Intolerância religiosa e a dignidade da pessoa humana: aspectos jurídicos e teológicos, a partir do caso “Mãe Gilda”

Abstract

Since the enactment of the Constitution of 1891 it has been decreed that Brazil is not a confessional state, that is, because it has a religious pluralism, it does not have an official religion, and all existing ones must be respected in the same way. However, in spite of the positive assurance in the Greater Charter, which links religious freedom to a fundamental right, episodes of religious intolerance are common in Brazil, especially with regard to the followers and faithful of religions of African origin. However, not only the freedom of belief and worship are guaranteed by the Federal Constitution, but also the dignity of the human person, positivized as an absolute principle and intrinsic and distinctive quality of each human being that deserves the same respect and consideration by the State and of the community, implying, in this sense, a complex of fundamental rights and duties that assure the person against any and all degrading and inhumane acts, as they will guarantee the minimum existential conditions for a healthy life, besides providing and to promote their active co-responsible participation in the destinies of their own existence and the life in communion of other human beings. The objective of this article is to address religious intolerance in Brazil, especially in relation to religions of African origin, focusing on the case of "Mother Gildasia", the leader of a candomblé terreiro who suffered persecutions and aggressions of a prejudiced nature, analyzing the episode about principle of the dignity of the human person.