Jesus Christ returned to full power in 2021. He won the Libertadores, the Brasileirao, the Copa do Brasil, the Paulista Championship, the Carioca, the Gaucho, the Mineiro, the Pernambucano … and now ‘La Copinha’ will win. No matter the team, the tournament or the category, in each title won, the champions attribute their success to God and Jesus (not the Virgin and the Saints) because he was the one who guided them and gave them the strength to lead them to the final victory. There has never been, until now, such intensity and uniformity in the modulation of religious discourse.
Brazilian football has never been secular. All teams end their preparation with a motivational circle in the locker room praying the Lord’s Prayer loudly, with a fervor, passion and rhythm that seems more like a chant from the stands than a prayer. Here it doesn’t matter who believes or not. The point is that the evangelical crusade, which permeates all sectors of society, uses the visibility of the ball as a very effective propaganda vehicle in its insatiable proselytizing.
Different studies indicate that 30% of the Brazilian population is evangelical, in all its aspects, and it is estimated that, in ten years, they will surpass Catholics. There are no polls, but in football there is already a majority, mainly neo-Pentecostals, who are one of the most loyal support bases for the extreme right of Jair bolsonaro and that they will play a key role in the presidential elections in October.
The so-called theology of prosperity captivates footballers. A doctrine that ensures that financial blessing (in an explicit defense of the values of capitalism) and success are consequences of a divine will. This postulate falls like a glove for athletes: if there is individual effort, determination, sacrifice, the reward will come. Therefore, all successes are dedicated to the Creator.
SOMEONE STOP THE EVANGELICAL TSUNAMI?
Nobody dares to confront the evangelical wave. And who does it, like the actor Paulo Betti, uses the worst possible example that ends up generating a boomerang effect. The playwright criticized “the blablabla about God” of the goalkeeper of Palmeiras and Seleçao, Weverton (a fervent evangelical), after winning, in November, his second consecutive Liberators. “That scene praying before the game started, reminded me of the goalkeeper Bruno (Flamengo), who prayed at the Maracana and later killed a girl and threw her to the dogs. It explains a lot what Brazil is & rdquor ;, he said Betti, that he had to apologize instantly.
The Athletes of Christ thing, which emerged in the 1980s, with Baltazar as one of its exponents, was something isolated, residual, almost anecdotal. The so-called ‘Gunner of God’, top scorer in LaLiga in 1989 with At. Madrid and the Second Division with Celta de Vigo, gave a Bible to the central that covered him.
Marcelinho Carioca (who failed at Valencia) would arrive, a cheeky man who celebrated the Corinthians titles with the tape of “Jesús & rdquor; in the head, after the generation of Pike, who established evangelical cults in the concentration of the Seleçao, and the blaugrana Edmilson& mldr; Y Kaka, who assured that he married a virgin to consecrate the marriage.
Neymar, number 1 in Brazil, originally, positioned himself as an evangelical footballer, he celebrated his triumphs at Santos with the “100% Jesus” hair band, but he ended up boxing it, until he took it out in 2015, in Berlin, when he won with Barça the first and last Champions of his resume. In this 2022, which will forever determine his career, he may appear again if he reaches his long-awaited second European center and the ‘Hexa’ in Qatar. Let no one doubt it.
