The pastor of a Pentecostal church in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has been sentenced to 18 years and six months in prison for making antisemitic comments at his church.
According to Jewish Telegraph Agency, Tupirani da Hora Lores, the pastor of Pentecostal Generation Jesus Christ Church, has been convicted and sentenced for the antisemitic hate speech.
“Massacre the Jews, God, hit them with your sword, for they have left God, they have left the nations,” da Hora Lores said in the prayer captured in a 2020 video, The Times of Israel reports.
“They contrived, went with prostitutes, and when they were told to repent, they said they’d do it, but they lied,” the pastor said, referring to the forced conversions of Jewish people to Christianity during the Portuguese Inquisition.
“God, what you have done in World War II, you must do again. This is what we ask for in our prayers to you: justice, justice, justice!”
According to ChurchLeaders.com, in 2021, Brazilian federal police raided da Hora Lores’ church and discovered antisemitic literature.
Judge Valeria Caldi Magalhães said that da Hora Lores used his position as pastor to commit a crime, “which increases the potential to induce followers to act similarly.”
“With regard to social conduct, the records showed that the defendant maintains an ostensible behavior that confronts public institutions,” Magalhães said.
Ricardo Sidi, the legal director of the Brazilian Israelite Confederation and acted as assistant to the prosecution, called the sentence “historic.”
“A historic sentence in the fight against anti-Semitism—it is the largest penalty applied in Brazil for this type of crime, which will help to inhibit this odious practice,” he said.
Added Andrea Vainer, another member of the BIC legal team: “This sentence demonstrates the hardening of justice with cases of hate speech, which has grown exponentially, especially in the face of the Jewish community. The case is very serious, and the reprimand received by the defendant is proportional to his dangerousness.”
Photo courtesy: Pixabay
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
