Many confreres, like our friends Francisco Rebouças and Alamar Regis Carvalho, got outraged with the poll made by the magazine IstoÉ in its issue 2016, dated June 25, 2008. The story, in which the poll is a part of, talks about the relation of teenagers with God, their beliefs and disbeliefs.

The poll on focus – as the reader can check out – conveys a terrible vision of what the Brazilian Spiritist youngsters think about many subjects.

The confreres aforementioned don’t believe this poll and understand that the Spiritist institutions which represent the Spiritist movement in Brazil should take a position and protest before the responsible of this publication. We do not agree with this thought, even though we respect our friends’.

According to IstoÉ, 47% of Brazilian Spiritist teens support death penalty and 31% are for the legalization of abortion, in stark contrast, in both cases, to the teachings of Spiritism, which since its first book – “The Spirits’ Book” – has taken the position against death penalty and abortion, with one exception: when the abortion can save the mother’s life. 

Lack of doctrinal study is the main problem  Instead of complaining and think that the magazine tried to harm the image of Spiritism in Brazil, it would be nice to hear from the Spiritist youth. And so we did it. A coordinator of youth group told us that is alarming how our young Spiritist are not ready when it comes to Spiritism and, because of that, may really support abortion and death penalty. This fact shows, among other things, the lack of study, in the Spiritist youth. Of course there are exceptions, but these only confirm the rule. The lack of doctrinal study, which should be the primary function of a Spiritist Center, is certainly the root of what the poll showed, and this should worry   us   all,   journalists,  directors,

center  coordinators,  not laying a guilt trip on others.

We have learned along life, from an old friend that is now in the spiritual world, that only one thing keeps a person to Spiritism: conviction. And conviction, which is nothing more than rational faith, cannot be transferred under the laws of heredity.

According to what Kardec wrote about faith, conviction cannot be taught, decreed, nor imposed. Conviction is achieved and it is a fruit of experience and study.

A youth without reading, studying, not taking seriously the inner modification, will always act – when faced by the challenges and problems that the world shows – as the materialist do, who only see in the human being the physical body and ignore that the man has something else than that.

No wonder, though, the ones who think this way are for death penalty and abortion, as they don’t know what they say or do. It is, however, saddening when such proposals come from those, who before the reporter are plucky enough to say they are Spiritist.