God Goes Ga-Ga on Gridiron

The idea of religion in sports (not to mention the Grammies, et al) has bugged me ever since my high school football team prayed before our games. That said, I admired the fact that the coaches who led the prayer never prayed for victory, but for safety, fair play and camaraderie. Still, it seemed odd to think that an omniscient being would be very concerned. Today I ran across an article on salon.com that had something to say on the topic. And I think it (unintentionally) points out something that might illuminate the ways in which the left and the right can't seem to find common ground on religion...

"The most common and notorious misrepresentation is that religious players frequently credit the Almighty for their making the big play or winning the game, as if the Christian (and non-Christian) players on the opposing team did not enjoy equal standing before God, and as if the purpose of faith is to get ahead on the scoreboard. Equally troubling is the frequent dissonance between players' religious words and decidedly irreligious behavior. Barry Bonds is a serial sky-pointer and a man who credits God for his tremendous success on the field, yet to many in the public he is considered a steroid-using cheater. The football player recently fined $75,000 for the vicious hit on Green Bay Packers receiver Robert Ferguson is the same Donovin Dariuswho appears in the NFL Network program declaring his commitment to use his football playing to glorify God." - Tom Krattenmaker

You have to have a subscription to read the full article, of course. Anyway, liberals seem to demand a higher level of accountability from openly religious individuals. Righties seem to use religion as a blanket excuse for bad behavior (Swaggart, Baker, Ashcroft, etc).