Sport & Religion, A Match Made In Heaven
Our hard working & highly paid athletes have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders, they show the world that down to hard work, dedication & investment they can achieve greatness, & at the same time inspire a generation of future athletes. But who is at the heart of all of this? God.
Before a race/football game an athlete will raise his or her hands, look up at the sky (UFO's??) & lose themselves in a moment of spirituality. & at the end they will thank god for their victory (even though the losing athletes believe in the same god & prayed for a win) Isn't this an insult to their trainers, coaches & fellow players? What about their own natural ability that got them where they are.
Religion has no place in society, & even more so in sport. Athletes are role models & are doing the work of the church on the field in front of millions of weak minded people.
Last year a footballer in the English Premiership collapsed on the field & suffered a massive heart attack infront of millions of television viewers, he was clinically dead for 70 minutes. with the help of hard working educated doctors he was revived & now leading a full & healthy life. But the media seemed to focus on prayer, asking the nation to 'pray for Mumba' in their headlines. Of course it was a deeply sad situation to happen to a young talented player, but I was offended by what was being asked of me. Mumba believes prayers helped him, & his experience is generating great PR for the church.
Has the church found a vital avenue for exposure?
Are sportsmen & women influencing young weak minded people?
Of course its wrong to generalise, not everyone does it, but a lot do, too many in my opinion.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ray R. on -
On an interesting side note , I saw a rather funny olympic video in which they showed several American athletes thanking god for there success , and a North Korean athlete thanking the " dear leader " . The similarities were revolting and striking at the same time .
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Permalink Reply by Stephen Sutton on -
This is my point, why design a program for them, diet, training & rest if they really believe god gave them the ability. Science has a proven ability to help athletes improve their technique & fitness, & combined with a natural ability you have a winning combination.
If I was a trainer, I would be insulted by their claims at thanking a god, or a dear leader.
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Permalink Reply by SteveInCO on -
Ah, but don't you see, the trainers etc are just god working in mysterious ways. Even the presence of people willing to help you towards your goal is just an example of "god provides."
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Permalink Reply by SteveInCO on
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All too many atheists actually want to replace an all providing but fictitious god with an all-providing and all-too-real state. Not realizing they are making the same error as the North Korean.
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Permalink Reply by Stephen Sutton on
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I would rather see sensible intelligent athletes with the ability to freely think about their abilities & be aware of their goals through honest hard work.
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Permalink Reply by Marc on -
I think that the nature of sport entwined with superstition to begin with. The players are constantly looking for that 'edge' whether it is realistically likely or not.
When you have a person who grows a playoff beard, insists on putting there right sock on before their left prior to every match, has kiss the turf prior to every match, etc., had a god to the mix and the result is not surprising.
I don't think that church has found an avenue for exposure as much as religious superstition gets placed conveniently on an already existing pile of bullshit when it comes to parsing the fine differences between success and failure at a highly and in many cases equally talented competition.
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Permalink Reply by Stephen Sutton on
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Your right about superstition & players. I've heard so many stories: same underwear, socks to which foot steps on the field first. It really is quite rediculous. & there is no way of breaking the habit.
I think there could be better sports psychology with athletes, stronger mentally is stronger physically.
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Permalink Reply by Adam on -
Why would god even take sides on a football game? What happened to the prayers of the losing team? These are all nothing but societal nonsense. It's "cool" to thank god for your success in sports
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Permalink Reply by Stephen Sutton on
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This is the kind of lunacy were dealing with when it comes to footballers & other sports men & women. I was under the impression that god loves all...
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Permalink Reply by RobertPiano on -
God takes care of football and stuff.
Jesus only loves NASCAR. Jesus built my hot rod.
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Permalink Reply by Stephen Sutton on
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So who takes care of golf? :)
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Permalink Reply by Doug Reardon on -
I don't do sports.
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