The president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) signed a decree recognizing the gospel culture as a cultural manifestation. The signing ceremony, held this Tuesday (23), at Palácio do Planalto, demonstrates a nod from the president to evangelicals on the eve of the election year.
“The signing of this decree that recognizes gospel culture as a manifestation of national culture represents another important step of welcoming and respecting the community, evangelical people from Brazil. It’s a simple act, but with a very deep symbolic force,” he said.
Lula also said that, through this decree, “the Brazilian State confirms that faith is also expressed as culture, as identity, as the living history of our people. It is, therefore, a celebration of Brazilian culture in all its artistic, human and spiritual diversity.”
He highlighted other gestures he has already made to the evangelical community. “It was with this same spirit that in 2009 I created the National March for Jesus Day as a legitimate manifestation of faith and popular culture. With the same joy, I signed the Religious Freedom Law in 2003. And it is with this spirit that we continue to firmly and calmly defend religious freedom as an essential value of our democracy.”
The president also highlighted that the State is secular“but this does not mean a state that is indifferent to the faith of its people.”
According to the demographic census of the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) 2022, released in June, . Meanwhile, the number of Catholics remains predominant, but showing a decline in the country.
Violence against women
As in other recent speeches, this Tuesday. According to the president, the matter needs to be discussed in churches.
“We need to think that this has to be discussed in our churches. In all churches, the pastor has an obligation to say this, the priest has an obligation to say this, the bishop has an obligation to say this. In the terreiro, people have an obligation to say this, because it is a cultural and educational issue”, said the PT member.
“We need to change our school’s curriculum. Kids don’t just have to learn [Pedro Álvares] Cabral discovered Brazil. They have to learn to re-educate themselves to know that no boy is superior to a girl,” he added.
The topic has been extensively addressed by Lula, who has already indicated that it is one of his priorities in 2026. On another occasion, he stated that it is to address solutions for the high rate of violence against women in Brazil.
