Comments on: Onward Christian Athletes? Faith in the Game

By: Ottie

Ottie — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:00:54 +0000

Love my footie, but not a worshipper. God is God and He is real, football is just a game, an amazing game, but just a game.

By: Andrew Guest

Andrew Guest — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:47:11 +0000

Fair enough. If the criticism is intelligent then it’s worth making–and I appreciate Mat’s perspective. But I’m still not sure just saying “get out” is realistic–to me that’s like saying politics and corporate capitalism should stay out of sports. They probably should. But they probably won’t. Which makes the whole messed up system kind of fun to analyze.

By: Mat

Mat — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:40:52 +0000

“Overall, from a soccer perspective, my read is that while God may or may not care about soccer, religion is—for better or worse—inextricably linked to the global game.”

Actually, I’m patently disagreeing with your conclusion. Religion links itself to the game, and not the other way around. Clubs, at least higher-than-pub-clubs, don’t seek validation from churches, but the reverse is true. Even this weekend, social agenda was pushed with the poppies in the EPL, and the public scolding of teams that did not participate.

No one must be of a religious affiliation in order to play or win in sport. This is why your thesis misses the mark; rewarding those who affix themselves through sport is dangerous, because when that happens, it adds the politics that sport tends to transcend.

To answer your question, that happens through criticism. Leave the preaching at home, where it belongs. And there are many things that have been started in churches locally that have done very well, but there comes a time when things outgrow their Church League, and that is when it becomes its own institution. When you seek support from more than the church itself, the club gives up the right to decide who makes a good supporter.

By: Andrew Guest

Andrew Guest — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:27:52 +0000

I’m not sure if Mat’s comment is addressing my post/article, or just a comment on religion and sports in general? It is appreciated either way. But among the intended points of the post is that whether we like it or not, religion is part of sports–and long has been. So just writing that off as an irrational scourge could potentially be as problematic as the imposition therein. I do agree that the key issue is to not allow sports to be “hijacked” by any particular religious agenda. The question then is whether that happens more through engagement or through criticism?

As a sort of amusing additional note addressing the history issue, one of the UK sources (from 2007) I link to in the post notes: “few people remember that a third of the clubs that have played in the Premiership owe their existence to a church. Barnsley and Swindon Town were founded by clergymen, while Louis Rocca, the ice-cream baron who came up with the name “Manchester United”, set up a network of Catholic priests to scout for players.”

By: Mat

Mat — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:59:06 +0000

Religion is a scourge on modern society. It is truly shameful to see something as neutral as sport, which has by remaining neutral, overcome communication barriers since the Ancient Olympics, and see it become a soapbox.

Sport has outlasted religions, empires, plagues, and dictators. Sport has overcome social injustice, war, language, and class.

Those that choose to drag sport down for their own mysticism should be shamed for it. Sport is about the absence of a “correct” religion, and should not be hijacked in this way. Religious displays in sport should never be condoned.

Obviously, many athletes use the power of their own mysticism to defeat mental barriers within their own lives, and for those that do, great. Those “powers”, despite having a generally positive outcome on the athlete, should not therefore be thrust upon those of us who choose not to abide by these stories.

Leave your Bronze-Age tales away from the world’s games; you taint them.