2023-12-05 14:29:54
A former pastor of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God is accusing the institution founded by Bishop Edir Macedo of discrimination based on physical appearance. Robson Fonseca da Silva, currently an app driver, held the pastorate for 24 years, until leaving the position in 2020.
According to a report by Intercept Brasil, a left-leaning media outlet, Silva sued Universal for allegedly being harassed based on his weight. He would have had to report every 15 days to his superior, in Piauí, whether or not he had lost weight.
In addition to the accusation of discrimination, the former UCKG pastor says he left the church because he no longer agreed with its doctrinal positions, which he said were focused on obtaining financial profits.
“It went from being about winning souls, to being exclusively about buying companies and extracting more and more value from the faithful”, he says in the action. “This excessive charging, the sales of books, honey, cinema tickets to see the bishop’s film, are things that do not match the Gospel. It had nothing to do with their preaching of the Bible.”
Punishment
Still according to Silva, the aesthetic demand aimed to establish a standard in the image of pastors, so that they could serve as a model for the faithful. “If you don’t lose weight, you are punished. Go back to the end of the line, go back to being an assistant”, a leader reportedly said to the then pastor.
Universal, in turn, denied the accusations, saying that it is a victim of the greatest “religious prejudice in Brazil — blatantly demonstrated by some media”.
In a note, the IUD says that it “repudiates and combats all forms of discrimination, as well as hateful racism”, remembering that “it has already had a favorable decision in this Process 0100611-912020.5.01.0038, according to a sentence deemed unfounded.” To read the full document, Click here. See too:
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