The campaign of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) released a letter to evangelicals this Wednesday (19) during a meeting with church representatives sympathetic to his candidacy, in São Paulo. In it, Lula once again speaks out against abortion. His government project, he says, "has a commitment to the full life in all its phases", because for him "life is sacred, the work of the Creator's hands".
"I am personally against abortion and I remind everyone that this is not an issue to be decided by the President of the Republic, but by Congress." Lula defined the use of faith for electoral purposes as a "sad scandal" and made a commitment not to use symbols of faith for political ends, "respecting the laws and traditions that separate the State from the Church."
New signaling to the conservative base came in the passage in which he says he understands "that the home and the guidance of parents are fundamental in the education of their children, and it is up to the school to support them by dialoguing and respecting the values of families, without interference from the State". It would be a vaccine against the idea that the left-wing wants to implant a supposed "gender ideology" in classrooms.
The text, read by his former chief of staff, Gilberto Carvalho, quotes the " render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's" to say that "the attempt to use the political faith to divide Brazilians won't help anyone, neither the State nor the churches, because it keeps people away from the message of the Gospel".
For eight years, the letter says, Lula governed maintaining "the most absolute respect for collective and individual freedoms, particularly for religious freedom."
Translated by Cassy Dias