Correlation between Religion and Athletes

[~Derek~]

If you have any interest in sports, you'll see there is a high correlation between sports and religion. Especially with Fundamenatalist born-again type Christianity. When I played sports in high school at a small town in Tennessee, there was a prayer at the end of every practice, and before and after every game. I don't know if this is common practice, but Christianity was definitely imposed on us with "In Jesus's name, Amen" said at nearly every one. This is at a public school by the way. The imposing didn't stop there. For football, every Thursday after practice, a preacher would come in and give us a Bible message to motivate us for the game and convert us to Christianity. I was a non-religious Christian when I played but nowadays I would piss people off if I was involved in any of this. No one dared to not be involved in the prayer. And that's just an example of high school sports and religion having a correlation.
You see similar things in college and professional sports. Professional atheletes often are conforming to mainsteam interests and impose religion on teammates without realizing it. There seems to be a very close-minded view on religion within most sports because atheism is a rarely mentioned thing. Islam plays somewhat of a role in sports but not a big one in my experience.
I think team prayers and imposing one's religion on others is ridiculous and has no place in a oublic school. What do you tihnk of the correlation between religion and athletes?

 

[hexwind]

Islam plays somewhat of a role in sports but not a big one in my experience.

Could you give me an example please?
Muslim athletes pray individually when they play with non-muslims, otherwise, they do it as a team.
In our national football (soccer) team, we used to have two or three non-muslim players, but they weren't involved with the praying thing, and if they did, they remained silent, just to be with the team.

I think religious people are like scavengers here, they take advantages of the athletes' sense of belonging to spread their religious practice (and not views).

 

[Dak]

I think team prayers and imposing one's religion on others is ridiculous and has no place in a oublic school.

Public schools are worthless anyway, so whether or not they do one more ridiculous thing is irrelevant.

 

[Badbird]

In places like Notre Dame college, they have things like touchdown Jesus.

I know that lot of teams have prayers before their game. I should check to see if there is any atheist athlete.

 

[Badbird]

Here is a list of atheist athletes that I look up.


* Lance Armstrong (1971&#8211: American cyclist, winner of the Tour de France seven consecutive times.
* Fausto Coppi (1919–1960): Italian racing cyclist, nicknamed Il Campionissimo ("the greatest champion") one of the most successful and popular cyclists of all time.
* Robin Dixon CBE (1935&#8211: British Olympic gold medal bobsledder, army Major, businessman, British and Northern Irish politician, latterly a member of the House of Lords.
* Jan Hein Donner (1927–1988): Dutch chess grandmaster and writer.
* Jonathan Edwards (1966&#8211: British triple jumper. Former Olympic, European and World champion. Holds the current world record in the event.
* Hugh Falkus (1917–1996): British writer, film maker, World War II pilot, but best known as an angler, with seminal books on salmon and sea trout fishing.
* David Feherty (1958&#8211: Irish golfer, a former European Tour and PGA Tour professional who now works as a writer and broadcaster.
* Chris Ferguson (1963&#8211: American professional poker player, nicknamed "Jesus".
* Dan Fouts: Former American football quarterback for the National Football League's San Diego Chargers and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
* Olga Galchenko (1990&#8211: Juggler.
* Joe Simpson (1972&#8211: British mountaineer, author and motivational speaker, famous for his book Touching the Void, subsequently filmed.
* Robert Smith (1972&#8211: former Minnesota Vikings running back and NFL Network football analyst.
* Matthew Syed (1970&#8211: English table tennis international, three times the Men's Singles Champion at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships and competing for Great Britain in two Olympic Games, now a Times journalist.
* Savielly Tartakower (1887–1956): Polish and French chess Grandmaster, the king of chess journalism in the 1920s and 30s.
* Diana Taurasi (1982-): Current WNBA player for the Phoenix Mercury
* Bob Woolmer (1948–2007): English international cricketer, professional cricket coach and commentator, playing in 19 Test matches and 6 One Day Internationals for England and later coaching South Africa, Warwickshire and Pakistan

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

Always hilarious to see morons score and then point to the sky. As if god helped you with catching the ball or whatever.

 

[Blind Guardian]

What a big ego you must have if you think god, despite letting children die gruesome deaths every day, cares about your sport.

 

[Badbird]

I think it's dumb to have prayers in the locker rooms.

 

[cookiecutter]

Being a skilled athlete usually corresponds directly to be less educated, especially after high school. Being less educated correlates to being religious. Makes perfect sense then that athletes are more religious than average.

 

[Badbird]

Being a skilled athlete usually corresponds directly to be less educated, especially after high school. Being less educated correlates to being religious. Makes perfect sense then that athletes are more religious than average.

 

[Mort Divine]

Being a skilled athlete usually corresponds directly to be less educated, especially after high school. Being less educated correlates to being religious. Makes perfect sense then that athletes are more religious than average.

I know you said usually but,

Myron Rolle

Myron Rolle (born October 30, 1986 in Houston, Texas) is an American football player, who currently plays for the Tennessee Titans. He was the 207th overall pick in the 2010 NFL draft. Rolle played as a safety for his college team, the Florida State Seminoles. He earned Academic All-America honors in 2008. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and studied at St. Edmund Hall,[1] Oxford University for the 2009–10 academic year in order to earn an M.A. in medical anthropology.[2]

 

[cookiecutter]

I am glad there are exceptions, but plenty of players don't even go to college.

 

[Badbird]

Even if they do they still do bad things. People like Micheal Vick are what i'm talking about.

 

[sevag00]

Being a skilled athlete usually corresponds directly to be less educated, especially after high school. Being less educated correlates to being religious. Makes perfect sense then that athletes are more religious than average.

That's pretty false. How's being less educated have to do with being religious?

 

[Lord_Bleull]

Here is a list of atheist athletes that I look up.


* Lance Armstrong (1971–): American cyclist, winner of the Tour de France seven consecutive times.
* Fausto Coppi (1919–1960): Italian racing cyclist, nicknamed Il Campionissimo ("the greatest champion") one of the most successful and popular cyclists of all time.
* Robin Dixon CBE (1935–): British Olympic gold medal bobsledder, army Major, businessman, British and Northern Irish politician, latterly a member of the House of Lords.
* Jan Hein Donner (1927–1988): Dutch chess grandmaster and writer.
* Jonathan Edwards (1966–): British triple jumper. Former Olympic, European and World champion. Holds the current world record in the event.
* Hugh Falkus (1917–1996): British writer, film maker, World War II pilot, but best known as an angler, with seminal books on salmon and sea trout fishing.
* David Feherty (1958–): Irish golfer, a former European Tour and PGA Tour professional who now works as a writer and broadcaster.
* Chris Ferguson (1963–): American professional poker player, nicknamed "Jesus".
* Dan Fouts: Former American football quarterback for the National Football League's San Diego Chargers and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
* Olga Galchenko (1990–): Juggler.
* Joe Simpson (1972–): British mountaineer, author and motivational speaker, famous for his book Touching the Void, subsequently filmed.
* Robert Smith (1972–): former Minnesota Vikings running back and NFL Network football analyst.
* Matthew Syed (1970–): English table tennis international, three times the Men's Singles Champion at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships and competing for Great Britain in two Olympic Games, now a Times journalist.
* Savielly Tartakower (1887–1956): Polish and French chess Grandmaster, the king of chess journalism in the 1920s and 30s.
* Diana Taurasi (1982-): Current WNBA player for the Phoenix Mercury
* Bob Woolmer (1948–2007): English international cricketer, professional cricket coach and commentator, playing in 19 Test matches and 6 One Day Internationals for England and later coaching South Africa, Warwickshire and Pakistan

I'm sure there are many more, but they are probably worried the public will look down upon them, so they don't let anyone know.

 

[Onder]

What a big ego you must have if you think god, despite letting children die gruesome deaths every day, cares about your sport.

Seriously, it's fucking ridiculous. I was watching part of Jamie Oliver's American Tour or what the hell it's named (don't ask why, I just kind of like him), he just goes around US in a caravan and learns about their traditions and those faggots just pray before just about anything. They prayed to win a grill competition and I was like, seriously? Christians themselves do a fucking ace job making their God a fucking fag (and themselves of course).

 

[Valerie]

Not to mention you're completely discrediting your team as well as yourself by thanking god. It's rude.

 

[Lateralus14]

Being less educated correlates to being religious.

I sincerely hope this was sarcasm.

 

[Badbird]

I can see why now there isn't much athletes into metal.

 

[cookiecutter]

I sincerely hope this was sarcasm.

Absolutely not, it's been shown in studies.