In a video released on Friday (22), theologian Antônio Carlos Costa, who is a former pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil and a supporter of President Lula (PT), suggested that this Sunday Brazilian churches dedicate time in their services to thank God for preventing the “coup and return to military dictatorship” in Brazil.
“I suggest that in all churches in the country, in services next Sunday, part of the liturgy be dedicated to thanksgiving for the deliverance that God wrought in favor of the Brazilian people by preventing a coup and a return to military dictatorship. God preserved us from murders, disappearances, torture, censorship, exceptional regimes, closure of the National Congress and the STF”, said the theologian.
In the end, he thanked God for having “saved Brazil from the harm that pastors, military personnel and professional politicians could have caused the nation”.
The speeches by Antônio Costa, who publicly supported Lula’s candidacy in the 2022 elections, have to do with the Federal Police (PF) investigations into an alleged coup d’état that would involve the murder of public figures.
On Thursday (21), former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and 36 other people, including military personnel, former ministers and allies, were indicted by the PF. Bolsonaro’s entourage, however, has been strongly criticizing the thesis created by the Federal Police, headed by Andrei Rodrigues, who is very close to President Lula and before being appointed to the position was responsible for the current president’s security.
This Saturday (23), Bolsonaro mocked the investigations and called the corporation “Alexandre de Moraes’ creative PF”, alluding to possible interference by the STF minister in the investigations.
Theologian left church after becoming involved in political controversies
In addition to publicly supporting Lula in 2022, Antônio Costa is known for his political positions on the left. Founder of the NGO Rio de Paz, in Rio de Janeiro, he usually defines himself as a social activist. After collecting a series of controversies due to political manifestations, in 2023 he decided to leave the Presbyterian Church of Brazil, which he had belonged to for four decades.
Today he usually shares on social media some messages he preaches in a small church in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, sometimes wearing a football club t-shirt and often making political criticisms from the pulpit.
Pastor rebuts theologian who supports Lula: “politicization of religious life”
Baptist pastor Yago Martins, known for also being a critic of religious support for Bolsonaro, published a response to Antônio Costa in which he condemns, mainly, the fact that the Lula-supporting theologian focuses criticism on only one side of the political debate.
“He, after asking for a vote for Lula and lending his pastoral reputation to the PT project, remained silent in the face of all crime, all abuse, all heresy, all abortionist, totalitarian and anti-democratic campaigns. Their networks, previously flooded with political criticism, said nothing about the moral chaos of Lula politics”, said the Baptist pastor.
“For him, Bolsonaro is the devil; For him, we must pray thanking God that justice is coming to his enemy. But what about his political friends, convicted criminals who are free thanks to spurious deals? Did he spend time in prayer thanking God in the service when Lula was arrested? Or should the church be political only against the right and always in favor of the left?”, continued Martins.
