Silas Malafaia: "The Workers' Party wants to return to the crime scene"

The influence of the evangelical pastor Silas Malafaia (Rio de Janeiro, 64 years old) goes far beyond the small Church he leads, the Assembly of God Victory in Christ.

From the pulpit or through social networks, the man who inaugurated the era of televangelists in Brazil four decades ago displays an extremely political and openly hostile discourse against the left.

Gentle in interviews, he navigates culture wars with ease and is often accused of instigating hate.

Malafaia, head pastor and friend of President Jair Bolsonaro for years, is working hard to get him re-elected.

And to the general surprise, he accompanied the president and the first lady in the highlights of the recent official trip to the funeral of the queen of England.

Last Sunday, the last one before the elections,

Pastor Malafaia led the worship at his main temple in Rio de Janeiro and from there guided parishioners live or on YouTube to vote for candidates who share the principles and values ​​of evangelicals, an increasingly coveted electorate.

After his intervention, 209 people were baptized right there.

Several bodyguards accompany him from the stage to the small room where he attends to this correspondent.

Father of three children, he has five grandchildren.

Ask.

He married President Bolsonaro and his wife.

Is he a friend, adviser, both?

Response.

Advisor no, I've been a friend since 2004. The president usually says that I'm an advisor.

Sometimes he asks me.

We built a good relationship by ideological and political affinities.

P.

What do you ask him about?

R.

On matters of the evangelical world, above all, by the leaders, what the evangelical thinks.

Sometimes when there is a very hot war he asks me.

Talk to several people before making important decisions.

P.

Were you surprised that I invited you to the official farewell of Elizabeth II?

R.

Oh, there is always debate with that.

I think she took me and a priest because the queen was a Christian.

P.

In the different temples of your church they have baptized today (Sunday 25) 1,400 people.

Are evangelicals growing at that rate?

R.

Very high, huh!

They say that in 2032 we can be the majority in Brazil.

Portrait of Pastor Silas Malafaia in his office at the Assembly of God Vitória em Cristo Church, in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).Leonardo Carrato

P.

That is why politicians are paying more and more attention to them.

R.

It is that, if there were no evangelicals, the agenda of (conservative) values ​​would not be discussed in the elections, nothing would enter!

It is because of the evangelicals that we talk about abortion, gender ideology, gay marriage...

Q.

What voting orientation do you give for the elections?

R.

The orientation is that they vote for people who have our principles, beliefs and values.

Life, the traditional family, the (fight against) gender ideology….

And that those who are against our principles should not have our vote.

Q.

What do you mean by gender ideology and why does it concern you so much?

R.

Because it is ideology, not science.

It is sexualizing children at school.

Since Brazil is a signatory to the American Convention on Human Rights, which says that it is up to parents to educate their children according to their principles and not the school, a leftist teacher wanting to convey that to our children is the most cowardly thing.

We play hard on this issue and that is why the left-wing candidate suffers with the evangelical vote.

That is why it is not useful for him to appear in an evangelical church in the campaign and say a few nice words.

P.

So they will only vote for the left if it defends those values?

R.

Yes, when they stop being hypocrites.

They are one thing before the election and another after.

The left defends and supports governments like that of Nicaragua, which persecutes priests and nuns and closes radio stations.

P.

Seven out of ten evangelicals voted in 2018 for Bolsonaro.

And now?

R.

It was a little more.

Bolsonaro will get 80% and 20% for the rest.

That's why I say the polls are wrong.

Why?

Because polling institutes work from Monday to Friday, they don't go to churches.

Of course, Lula will have evangelical votes, but not as many as they say.

Believers point their palms towards the sky while Pastor Silas Malafaia prays, last Sunday at the headquarters of his Church, in Rio de Janeiro.Leonardo Carrato

P.

You have just said before your faithful that you voted for Lula in 2002. Why?

R.

I thought that this guy who came from the Northeast, from poverty, could rescue the country.

I believed in him, campaigned for him and voted for him.

Now, what is the weapon of the citizen in a State?

His vote.

A vote is a credit you give to a politician.

It didn't go well.

Q.

What distanced you from him?

A.

Because he says one thing and does another.

I participated, as a civil society, in all public hearings in the National Congress with deputies and senators on abortion, gender ideology, homosexual marriage, adoption of children.

And I saw that the PT (Partido de los Trabajadores) defended one thing inside and another outside.

And not there, friend, that way I'm not with you.

And then there is the sludge of corruption, the most corrupt plot in the history of the planet.

What the PT did was loot the country.

They want to go back to the crime scene.

Q.

You say that the vote is a credit.

And what will Bolsonaro owe you if he is reelected?

R.

We want you to continue with a liberal economic policy, to debureaucratize Brazil.

You can say what you want, that Bolsonaro talks too much, that he says nonsense.

God, is that all?

Q.

In addition to the president, Brazilians are going to elect the Chamber of Deputies and a third of the Senate.

The evangelical caucus increases in each election.

If Lula wins, what will her relationship with him be like?

R.

The polls have been confused for 20 years and always in favor of the left, have you noticed?

What would it be like with Lula?

The evangelical caucus will not give up its principles, beliefs and values, right?

They will vote in favor of what the Government proposes and is good for the country.

On the stock agenda, they won't.

They will have to swallow us, respect us.

This is not Nicaragua, Argentina, or Venezuela, nor Chile or Colombia.

Here the evangelical Church has a monumental force.

P.

There is more tension than ever in the temples.

In Goiás, a faithful follower of Bolsonaro shot a Lula supporter in an argument.

Some pastors and faithful feel pressured….

R.

Let's see, we are more than 60 million, we have more than 350,000 temples... Have there been problems in one?

P.

And tensions in others.

R.

Where, where?

There is no tension, there is discussion of ideas, which is natural.

Tension is what happened in Goiás.

That is tension.

But that does not represent the collective

Q.

So, you are not worried about the tension arising from the elections in the community?

A.

No, no.

Malafaia, surrounded by bodyguards, hugs a child after the service held last Sunday in Rio de Janeiro.

Leonardo Carrato

P.

The Brazilian State is secular, would you like to make changes?

R.

Who brought the secular State was the Protestant reform.

We, neither the communists nor the socialists.

The State cannot have religion, who has religion is the people.

Secular state, but not secularist, against religion.

And there are basic things: a secular state, a terribly free press and freedom of expression.

If you break those three things, the rule of law is over.

Q.

Are you tempted to enter politics?

A.

Never, never.

I was created to influence, not to be.

Do you know why?

Because if he were a politician he would belong to a political party, to a part of society.

And I am the whole.

I will never be a candidate.

I always wanted to be a pastor and influence.

I am the most veteran of Brazilian television.

I have been on television for 40 and a half years raising political awareness among the evangelical people.

P.

And now, on social networks.

R.

That, I have a powerful social network, more than ten million followers.

But not because it is smarter than the others, it is because of the omission of the rest.

I have never been fearful or cowardly.

In my social networks I don't talk about the Bible or God, but about highly politicized positions.

R.

Has any other candidate looked for you this time?

A.

Hahaha, they always, always look for me.

Empty chairs before the stage of the Church, with a huge sign that alludes to the baptism that took place during the service officiated by Malafaia.Leonardo Carrato

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