In March 2021, when Brazil recorded nearly 260,000 deaths from covid-19, President Jair Bolsonaro participated in the inauguration of the North-South Railway section, in São Simão (GO), when, referring to the damage to the economy by because of social isolation, he stated: “The Bible itself says, in 365 quotations, ‘do not be afraid.’ But, if we stay at home all the time and say (sic) that the economy will be seen later… A part of us is now seeing what this policy was. What is the future of Brazil?”
Linked to the statement, members of the Berea Collective decided to investigate whether Bolsonaro’s use of the biblical passage made sense in the context in which it was inserted, the pandemic. For this check, pastors, priests and researchers of sacred scriptures were heard. The collective’s conclusion was that one of the strongest ideas in the Bible regarding the expression “fear not” is the concept of “protection”. The expression also appears in the episode in which the Hebrews retreated to their homes to escape the plagues that hit the Egyptians. The fact bears some resemblance to current events, but with the opposite meaning to that mentioned by the president.
Created from a survey at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro on the circulation of disinformation on WhatsApp, Coletivo Berea uses biblical excerpts and consultation with experts to check statements published in religious media. Berea (now Veria, Macedonia) was the city where the apostle Paul preached and his words were checked against the gospels. The work extends to social networks of religious leaders in Brazil and abroad and to accounts with religious content.
The general editor of Bereia, Magali Cunha, said that politics is one of the themes most frequently checked by the collective. Checkers of the bill found that Christian ministers and members of the religious caucus in the National Congress are “strong propagators of false information”. Other issues are on the collective’s radar – such as health, sexuality and “christophobia”, which, according to the editor, “have been widely used to say that Christians are in danger because when they get up to criticize something they are silenced, castrated”.
Identification
The collective is the first to specialize in religious fact-checking. As far as we know, according to Sérgio Lüdtke, editor of the Comprova Project, it is also the only such project in the world. Berea’s differential does not stop there. Magali reported that, after researching the modus operandi of checking agencies in Brazil and abroad, the group created its own methodology “which combines journalism specialized in religion with fact-checking and research focused on the theme of religion in Brazil”.
Another specific feature is the constitution of the team. Voluntary in nature, it includes Evangelicals, Catholics, Spiritists and also people with no connection with religion, but who have affinity and interest in the subject. The multiplicity of religious perceptions and knowledge leverages the work of Berea, which is independent of religious institutions, but has the support of faith-based organizations.
Both the specialized knowledge in religion and the team familiar with the subject allowed Berea to improve its way of communicating with the faithful by developing a specific and directed language based on the fundamentals of belief and even passages from the Bible. Magali said that this zeal for the language aims to make the checks reach the greatest number of faithful and, thus, multiply the chances of sharing the veracity of the content.
33% trust their own information network
The research report that originated the Bereia, “Paths of disinformation: evangelicals, fake news and WhatsApp in Brazil”, points out that 33.3% of evangelicals interviewed trust more in well-known people than in journalistic vehicles and/or internet searches.
In addition, 13.2% of these faithful stated that they see pastors and church brothers as a reliable source of news. In the assessment of researcher from the Institute of Religion Studies (Iser) Ana Carolina Evangelista, in order to understand the ties between religious individuals and WhatsApp groups, it is necessary to understand other aspects of the issue – for example, knowing in which situation these groups were created and for what reason.
“For example, if I always meet that person in my service, it creates a network. So, when information comes from that network, for me, it’s true because it comes from a person I trust a lot, who I meet every Sunday,” he said.
Confidence
This individual’s trust, both in friends and in religious leaders, is a theme that Berea tries to address through educational actions in religious communities. During classes, the exchange of knowledge between the collective and the faithful has a single objective: to guarantee the autonomy of people in their search for information. “We are not saving our methodology. We are sharing with other religious communities”, he explained. Information is from the newspaper The State of São Paulo.
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