It was September 5th, when? Or Globo? Published?The? Resistance? Of the evangelical students who, in a?Closed? In the new world of tolerance, they refuse to sing and play songs of “sacred Afro-Brazilian” origin [1] in an obvious act of attempt to impose the oppressive Western Christian culture, subjugating others.
Wait, is that true? You may be wondering. Yes, it is true, click on the foot link and be afraid, however, we cannot live in fear, especially in the Republic of Brazil, which has the best secularism in the world and, therefore, the best system of religious freedom.
- It is natural for journalistic activity to treat a particular fact in a way that attracts the reader’s attention and therefore sells newspapers.
- What we cannot accept is the distortion of facts and the creation of controversies where it does not exist.
- As in this case.
Let’s move on to the article :?O Globe ?, stigmatizes students who find singing repertoires offensive to their faith. Offensive is (for the newspaper) to stop singing, that is, they must be forced to sing. What country is it, or rather, to paraphrase Renato Russo, “What newspaper is it?Yes, for O Globo, evangelicals should sing and joyfully play the “Toadas de Xang”. Who’s Xango? He is the orisha, or god of justice, according to the Afro religion. Meanwhile, for evangelicals, there is only one God, the latter being the first mosaic commandment [2] and the principal commandment, as Jesus Christ teaches in the gospel of Matthew 22. 37. evangelical, it can be very offensive to sing songs to God other than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to prove only one reason for the excuse.
Continuing in the report, “Or Globe?” She presents the opinion of one of the teachers who categorizes the faculty as a space in which religious practices are not part of her space [3]. In the same vein, religious belief is treated as a “closed religious formation”?Note that the closed term has a picturesque character, in order to highlight a negative view of the evangelical religion. Well, then, hard to understand this teacher, she says religion is not part of the academic space, but she wants to force students to sing Xang’s songs ??(Windows blue screen).
When you close the report, they provide another opinion, which would solve the problem. “Artistic and cultural practice is not a religious practice” [5] and that the decision not to sing for religious reasons is a kind of “desire to subjugate other cultures. “
The report, teachers and students made a collection of mistakes in treating it as “structural racism. “The decision of the evangelical students? And we’ll explain the reasons:
Like it or not, religious sentiment is armed by law and the Constitution, we can never forget that religiosity fully integrates the life of the human person or, in other words, the believer carries with him his belief 24 hours a day. of atheism, who professes a religion takes it as the basis for guiding his choices, so the crime against religious sentiment directly implies an affront to the dignity of the human person, the cornerstone of our state.
It is not only a philosophical question, and this protection is guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Brazil of 1988, which already establishes in article 5, point VIII, that “No one will be deprived of their rights for religious or philosophical reasons. . or political beliefs [?] ?. In our book Religious law: practical and religious issues (2nd edition), we explain that the Brazilian secular state – recognizes the transcendental and ensures its spiritual effervescence within society. legitimizes the religious phenomenon in the public and private sphere? [7]
In fact, everyone already knows that Brazilian secularism and the Constitution of the Republic guarantee the excuse of conscience for religious and/or philosophical reasons [8]. However, it seems incredible that not only do UFRJ teachers and students not know it, but also some components of major media outlets, which treat the issue in a way that encourages the reader to rate students as sesaned. Or, you know, they sell newspapers?
Acting motivated by religious sentiment, when such a decision does not affect the dignity of the human person, is a constitutional and legal guarantee that must be recognized, respected and never reversed. If religious conviction is shaken when singing/playing a certain song, should the right to refrain from such an act be possible?even because vocal quality, musical variations and other things we learn in a music school are not the exclusive monopoly of a certain musical style of a certain origin, not even Brazilian popular music this monopoly.
Can religion be indicated as someone’s influence in the production of culture, even when music is produced?As for Christians, we take as a basis what is said in 1 Corinthians 10:31, namely: “If you eat or drink, or do something else. , do it all for the glory of God. ” The Christian, in studying, working and creating, does according to the vocation to which he received from God, and therefore through what he believes. Therefore, this confessional motivation is the basis of his and intellectual production. Thus, contrary to the report’s assertion that religious practice cannot influence art, the nature of religious sentiment, protected by the Constitution, tells us otherwise.
However, it is important to remember that the origin of the term ‘Masica Sacra’, according to its etymology, is music related to religion, and therefore, if we are faced with a line of teaching centered on the ‘Afro-Brazilian sacred music’. , we are faced with something related to religions of African origin.
Finally, is the faculty free to have a chair like this?We even support the existence and expression of different ideas on the university campus (we hope that, soon, the UFRJ will conduct a study on “Castelo Forte” or “Senhor, Deus meu”). However, just as we have the freedom to exist and express something of a religious nature, we have the freedom to refuse, for the same reasons that we have just mentioned, not only ourselves, but also non-Christians.
Should it be noted that the fact that evangelical students choose not to participate in music classes?Afro-Brazilians? Does it cause disagreements? And this is normal, after all, the University must be an environment open to different ideas: is it plurality?There are several ideas, but not all of them are correct.
However, when a student is confused with the act encouraged by the religious feeling of “structural racism” [9], we will find a clear disrecognise of a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution and reinforced by the new law of conscience. objection (which we talked about here in another text) in The Return to the Gospel), or, you might also think, that this is an attempt at disqualification In both cases, there are mistakes. Firstly, because the apology of consciousness for Religious Reason is fully armed with Law No. 13. 796 / 2019 (and in the Constitution, art. 5, VIII), this motivated us to say:
The important thing is that from there you can see the space necessary for the human dignity of the student to be respected in his spiritual dimension, guaranteeing the same treatment as his peers who do not share the same belief, and making the educational space an area of religious freedom. The exercise of faith can only be guaranteed on its liturgical side; you should be careful not to let yourself be guided in your daily life by what you believe in. And that’s the spirit of the law now commented on. [10]
Secondly, because the situation on the contrary is also legally supported: if a student professing a religion of African origin believes that singing sacred Christian music is an affront to his confession of faith, it is the university’s function to allow another way to evaluate the student’s music. When they define student action as an act of resistance in the negative, do progressive media also fail to observe how our legal system protects religious sentiment?For this reason, we recall that:
Religious freedom strengthens and protects individuality by ensuring the free exercise of each other’s beliefs, resulting in an environment in which differences are respected, thus constituting the corridor of the democratic rule of law [11].
There is no need to talk about racism, which is defined as a crime in our legal system, because students’ decision is directly related to issues of faith and not to the color of their skin. human base and gasoline? It is these points that are in fact relevant to defining a racist attitude.
A student cannot be forced, directly or indirectly, let alone stigmatized, to choose not to declare the names of beings in which he does not believe and who are deities of another religion, especially when his belief is monotheistic. dignity of the human person to think differently. We conclude this text with another excerpt from the book:
However, the object(s) and divinity(s) of worship present in any belief and faith, regardless of their association with a particular church/institution, are infallible to those who worship it. faith and where man places his last and dearest confidence. The hope of the believer is at the feet of the sacred. This ultimate confidence and hope are born and resonate in the innermost part of every human being and, as such, merge with dignity It is inseparable. Metaphysics surpasses any human measure. The one who worships him with all his heart and without limits. [?] Offending and denigrating the sacred is an attack on the innermost part of man. Here’s the phrase: “The holiest thing for you. “To attack your faith in the sacred is to undermine your dignity as a human being. [12]
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[1] Afro-Brazilian sacred music faces resistance from evangelical students at the UFRJ school of music. Available at: Accessed on 05/09/2019.
[2] Dt. 5. 7: You will have no other gods before me
[3] Ibid. ;
[4] Ibid. ;
[5] Ibid. ;
[6] Ibidem;
[7] VIEIRA, Thiago Rafael. REGINA, Jean Marques. Religious law: practical and theoretical issues. Porto Alegre: Concerdia, 2nd edition, 2019.
[8] Article 5 (?) Viii? No one shall be deprived of their rights on grounds of religious belief or philosophical or political conviction, unless he invokes them to evade the legal obligation imposed on all and refuses to comply with an alternative provision, established by law; (CRFB / 88)
[9] Afro-Brazilian sacred music faces resistance from evangelical students at the UFRJ School of Music. Available at: Accessed on 09/05/2019.
[10] VIEIRA, Thiago Rafael. REGINA, Jean Marques. Religious law: practical and theoretical issues. Editorial Concerdia. Porto Alegre, 2019. p. 162.
[11] Ibid. , p. 100
[12] VIEIRA, Thiago Rafael. REGINA, Jean Marques. Religious law: practical and theoretical issues. Editora Concerdia: Porto Alegre, 2nd edition, 2019, p. 106.
By: TR Vieira and Jean Regina. © Return to the Gospel. Website: voltemosaoevangelho. com All rights are reserved. Original: Me, you and any student can stop singing a song for religious reasons in Brazil!