Pedro from Salvador: Faith and Football - why didn’t our prayers work?

All 23 players of the Brazilian squad are earnest Christians, 21 of whom are Evangelical and two are Catholic. All 23 say a prayer before, during, and after matches, and thank the Lord for goals scored or successful saves before a global audience of millions willing to follow suit. Planetary evangelizers. Role model Christians.

Among the 46 German and Dutch players, about one third are Muslims, another third are Catholic or Protestant (not one single neo-Pentecostal), while the remaining third consists of Baha'is, Buddhists, agnostics and atheists.

Brazil is a predominantly Christian country, and although nominally secular, government offices such as our Supreme Court are covered in crucifixes (justice is not blind if it automatically sides with the religious), and our political system allows, if not requires, concessions to the Parliament's mighty Evangelical lobby.

Germany and the Netherlands, on the other hand, are countries where the separation of church and state is taken so seriously that even Chancellor Merkel, leader of the Christian Democratic Union, do not mention God in their speeches, — a sign of respect to their compatriots of other beliefs or of no belief at all. In addition, a considerable slice of their population are atheists, agnostics, or of non-Christian faith.

Very well. All this just to ask: how did the God of Neymar, of the Seleção and of nearly 200 million other fervent Brazilian devotees allow a handful of amoral infidels to beat us in such humiliating fashion? And twice? And at home? How is it that we the righteous are a backward, unequal, uneducated, unsafe, bigoted country, while those unbelievers (or believers of the wrong gods) enjoy social stability, public safety and disconcertingly high levels of schooling?

We've been faithful Christians since Christianity was imposed unto this country some 500 years ago. We have the largest number of temples and churches in the West. We open franchises in the most remote corners of Brazil, far beyond the reaches of the State. There may not be a school, a plaza, city water, electricity, asphalt — but our selfless bishops and pastors will be there, preaching the word to those in need of bread.

Branches also pop up in a number of countries around the world, but especially in those poorer than ours, in a McDonald's-like pace. Religion thrives with television channels, bestselling books, some of the most played musicians in the country — and yet, for some reason that faith fails to explain, the more sceptical in the Lord is a country, the more advanced, peaceful and egalitarian its society is. What in Heavens is the connection, my dear God?