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BRAZIL, December 7, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Brazilian people overwhelmingly reject the homosexualist and abortionist agenda of the nation’s ruling party, according to a new study conducted by the polling agency Vox Populi.

The poll revealed that 82% of Brazilians wish to maintain abortion as a crime, and 72% are against its depenalization. Religious differences only changed the latter result marginally, with 75% of Evangelicals, 73% of Catholics, and 69% of other religions opposing depenalization.

In addition, sixty percent of Brazilians are against the creation of homosexual “civil unions,” while only 35% are in favor.

The poll indicates that Brazilian Evangelicals are more successful communicating their churches’ condemnation of homosexual unions than Catholics.  While only 19% of Evangelicals supported such unions, 37% of practicing Catholics supported them.

Even a majority of nonreligious Brazilians, 56%, oppose homosexual “civil unions” according to the poll. However, members of non-Christian religions, who are generally associated with African spiritualist cults, were the most likely to support civil unions, with 59% in favor.

The results are a slap in the face for the ruling socialist Labor Party and its allies in the National Congress, which have endeavored to eliminate criminal penalties for abortion and promote special rights for homosexuals. Books, television shows, and other forms of expression that condemn homosexual behavior are subject to fines and other penalties in Brazil, and President Luis Lula da Silva has sought to pass legislation to make “homophobia” a crime.

In Brazil’s recent elections, president-elect Dilma Rousseff was forced to make a written promise not to promote a pro-abortion or homosexualist agenda if elected, after seeing her poll numbers slip in the face of massive criticism of her previously-stated positions on those issues.

The statistics also undermine the image of Brazil as a sexually libertine society, an idea popularized by the excesses of celebrations held in major cities for Carnival, the period immediately before the penitential season of Lent. Brazil has also been the scene of the largest homosexual parades in the world in recent years, which have been partially financed and promoted by the federal government.

In addition to the results on abortion and homosexuality, the poll indicated that a large majority of Brazilians, 87%, are also opposed to the decriminalization of illegal drugs.