Religion plays an enormous role in professional sports throughout the world today; most notably football players in the NFL are the most public and open about their faith. In a recent MSNBC segment they discuss up how football players publicly display their faith on the field by praying on the field after a game or by end zone blessings and if it is a problem. The video starts with a clip of Terrell Owens telling the media that he is going to play in the super bowl despite an injured leg and against doctors advice, Owens replied “I got the best doctor of all, and that’s god” when asked who cleared him to play. They then interviewed Kurt Warner who is a popular NFL quarterback and one of the most religious athletes in America today. Kurt explained that being religious on the field is no different than when he is religious at home with his wife and kids, it is just a part of who he is and doesn’t feel like there should be any regulation over religious celebrations.
After watching this video clip I also wondered if athletes like Terrell Owens and Kurt Warner would be as religious as they are now if they were not as gifted at sports as they are. I do not know much about how they were raised by their parents or the area in which they grew up. I do know many people who were raised to be extremely religious and lived in a religious community who grew up to be ordinary people who do not live very religious lives. It’s almost like the opposite of Michael Brooks’ article Born Believers; in the article he says how people create god when they are in fear. In this situation these athletes are creating god for being so successful.
Video
http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-us&vid=3af8575b-c30f-4b8e-a1cd-adc0f76f50ee
Works Cited
Brooks, Michael. "Born believers: How Your Brain creates God."New Scientist. February 4, 2009.
Reagan, Ron, and Monica Crowley. Religion and Sports. MSNBC. 4 Feb. 2005
I know a lot of people who also do some praying that there team wins the big game. Now these people aren't even that religious, so what drives them to pray? Do they think that by praying they are making a difference and there team will win because of it? Probably not, they probably just think it wouldn't hurt to pray a little.
ReplyDeleteI will agree with Mike in the sense that I feel sports teams do pray sometimes because they feel it won't hurt and just may in fact help. I remember when playing high school sports praying before every game as a team. In a way it was just part of a tradition that the team has always done. But for some reason it also seemed to work as a good tactic for the team to calm down the players and give some sense that some higher being just may be on their side and listening to what they have to say. Overall I think that these religious acts that take place in sports are just something to ease the mind and give an added feeling of hope. It can only help.
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