That’s the title of the article I just read from Valerie Tarico at the Huffington Post. I don’t know anything about her background but I would venture to say that she is not a Christian. I always find it interesting how the secular world views prayer. It’s hard to determine whether she is writing this article satirically or if there’s any seriousness to it. Regardless, I thought it was interesting to read. Below is an excerpt I found particularly interesting:
My favorite answer is that everyone knows God isn’t interested in football. He’s a nerd. We’re talking about the guy who coded the DNA for tree frogs and wildebeasts and echidnas. How many geneticists and programmers do you see playing pro ball? God is the kind of guy who is more likely to be found hanging out at Burning Man than the Super Bowl.
But my husband thinks something different is going on. He thinks people do believe in the power of football prayers — only not the same way that they believe in the power of a Mac truck coming right at them. It’s a fuzzy, iffish sort of thing, and if one team or the other can get it going, more power to them. May the righteous team win.
Either God doesn’t care about sports because He’s more interested in other things or prayer does make a difference but only in the way a luck rabbit’s foot would–merely as a novelty, good luck charm. Unfortunately, this view of prayer and of God is prevalent within sports ministries too.
So, what is the role of prayer in the sports world? How would you answer that question?
