Evangelicals tried for ‘hate crime’ violation

SAO PAULO, Brazil — Umbanda and Candomble spiritist groups in Brazil are pressing a lawsuit against Baptist Pastor Joaquim de Andrade, 41, and Aldo dos Santos Menezes, 33, a deacon of the Anglican Church, in connection with an annual evangelistic outreach on the beaches of Sao Paulo state.

Spiritists accuse the two men of violating Brazil’s “hate crime” law by distributing evangelistic tracts that, they say, disparage Iemanja, an African deity they worship as ‘goddess of the sea.’ They charge Andrade and Menezes with “inciting evangelicals to commit acts contrary to the liberty of religious belief.”

At a hearing April 16, Sao Paulo Judge Osvaldo Palotti Jr. found Andrade and Menezes guilty and fined them each 1,000 reais (about $300).