Free-thinking

Jacira Jacinto da Silva
President of CEPA,International Spiritist Association

Dear friends of CEPA, a note of repudiation of intolerance has just been published by the president of CEPABrasil, Homero Ward da Rosa, which we consider appropriate to reproduce in this space. Tonsidering he fact that the Spiritist Philosophy advocates respect and peaceful coexistence among the most diverse human beliefs and expressions, the Spiritists of CEPA decided to give wide publicity to the aforementioned manifesto at this moment in which unacceptable intolerance emerges and increases throughout the world.

Let the words of CEPABrasil sound firm in our ears, but above all in our hearts:

“The Brazilian Association of Delegates and Friends of CEPA – CEPABrasil, through this letter,
stand in solidarity with Mr. Eurípedes Higino Reis, son of the Spiritist medium Francisco Cândido Xavier,
and with the other relatives and admirers of Chico Xavier, in relation with the cowardly anonymous and
furtive plundering of the bust in his homage erected in the Cemetery of San Juan Bautista, in Uberaba (MG).
The episode occurred last Saturday, September 30, 2017. According to statements by Mr. Euripides, he
suspects that it may be religious intolerance, since it is not the first attack perpetrated against the memory of
the medium and, in addition, three umbanda “terreiros” were attacked last week in the city, probably by
religious fanatics.
The number of daily complaints about manifestations of intolerance of all kinds in our country is
serious and worrisome, aggravating hatred and violence.
We emphasize that the freedoms of expression and worship are guaranteed by the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations (1948) and by the Constitution of the Federal Republic
of Brazil (1988), which recognizes equal rights and imposes mutual respect to people, regardless of their
religious beliefs.
CEPABrasil, as a secular, freethinking and humanistic spiritist association, firmly repudiates all
kinds of intolerance and disrespect caused by fanaticism, fundamentalism, racism, sexism, xenophobia, or
any other preconceived or stereotyped opinions that imply the fundamental freedoms of the human person,
guaranteed by the Federal Constitution and by the national legal regulations.

Pelotas (RS), October 03, 2017.
Homero Ward da Rosa, President”