Do athletes mean what they say about religion?

This article was first published in the State of Faith newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Monday night.
I have a confession to make: I don’t always believe what I write about sports and religion.
Sometimes cynical thoughts creep into my my mind as I pursue stories about an NFL star crediting God for his achievements or an Olympian discussing Bible verses in prime-time interviews. I wonder if they really mean what they’re saying — or if they’re just making a savvy PR move.
Those thoughts popped back into my head last week as I prepared for an interview with Paul Emory Putz, author of a new book on sports and religion called “The Spirit of the Game: American Christianity and Big-Time Sports.”
Although the book explores a wide range of cultural and historical topics, from 19th century evangelists to the rise of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, I decided to focus our conversation on athletes’ comments about religion and ask Putz if he, like me, ever questions what he’s hearing in postgame interviews.
I was relieved to learn that Putz, who is the assistant director of Truett Seminary’s Faith & Sports Institute at Baylor University, doesn’t think I’m a jerk. But he does think I could benefit from adopting the same approach he adopted while researching his book: meeting religious athletes with grace and curiosity instead of judgment.
Here’s a look at our conversation about athletes thanking God.
Kelsey Dallas: How do today’s athletes compare to athletes in the past when it comes to religious expression?
Paul Emory Putz: When I saw recently that NBA player AJ Griffin was going to retire after a couple years in the league to be “full-time for Jesus,” it struck me that we don’t see decisions like that as much anymore.
One hundred years ago or 150 years ago, it was much more common for a Christian evangelist to talk about sports as something they’d given up to show the strength of their faith. For example, Billy Sunday, one of the most famous evangelists of the 20th century, retired from the Chicago White Sox to become a full-time evangelist.
But that shift isn’t necessarily bad. Today’s situation, where faith pervades the everyday experience of sports, has been a good development in many ways.
Since conversations about religion are more common in the sports world now, athletes can not only talk openly about their faith in interviews, but also access religious resources when they’re struggling with an injury or with their marriage or with performance anxiety.
KD: What I wrestle with as a fan and reporter and somewhat of a cynic is that comments about faith are so common in the sports world now that they seem to have lost their meaning.
PEP: Although I think it’s been a good development for faith to pervade the sports experience for Christian athletes, it kind of cheapens comments about faith for them to become so common.
But I think we should still approach expressions of faith from athletes with a sense of grace, with a sense that you don’t know everything that’s going on with an athlete in their heart or in their spiritual life.
It’s a good and healthy thing for athletes of any faith to be able to share that part of themselves. Religion is a key part of our identity in a pluralistic country where we encourage religious freedom.
KD: What would you say to those who get nervous about athletes appearing to credit God for their team’s win?
PEP: It’s good for faith to be part of everyday life, including wins. If you’re a Christian, it makes sense for you to think God was present with you in a victory.
But Christian athletes — and all of us — need to recognize that God is also present when you make the bad play, when you get injured, when your team has a bad season and when you lose.
Sometimes sports implicitly sends the wrong message because you’re often only hearing from the winners about their faith.
KD: Should Christian parents make a point to tell their kids that God is with athletes whether they win or lose?
PEP: I hadn’t thought before about using an athlete thanking God as a teaching moment.
My own experience as a kid was being taught to start rooting for the athletes who were saying Jesus’ name because that meant they were a Christian.
But I think you’re onto something. As a Christian parent, you can say something more than “Oh, that’s a Christian athlete.” You can say, “God can use you regardless of whether you won or lost.” You can make sure your kids don’t only see God in their successes, but also think about God’s presence in their suffering.
KD: I’m uncomfortable with my rising cynicism about sports and religion. How should I respond when an athlete talks about their faith?
PEP: Early on in grad school, when I first started studying sports and religion, I had an impulse when I saw an athlete pray to joke about it or criticize it. I would think, “They’re getting their theology wrong.”
But I’ve moved away from that. It’s not that we can’t critique or analyze these statements — it’s that you have to remember that Christian athletes are trying to put words to something that’s incredibly hard to express. They’re not professionals at articulating what their faith means.
Even if what they’re saying sounds superstitious, I’m going to give more grace. I’m not going to be the theological police. I want to celebrate athletes trying to express their faith at all.
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