The “Godding Up” of American Sports
This chapter considers the religious impact of sports. It argues that sports go beyond mere game playing. Whether we participate or watch sports, they function as a center of unity and identity much in the way that religion does. Sports exercise a power for shaping and engaging the world for millions of devoted fans; they enable participants to explore levels of selfhood that otherwise remain inaccessible; they establish means for bonding in communal relations with other devotees; they model ways to deal with contingencies and fate while playing by the rules; and they provide the prospect for experiencing victory and thus sampling, at least in an anticipatory way, “abundant life.” In America, quite simply, sports constitute a form of popular religion.