Monday, April 4, 2016

Religion & Football

Beneath Touchdown Jesus, who towers over the Notre Dame football stadium, there is a longstanding yet evolving set of religious practices unique in the world of high profile sport.

In the Wall Street Journal (Jan. 3, 2013), Kevin Helliker reports:
Notre Dame is so nonpromotional that players of other faiths feel welcome on the team, never receiving so much as an invitation to convert, let alone pressure to do so. As a result, many feel comfortable participating in distinctly Catholic rituals. As a Notre Dame football captain during the 2002 season, Gerome Sapp had no qualms about leading theteam in the Hail Mary, a prayer utterly alien to his Southern Baptist upbringing. "That prayer was just one tradition in a school rich with tradition," says Sapp, now a retired NFL player."

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