For the last two or three months, the state of Santa Catarina, in the South of Brazil, was hit by heavy rain that caused many damages in cities and highways in the state. 131 people died because of the rain and 32,973 were dislodged and unsheltered by the rain.
Many people all over Brazil donated money, food, clothing and other goods for these people who were affected by the rain in Santa Catarina. But if the tragedy stimulated people's solidarity, it also made others talk nonsense.
Rev. Jorge Linhares, founder of the Gethsemane Baptist Church, in Minas Gerais, in Southeastern Brazil, mentioned the tragedy in Santa Catarina in a meeting at a temple of his church in Belo Horizonte, the state capital of Minas Gerais.
According to Pablo Villaça, a movie critic and editor of a website called Cinema em Cena, who lives in Belo Horizonte, there were many young children (5 and 6 years old) at the church. He went to the church along with his cousin, his young nephew and his son (both 5 years old).
During Rev. Linhares's preachings, he started talking how the world is getting more and more delivered to perversion. To prove his point, Rev. Linhares said the floodings in Santa Catarina were "divine punishment". He compared the floodings to the Deluge from the Bible, explaining that Noah couldn't open the Ark to sinners.
This could be compared to people who used to say that Aids was a divine punishment for gays, or those who celebrated Heath Ledger's death because he played a homossexual on "Brokeback Mountain" or even Pat Robertson's statements that 9/11 was a punishment from God because of liberality in the US and people's tolerance towards homossexuals.
Linhares also said, in the same meeting: "Many people defend same-sex marriage. They [homossexuals] don't have to marry in any way, they can't. Is this prejudice? Yes, it is, but we really have to have [prejudice]! This kind of marriage is going to destroy the institution of marriage. And another thing: some people defend that homossexual couples could adopt orphan children. No, they can't. It's preferable that children grow up in orphanages than be created by a homossexual couple."
At this moment, Pablo got up and left the church, taking his son Luca with him. Luca asked why they were leaving and Pablo answered that Rev. Linhares was using God's name to say wrong things that inspired hate and that God didn't like to see people hating each other.
Pablo also says that two people, who are very close to him and who really worry about his well-being and not making sensationalist claims, told him that Rev. Linhares is powerful and influential, and that Pablo should be careful when writing about him, because it could harm him.
Pablo's answer was that Rev. Linhares could kiss his behind (he used another word, that I won't dare writing here).
On Sep. 10, Rev. Linhares had already made controversial statements during the opening the 7th Expo-Cristã (a Christian fair that gathers people from different evangelical denominations) in São Paulo.
Before the official opening of the fair, state deputy (the Brazilian equivalent of the state senator in the US) Waldir Agnello made a protest against a bill, that is following the legal channels at the Brazilian federal senate and that criminalizes homophobia. According to Agnello, the bill denies freedom of speech to evangelicals. "In Brazil, we may criticize God, the devil, the press. But not homossexuals", he said.
Rev. Jorge Linhares, who is also the president of the Council of Pastors and Evangelical Ministers of Minas Gerais, also attacked homosexualism.
"Not even the worst father can dream about seeing a son being mounted by another [man]. He's not an animal", Linhares said, adding that men were created to have sexual relations facing their partners.
Alencar said that prejudice against homossexuals can't be compared to the one suffered by black people or women, since homossexualism "is an option".
What do you guys think about all this?
For those who understand Portuguese, the report about Alencar's and Jorge's statements during the 7th Expo-Cristã is
here. Pablo's posts about Linhares are
here and
here.
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