Brazil’s first black evangelical minister of Education fell for cheating with fake credentials before being inaugurated
By Julio Severo
Black evangelical professor Carlos Alberto
Decotelli had been chosen as Brazil’s new Minister of Education by Brazilian
President Jair Bolsonaro, but his inauguration became impossible because of his
personal educational scandals.
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| Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Carlos Alberto Decotelli |
Decotelli faced a slew of allegations that
he embellished his academic credentials.
According to the Associated Press,
Decotelli also had included on his resume
a doctorate from the University of Rosario in Argentina, but the rector of that
institution said on Twitter last week that he hadn’t finished his studies.
The nominee also claimed a post-doctoral
degree from the University of Wuppertal in Germany. Local television network
Globo cited a statement from the university saying Decotelli obtained no such
degree.
His deceptive curriculum is a total
contrast with his statement, which said,
“I grew up inside the First Baptist Church
in Rio and I am focused on New Testament issues in the traditional evangelical
core, such as the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian churches. I attended Sunday
school since I was two years old and today I am a member of the First Baptist
Church of Curitiba, Brazil. In the convictions that are in the Bible, in the
New Testament, I believe. A matter of faith. This is how I proceed in my life.”
Decotelli is a traditional Baptist.
Traditional Protestants, even Baptists, often accuse Pentecostal and
charismatics of no or insufficient education. But Decotelli, as a traditional
Baptist, had plenty of fake educational credentials.
He has also been an advocate of the quota
system, which grants educational privileges not based on merit, work and
personal effort, but just on the skin color. Such unfairness fits the moral standard
of Decotelli, where blacks like him can get educational credentials by any
means possible, including by cheating.
His behavior as a cheater is a shame not
only to traditional Baptists and traditional Protestants. It is a shame also to
evangelicals in general who do not accept lies and cheating.
Left-wing activists attacked incessantly
Decotelli and his lies. But you would have a hard time to understand their behavior.
Cheating and lies are normal in the left-wing universe, even in their
curriculums and educational credentials. The difference is that they spare
their own cheaters while condemning right-wing cheaters.
If Decotelli were a left-wing activist, I
am sure that his dishonest credentials would be no problem for left-wingers.
Yes, Decotelli could be a quota advocate with fake degrees, but he would be
protected if he were a left-winger. His biggest problem is being not totally left-wing.
Yet, to be a dishonest Christian is a very
serious sin.
The fact is that the Bolsonaro
administration has been very unwise in its choices of ministers. But Decotelli disappointed
Brazilian evangelicals.
It
is not new that evangelicals, who were considered
vital for Bolsonaro’s election, yearned for a position as Minister
of Education. Early in 2019, televangelist Silas Malafaia
had recommended evangelical Guilherme Schelb to the Ministry of Education, but
his recommendation was defeated under the influence of esoteric guru Olavo de Carvalho,
who chose his adherent Ricardo Vélez.
A
good quality of Velez: he did not like socialism. Two bad qualities about him: He didn’t like Trump, but he liked
Hillary Clinton.
When
Vélez became a disaster at the Ministry of Education, Bolsonaro himself
confessed that he had chosen him blindly. He said:
“I
was wrong at the beginning when I appointed Ricardo Vélez as minister. Was it
an indication of Olavo de Carvalho? It was, I won’t deny it… Then I called him:
‘Olavo, where did you know Vélez from?’”
Despite
Vélez’s failure, Bolsonaro gave a new opportunity to Carvalho, who chose
Abraham Weintraub in May 2019. Without delay, Weintraub announced that one of
his priorities would be to increase the number of daycare centers. My reaction
came in the article “Brazilian Minister of Education
Abraham Weintraub and His Right-Wing Socialism or Right-Wing Statism,”
in which I said:
“The
concept of daycare — to move the child away from the mother as early as
possible — is a concept embraced, defended and widely practiced in socialism.”
In
July 2019, under Weintraub, Brazil’s Ministry of Education
launched astrology campaign for students on the internet, but it deleted posts
shortly after criticism from readers that such a campaign was born of the
influence of Olavo de Carvalho, who has a history of astrologer, on the former
Minister of Education.
Weintraub’s
last problem was in May 2020, where he was criticized by the Israeli
Embassy in Brazil and by Jewish organizations in Brazil and the U.S. for
comparing police raids against allies to Nazi persecution against Jews.
With
Vélez and Weintraub, the tentacles of Olavo de Carvalho’s ideological
indoctrination threatened 57 million children and young people in schools in
Brazil.
It
is assumed that Bolsonaro did not give Carvalho the opportunity to make a third
(disastrous) choice because right at the beginning of June 2020, Carvalho called the Bolsonaro
administration “sh*t,” saying he can overthrow it.
Even though the choice of Decotelli was
disastrous, the disasters of Carvalho’s choices were bigger.
On January 2020 Bolsonaro fired
Roberto Alvim, the Brazilian top culture official, after Alvim quoted Nazi
Goebbels while talking about nationalist art in a video as Hitler’s
favorite composer played in the background. Alvim is a hard-core adherent of
Carvalho.
For the National Art Foundation, Bolsonaro
appointed Dante Mantovani, a hard-core adherent of Carvalho. After Mantovani
talked about what he should never talk, he was fired. After intense pressure of
Carvalho, he was reinstalled, and again fired.
Among stupid statements of Mantovani are:
“People who believe that the Earth is a
globe are great at making jokes about the self-evident flatness of the Earth’s
surface, but they are absolutely unable to come up with a single argument or
proof of Earth’s delusional sphericity. The closest they get to an argument supporting
the spinning ball are the computer graphics made by NASA, the Cold War
propaganda and disinformation organization, whose authors themselves have come
out to say that it’s all fake.”
Olavo de Carvalho, the guru of Mantovani,
Alvim and other officials in the Brazilian government, at last recognized that he
did a wrong recommendation in the case of the minister of Education. He confessed
that he recommended Vélez to Bolsonaro even though he had no contact with Vélez
for over 20 years! That was his excuse.
Yet, in the case of Ernesto
Araújo, whom he recommended to Bolsonaro as foreign affair minister, he
said that he hit the bull’s eyes. Araújo has openly praised Julius
Evola, the guru of the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Evola is the author
of several right-wing, anti-Marxist and occult books. Yes, he advocated at
the same time the right-wing, anti-Marxist ideology and witchcraft.
I am sure that he hit the bull’s eyes,
because Araújo has the same occult preferences Carvalho has.
If occultism was bad lucky for Evola and
Mussolini, how can it represent good lucky for Brazil?
Brazil does not need Decotelli to help
people advance with fake merits and credentials.
Brazil does not need people with occult
history to harm its society.
Brazil needs integrity and real Christianity
— without syncretism.
Portuguese
version of this article: Primeiro ministro evangélico negro da Educação do
Brasil caiu por trapacear com credenciais falsas antes de ser empossado
Recommended Reading:
New
Brazilian Education Minister: Hostile to Socialism and Trump, Friendly with
Bolsonaro and Hillary
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