What else should pregame pray-ers be praying about?
After writing a negative column about people
reciting the Lords Prayer during high school football games,
I received such a barrage of theological mail that it startled
me. Seldom in the history of newspapering has such a big theological
gush-bomb fallen on a single correspondent. I am weighed down
with holy ideas. Further, I am overwhelmed with the sludge of
heresy that slides through the e-mail channels of this nation. First, these letter writers would have me
believe the prayers brazenly broadcast by devout footballers are
only for the safety of the players. I find that hard to believe
that, in all that praying, there are no prayers focused on winning
the game. But let us suppose that all the football
prayers uttered in this nation are only for the safety of the
players. What, then, can we say about God when a player gets hurt?
What do we say about the broken legs and arms, the brain concussions,
the ripped flesh, the gouged eyes and the very tragic deaths that
occur on high school football fields? Those things are going to happen because
football is a brutal game, and every year in America it gets more
violent and mean. All the praying in the world could not stop
those injuries from happening. It is the nature of the game. If
you bang your head against another head long enough, something
will break. If you pray before jumping off a cliff, you will still
get hurt when you hit the bottom. Wake up, pilgrims. Gods
mission is not to save you when you do dangerous stuff. Further, it is not Gods fault when
you get hurt doing something mindless, such as bullfighting or
football. Those are the breaks of the game, and no amount of prayer
will lower the chances of injury. So, dont talk to me about
safety. Every football player has to be willing to take his chances. By the way, the tally of e-mail messages
and phone calls on the Tuesday after the column appeared was 18
in favor of my column and 14 against. A total of 32 essays and
phone calls and more than half believed they knew how to calculate
Gods football picks of the week. One e-mail from a fellow named Frank suggested
prayers before and after the game were to help young people honor
God with their caliber of play. If they play well, God is honored.
If they stink up the place, God is allegedly ashamed. I dont think it makes any difference
how students play because, I believe, God doesnt care. God
cares about those who are poor, sick and sad. If you want students
to honor God, teach them how to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless,
heal and comfort the sick and bring cheer to the depressed. That
will honor God. But a footballer playing well honors only himself
and perhaps, his school. Heres another argument. Some readers
said that God is omnipotent and therefore the Almighty can be
helping the least, the last and the lost and still be sitting
in the football stands on Friday evenings cheering on the home
team. My question is: Why would God want to be watching football
on Friday evening? It has nothing to do with his purpose or mission.
And a football game does not bring lasting happiness to people
just that flash of excitement that begins to fade when
the stadium lights shut down. This past Friday evening there was a planned
prayer protest in Santa Fe, Texas, where planners said 10,000
people would show up to pray at the high school football game.
About 200 showed up, and their prayers were drowned out by the
public address system as an announcer introduced the opposing
team. There were other prayer protests one in Asheville,
N.C., drew 25,000 people, but it didnt happen during a football
game. In Hattiesburg, Miss. about 4,500 prayed before a game,
and at Skiatook, Okla., a few people said their prayers. So, there is no doubt that we have a movement
working its way into American hearts. But that doesnt mean
theyre right and it doesnt mean that God is jubilant
about these prayer rallies. It just means that people are afraid
their freedom to pray is being taken away by government. Now they feel a need to show the world they
can pray anywhere they want. Thats the American spirit of
defiance at work.
Clark D. Morphew
Posted For September 14, 2000