Many people have grown weary of athletes proclaiming their Christian faith in ways that seem to trivialize religion or offend others. While banning religion from sports is not possible, more thought needs to be given to establishing a more appropriate expression of faith. However, politics, particularly of the Christian Right, have significantly influenced the relationship between religion and sports without consideration of other faiths. There are also concerns about the commercialization of college sports compromising educational values and whether attributing athletic success solely to God is theological overreach.
2. “Many, many people do grow weary
of hearing multimillionaire
athletes proclaiming their
Christian faith in ways, and in
moments, that sometimes seem
to trivialize religion’s rich
complexity as powerfully as they
offend and divide portions of the
viewing audience.”
3. “And short of banning religion in
sports -a nonstarter in a culture
that values religious freedom - we
have failed to shape a vision for a
more appropriate, fair, and
thoughtful form of faith in sports.”
4. “But politics have a huge and
largely unexamined influence
on the shape and direction of
religion in sports, a politics
very much of the Christian
Right variety.”
5. “Don’t count on the evangelicals
to do the legwork to ensure
that Jews and Muslims and
agnostics and pluralists and
Catholics and liberal
Protestants have a voice in the
pro sports world.”
7. “…promoters of a Christian
Right movement that has not
found much room on its
agenda for the issues-racial
equality, economic justice,
peace-that found their voice in
Martin Luther King Jr.”
8. “Would they change the
Fellowship of Christian
Athletes to the Fellowship of
Religious Athletes?”
9. “The shift from justifying
sport in the nineteenth
century by appeals to
religion, to promoting
religion by appeals to
sport, reveals much about
the changing status of both
sport and religion in
America.”
10. “Whatever one’s opinion on the
appropriateness of the
methodology, there can be little
doubt that it is quintessentially
American to harness the forces of
popular culture - in this case, love
of sports - and the tools of
marketing to promote religion.”
11. Are our universities
compromising their
educational mission in pursuit
of the almighty dollar? What
role does ( or should) college
athletics play in shaping the
morals of the college athlete?
12. In 2009, one of the
NCAA conferences
signed a $2.25 billion
television deal with
ESPN.
Yet only 19 of 300 D-1
schools (6%) made a
net profit from
13. “Sportianity is Christian
theology vetted and co-
opted by the dictates of the
sports industry. Not
surprisingly, it cannot speak
truth to power…”
14. When Auburn won the national
championship over the Oregon
Ducks, Auburn coach Gene Chizik
and quarterback Cam Newton made
the following comments:
“I just can’t be more blessed to be a
part of a whole team like this. Man,
God was with us. Our defense played
outstanding today.”
15. “You know, it’s just a God thing.
You know, I thank God every
single day. You know, I’m just
his instrument. He’s using me
on a consistent basis daily. He’s
using me to extend his word.
And I’m a prime example of how
God can turn something bad
into something that was very
16. “Giving God credit for
victories in athletics is
nothing but a
combination of bad
theology, hubris, and
inflated egos.”
17. Commenting on ESPN being 25
years old, one college coach
said,
“If we had ESPN 22 years ago,
we wouldn’t have any
children.”
18. “Tradition-Practice-Wisdom is the
spiritual triad that forms a way of
life in community-the definition
of soulfulness…We are correct
when we understand faith or
sport as memory passed from
one generation to another, as
practices that change us, and as
wisdom gained through pressing
toward a goal.”
19. “Addiction to sports can be a serious
challenge to spiritual formation-that
lifelong endeavor that requires
relentless seeking of God’s kingdom
through such disciplines as silence,
solitude, and study. Manic attention to
spectator events steals irreplaceable
time from marriages, friendships, and
parenting.”
