São Paulo – Next Friday (8th), Brazilian Congress will host a tribute to the Muslim community in Brazil. The solemn session will take place in the plenary starting at 3 PM and should bring together representatives of the religion in the country, according to information from the press office of Representative Wadson Ribeiro (affiliated with party PCdoB in Minas Gerais state), who proposed the ceremony. <\/p>\n
The intention is to promote debate about freedom of worship, religious intolerance and respect to cultural diversity. “The session takes place in a peculiar moment of the international political scenario. There’s a great deformity in relation to Muslims and the Islamic religion, which preaches harmony and peace”, stated the politician in a press release. <\/p>\n
He says that the Muslim community has an increasingly important participation in the political, economic and social life of Brazil. According to data released by the Congressman, based on information from Islamic entities, there are, currently, around 1.5 million Muslims in the country, a number that includes those who were converted. <\/p>\n
“It’s only right that the House of the people, in a solemn session, presents this honoring to this important and meaningful part of the Brazilian population”, said Ribeiro, who is also the author of a law project that guarantees the right for people to wear religious garments or liturgical vestments, such as the veil, headscarf, Kippah, among others, in public places in Brazil. <\/p>\n
The congressman is president of PCdoB of Minas Gerais state. He’s 38 years old, a doctor and started his political career in the student’s union. He was president of the National Students Union (UNE) and Socialist Youth Union (UJS), and later executive secretary of the Ministry of Sports in 2007, during Lula’s term. <\/p>\n
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani<\/strong><\/p>\n