By Xiu Ying, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In a service at the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Rio de Janeiro last Sunday, May 19th, Bishop Edir Macedo preached “and campaigned” for President Jair Bolsonaro (PSL) and Rio de Janeiro Mayor Marcelo Crivella (PRB).
The Evangelical leader and owner of RecordTV asked that God “remove” those who oppose the government.
“Let us pray for our country. When a politician stands up to help, bandits, thieves, bastards, and scoundrels unite to overthrow him. But the Lord knows those who want to help his people. So I ask you, my Father, for this nation: we chose Bolsonaro, so be just with him, my Father,” he spoke in a live video shown on his Facebook page.
“Remove those who want to impede him from making an excellent government. He took this country, my Father, fallen, broken, assaulted, robbed, spoiled, and disgraced, to change its history, my Father,” he said, quoting his nephew, Rio Mayor Marcello Crivella, who faces an impeachment proceeding in the Rio City Council.
“So I ask you to fortify Bolsonaro, my Father, as well as Crivella, who is facing an impeachment from hell because he wants to do what is right and do away with the mammoths who have been perpetuating the past governments: the bandits, the thieves, the assailants of your people.”
Macedo openly supported the candidacies of Crivella and Bolsonaro in 2018. In previous presidential elections, however, he had campaigned for Lula and Dilma Rousseff, of the now opposition PT party.
Edir Macedo Bezerra, 74, is a Brazilian evangelical bishop, writer, billionaire businessman, and the founder of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God.
He is said to be one of the most influential religious leaders in Brazil, and is the owner and chairman of the second-largest television network in Brazil, RecordTV, part of the Grupo Record that he founded after he bought the network.
The bishop was criticized for writing an article opposing interracial marriage. He tried to justify his views claiming that multiracial children should be avoided because they will suffer discrimination. This led to several accusations of racism and misogyny.
He also authored a book called “Orixás, Caboclos, and Guias” in which he attacks Afro-Brazilian religion, accusing it of satanism and “the root of all of Brazil’s troubles”.
The book was first prohibited as hate speech, but after legal efforts from Macedo’s church, it was allowed as being protected by the right of free speech.