And If You Don’t Think They’re Coming After You With Intent to Baptize …
Okay, I’ve heard of football being a religion, but …
A full one in four Americans believe that God will play a role in deciding who wins the Superbowl. That’s 80 million people, y’all.
I have to wonder if those are the same 80 million people who think God decides who the President will be. Probably not, though. That’s a whole ‘nother group of 80 million Americans who said, “Thank God!” after Mitt Romney lost. It couldn’t be the same group because the Steeple People ain’t rootin’ for President Obama.
Anyway, here’s the deal.
With the Super Bowl just over a week away, 26% of U.S. citizens and 27% of sports fans say God has a big hand in determining the victors of sporting events, according to a recent survey by the Public Religion Research Institute and Religion News Service.
And they also believe …
God also favors athletes who live successful, faithful lives, say 68% of Protestants and 65% of Catholics.
Successful? Okay, I can see that. Victory itsownself kinda favors successful people. But faithful? I dunno about that one. Tim Tebow may disagree.
Thank to Irene for the heads up.
My former pastor had a great saying. “God is not a cosmic puppeteer”
1How does “God” decide when Notre Dame plays BYU, or SMU or Baylor? I can see Her now, sitting up there in the sky trying to make a decision about who She thinks should win one of those games.
2Larry, your pastor is brilliant!
Well, after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake happened, I kinda thought She was an A’s fan; totally stopped the SF Giants in their tracks.
3Can’t someone drive the money changers out of the temple, er the gubmint, er the private boxes at the football stadium, er the churches. Did I forget any other places?
4One of the adult coaches early in my life ha-ha-ed another parent who told us 8year olds that “Sport builds character.” Coach said, “No, sport reveals character.” I believe that. I’ve never forgotten that exchange. And so filming other teams practices and manipulating the air pressure in the football to make it easier for your MILLION dollar quarterback to grasp… these acts do reveal one’s character. Frankly corking bats, greasing baseballs, and covering yourself with sticky all point to wanting the adulation of home runs hit, strike outs achieved, and interceptions made, without the work and dedication that goes into those superlatives. Yeah sport reveals character alright.
5This illustrates the absolute dimwitted arrogance of the religious. They think they are SSSssssooooo special that gawd gives a damn about their games.
6But that’s OK as half of them will be rewarded as being right and the other half will excuse their imaginary fiend as working in mysterious ways rather than blame it for disappointing them.
My god is really not at all interested in any sports activity. I know, because she told me that directly.
7Explains the success of Wilt Chamberain, Babe Ruth, and other choir boys.
8Tim Tebow, another one of God’s great success stories.
9Go to this page and look at the image.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/xdf.html
With 2-3 exceptions, every bright light in that photo is not a star– it is a galaxy, composed of millions of stars, many of them with planets. And the area of the sky it covers is about the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length. Now imagine that many galaxies all around the rest of the sky, 360° worth.
Take a deep breath.
Now try to imagine (this may be harder) the mindset of people who think that a supreme being created all of that, and still cares who wins a damn football game. Or who anybody takes to bed with them.
I have no patience with these ignorant fools.
10One more example of how superstitious right-wingers trivialize their own religion. The truth is that they are interested in sports outcomes so they create a “God” in their own image. I don’t think that’s how it’s supposed to work.
11I’m not going to weigh in on God taking sides in the Superbowl, but I’m convinced somebody traded their soul in the NFC playoff game between Green Bay and Seattle.
I mean, did you see how Seattle played the first 55 minutes of the game? Then the last 5 minutes? It might have been Steve King’s planetary people at work, or other forces outside of our solar system, but it was something.
Signed, A Packer Fan
12Rhea, if you were the goddess or if I were god, there would be no wars, children with diseases or without food, and for a fact there would be no st00pid Republicans. I don’t know if Earth is the only planet capable of sustaining human life, but I sure know we have done a lousy job of managing our resources, when some have too much, while others have too little.
13Rhea,imagine if any one of them galaxies had a sale,how in the world would shoppers ever get there?
14Rick, my usual remark when something like that happens is, “The medication must have kicked in.” I wasn’t happy about it either. I like Green Bay because the fans own the team, not some obnoxious 1%er who’ll haul them off if the taxpayers don’t build him a big new stadium.
15I firmly believe…..
God….. has more to do than…. Football, Baseball, or whatever.
I also firmly believe…. that these same people …… believe…. that….. The Patriots….. couldn’t have beaten the Colts….. without…. “deflated footballs.”
I also firmly believe…. that the people squealing the loudest…. spend a lot of time…. in Nevada… in general….. and probably in Las Vegas….in particular… and lost a bundle….. on the point spread. JMHO.
16Uncle Bonsai has a wonderful song about that called (I think) “Half of the People,” which includes a line that goes something like, “Half of the people in the world think that their God can take your God.” The song is on the album The Grim Parade. Alas, I can’t find the lyrics online, but Juanita’s readers would appreciate it. http://www.unclebonsai.com/
17Anthropomorphism has been going on for centuries, despite intellectual and scientific advances. Lynn is right on the money.
18Humans remaking their image of God into a carbon copy of their own needs creates some pretty distasteful deities.
Seriously, God is too damn busy creating school after school of mackerels to give hot whimmy-diddle about some stupid game, whatever it might be. And that includes cricket.
19It is possible that some people answered affirmatively because in their belief, God is responsible for (or has control over) everything.
I know that many survey questions cause skewing and I imagine this set did as well.
Although it does not surprise me that American’s believe they can have “God” only support one side in a contest or war, it disappoints me. It is the worse type of tribalism to me, because it leads to the mentality of “I’m going to take or destroy what matters to you because my God said I could.” But in general, much of our attitude is carried over by the European-conquest dynastic model of just that attitude.
Logistically, the Christian God of “Loving Father” of all creatures on earth would not root for one person’s or group’s agrandizement at the suffering of another.
But being in a religious mindset has been proven to actively inhibit logical or analytical thought.
20Miemaw for the win!
“lost a bundle….. on the point spread.”
Damn, this Nevada boy loves women who can talk the point spread.
21God is soooo fickle about sporting events. Makes you wonder why anyone asks for his/her help.
Bet y’all didn’t know god is also concerned about parking spaces and the right wall paper for your house. My eldest sibling told me so. Once she was in a hurry (OK more than once but she only told me about this once) and needed a parking space close to a store door. She prayed and lo and behold god provided. Isn’t that special? No mention of the times god didn’t provide. Then there was her friend who needed to choose wallpaper so the workers could get on with their job. The woman couldn’t decide so she prayed about it and voila, the most beautiful wallpaper you have ever seen. Ain’t god good? As if all the other papers in the pattern book were just trash and this was the only perfect one.
Then there was the discussion about eldersis having straight teeth. Because god knew her parents couldn’t afford a dentist. I just couldn’t resist reminding her that I have crooked teeth and we have the same parents. Her response? Crickets. Yeah, you can’t choose your fambly.
22Micr — Thanks for that wisdom! I will be stealing it.
And Rick — You’re absolutely right about that game. Here in Washington State, the newspapers called the win “miraculous,” and I have to agree. Prior to that, I never believed God gave a rip about football, but now I wonder if She does after all. Does anyone know if She likes the Seahawks more than the Patriots?
Loyal Seahawks Fan and Twelfth (Wo)man
23A friend of mine who taught in a school for the severely handicapped where she had to feed her wheelchair-bound students in diapers, “God probably thinks we all look and act like this.” We have no idea except that God is love and we should be too.
24If I believed God decided sports events, I would have to believe He or She decided I needed to be a 10yo whose father died and at 62 I needed the experience of having breast cancer.
Those religious fanatics who are so big on personal responsibility (don’t get pregnant even if you are raped) think God is not involved in everyone’s lives? Apparently they are blessed with selective understanding.
25@ Star: “I’m going to take or destroy what matters to you because my God said I could.” Well, there is a certain amount of that in the Old Testament– he even says to kill all the animals sometimes, in addition to the men, women, and children. Pseudo-Christians are very selective in the verses they read, but they may have included those.
26“My god is really not at all interested in any sports activity. I know, because she told me that directly.”
I love that Pete. Perfect.
You can tell people who create god in their own image because HE (Always a HE for these types.), hates all the same people they do.
27“God also favors athletes who live successful, faithful lives”
So God favors people who don’t need his help anyway, and presumably ignores those who do need it.
Maybe God is a Republican.
28This is just silliness. These people need to grow up.
29“With the Super Bowl just over a week away, 26% of U.S. citizens and 27% of sports fans say God has a big hand in determining the victors of sporting events”
The other 73% is controlled by the Patriots’ equipment manager.
3026% of U.S. citizens …say God has a big hand in determining the victors of sporting events”
So we can skip practice this week, coach?
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