...When Sports and Religion Collides

Per suggestion of my friends Meggie and Jen back in the NYC, I’m doing to discuss if religion and sports should be connected. This is a topic that can take me ten posts to completely analyze, but I’m going to stick with one connection that has been taking place.

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in on a graduate class and the organizer of “Faith Nights” at sports arena talked to our class. For those of you unfamiliar with this concept, here it is:

Say you’re a minor league baseball team. An organization will contact you requesting to host a “Faith Night” during one of your games. The organization will contact local churches and other religious groups in your city and promote the event using discounted group tickets. Either before or after the game, there will be a religious service with probably a sermon, some testimonials from the players and even a concert. The religious events are usually done hours before the game or after the game long enough for people who don’t want to participate in the event can leave the stadium. Some Faith Nights go so far as to have the events take place outside of the stadium.

These have become very profitable for the teams because their attendance increased by a significant amount on these Nights and the team doesn’t have to pay a dime for these so they are making pure profit. The organizers use donations to pull off the events.

However, while I was sitting in class with Meggie, we started talking about if this was appropriate for a sporting event.

My initial thoughts were hypothetical and I placed myself in the position of president of a minor league team. Would I host one of these events?

First, I believe in God, so that’s not an issue. However, I respect the religious beliefs of others and don’t think that my God is the only thing or person you should worship. If you worship gods, plural, or a creature of some nature, as long as it keeps you from killing me, worship away.

My role as the president of the team is to provide an entertaining product for my fans. If a religious ceremony takes away from that, then that’s a negative on my job.

However, my ultimate role is to make money and help provide an environment that will produce victories for the team and keep the fans happy. If I don’t increase the gross of the team to help improve profits, we won’t win and no one wants that.

In conclusion to this part of the argument, I would have no problem hosting a Faith Night, no matter what the religion is. The key is that I would want to keep the separation between the game and the ceremony high.

While thinking about this topic more in-depth, I thought about the connections that religion and sports have.

In sports, each of us gathers in one common area to watch a type of ceremony, a game. In religion, each of us goes to one church-like setting to participate in a service.

In sports, we memorize statistics and compare eras and constantly reevaluate the merits of players past and present. In religion, we memorize verses or statements in our holy books, whether it’s a Bible, the Koran or something along those lines. Furthermore, we continually reevaluate the merits of our religious statements. As a Christian, I know that the interpretation of the Ten Commandments and other rules on finances, sex and other topics have changed over the years.

In sports, uniforms indicate who the participants in the game are. In religion, we use robes, suits, head scarves and other forms of clothing to symbolize who the leaders are and who the worshipers are.

In sports, there are iconic names that are used as symbols to express a positive or even negative virtues in our society. Lombardi, Aurabach, Jordan, Tiger, Ali, these coaches and players represent even more than their accomplishments on the field or ring.

In religion, there’s of course the Jesus, God, Mary, Joseph, Moses, Noah, Job, David, the Diciples and countless others who have transformed into mythical figures to teach us a lesson.

Its even to the point where there are specific channels for the two (ESPN and CBN), magazines (Sports Illustrated and I can’t think of a religious one right now but I know they exist), even music/talk stations (gospel channels for religious music and sports talk stations for well, sports)

There are many, many more similarities and plenty of differences, but there is one thing that both disciplines share.

Both are taken too seriously.

As much as I love sports, its my job and I’m thankful for that, but it can’t run your life. There are so many more important things in life.

I used to be OBSESSED with sports to the point that I couldn’t go a day without reading the sports section of a newspaper, listening to the sports talk stations, watching the ball games and a lot of other stuff.

The internet has been a help in this because I know to hit two or three sites and get all of the information that I need in a short time.

However, I’ve learned to prioritize things in my life and sports is not #1 anymore.

For religion, I used to go to church every Sunday and even on other days of the week. That was fine and all, but I took a major break from that when I realized that I was worshiping the concept of the ceremony and not God himself.

I would go to church and comprehend what was being said, not sin and be a good Christian, but I wasn’t feeling the faith that I was professing to express.

I’m still not going to church consistently but that’s my issue to deal with.

I still don’t like how we let religion separate us as a society. I’ve never understood why if we all believe in one central God we critique others who don’t interpret it the same as we do. Furthermore, I really don’t care who you worship, its your life. I wish more people had this mentality.

Sports separates us as well and I don’t like that.

I would like your thoughts on this topic. I could have gotten deeper and maybe I will in another post.

Here’s one man who combined sports and religion, the great Reggie White aka the Minister of Defense. He’s the only Tennessee football player that I can respect (screw Manning) and Eagles football player. He played for the rival of my two favorite football teams yet may be the best player ever to play for both of those teams. Best defensive lineman I’ve ever seen. Sick, sick player. Enjoy the highlights below: