by Kevin Kardos, SUNY Cortland
Posted in on Friday, Nov 12
I have had a busy week. The Yankees and the Red Sox battled to a deciding seventh game in their series, the Dallas Cowboys had to go against Brett Favre and the Packers, and pre-season NBA basketball got under way. With all this action and excitement, I paused to ask myself the question, “Where is God?” The answer was obvious and apparent in all three sports arenas, “God is all over the place.”
Professional athletes are anything but shy about making their spiritual beliefs known anytime a camera is on them or a microphone pushed in their face. Players for both the Red Sox and the Yankees could be seen making the sign of the cross and kissing their rosary necklace while pointing to the sky. During the football game, players were shown kneeling on the field in prayer and in the post-game interview God was credited for the Packer win more than once. The scene was the same on the basketball court. Players being shown on television kneeling before and after the game, and in post-game interviews God was mentioned just as often as any player. It is apparent that public expression of athletes’ religious beliefs during televised sporting events is as common and accepted as half-naked women in beer commercials. Some sports writers have taken to referring to these instances as “Godmercials.”
What, if anything, should be done?
Those who are against the mixing of professional sports and religion feel as though they are being subjected and smothered in what should be a person’s “private and personal belief.” The issue here is young people. If a young Yankees fan that happens to be Jewish hears his favorite athlete thank Jesus for making a play in the outfield, does this make the youngster feel left out? Athletes, regardless of whether they want the attention or not, are role models. It is a part of the job. As role models, should athletes be allowed to use the media as a sort of pulpit to force their views on impressionable young people? When a Pop Warner football team imitates what they see on television on Sunday and kneels in a circle to pray, how does this affect the one or two non-religious kids who stand there not knowing what to do?
On the other hand, those who say leave it alone, point out that the answer is right there in the First Amendment. It states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech…” They also believe that athlete’s spiritual beliefs are an essential ingredient in what makes them a “role model.” It is their duty to express their beliefs so that young people can be positively influenced by their example. Furthermore, many of today’s athletes are anything but saints (no pun intended). Sports pages are filled with stories about today’s athletes being busted for drug abuse, murder, and other crimes. Take a look at Kobe Bryant. When an athlete talks about God, it’s better then hearing about how they feel about their defense in their upcoming trial.
An athlete may be a role model, or a star, but one thing is certain, he/she is an employee. They are being paid a salary to perform a job skill. Just like any other profession, they are accountable to pay taxes and show up on time. What if this religious proselytizing was occurring at other places of employment? How long would an employee of Subway last, if after every successful foot long that he/she prepares, she drops to her knees, thanks Jesus for the skill and the opportunity to be a sandwich artist, and points to the sky three times before asking if you would like to make that a combo meal with a soda and a bag of Fritos? How about in school, where prayer is already a hotly contested issue? What would happen to a teacher if at the end of class, he/she thanked God for a successful lecture and was joined by those students who felt like it, in a circle of prayer? It seems to me, that if one profession is allowed to partake openly in these practices, the playing field should be made level.
DESIGNER: Greg Montano, New Media, SUNY Cortland, USA