll of Datafolha's intention to vote, released on September 12, shows Flávio Bolsonaro with 62% acceptance among evangelicals, while Lula registers 29%.

The survey also shows differences between Catholics and evangelicals: Lula leads among Catholics, with 46% of voting intentions, while Flávio Bolsonaro registers 29%.

Among the evangelicals, the senator and Liberal Party candidate for the Presidency of the Republic has 50% of the voting intentions, while Lula has 22%.

During the meeting, Lula also recalled that when he created the Workers' Party (PT), he had to explain the red color of the flag and resorted to Christianity to justify the choice.

“ I used the blood of Christ as an example of the red of my flag,” he said, adding that he also explained the party star as a symbol used by the navigators for guidance and his own beard with the reference that “Jesus Christ was bearded.”.

In his speech to the religious, the Brazilian head of state once again associated his life trajectory – marked by poverty and struggle against hunger – with a miracle, and that God has always been generous to him.

“If God caught the boy who was born in the Brazilian Northeast with the possibility of dying of hunger until 5 years old and made him survive, and made him reach the Presidency of the Republic three times, he cannot have more hug than God gave a human being than he gave me,” he stressed.

Even during the meeting, Lula announced what he will say at the opening of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UN), next week, by reiterating criticism of the UN Security Council.

The Brazilian head of state specifically called the five permanent members with veto power: France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Russia and China.

“ You are disrespecting the reason why the UN Security Council was created. It was created to make peace, to make harmony and not to make war”, he said, referred to the five countries.

“If you (countries with veto power) abstain when you have to make a decision, you are cowards. If you do not make a decision at the right time it means that you do not deserve to be on the Security Council ", highlighted.