I serve on a panel of religious writers in Memphis, TN. This week, we were asked to write about recent debates regarding prayer at public atheletic events. You can find the original article here.
When I grew up in rural New Mexico in the 1970’s and 1980’s, each football game at my public high school was preceded by a prayer led by a town leader on the P.A. system. I can’t remember playing a single game on our home field which wasn’t preceded by this prayer. (Despite our devotion, our poor football team never won more than half of their games).
Such prayers are now the subject of intense debate. Some Christians have become upset and anxious when these public prayers have been disallowed. People are wondering, are these petitions even legal? Do they violate the separation of church and state? Should non Christian religious leaders also be permitted to lead such prayers?
I believe these questions are the wrong ones for Christians to be debating. Why? First, if we Christians want to push to have a public event at which we can offer a Christian prayer, why press for this at a public high school football game? Aren’t there other issues in our culture which are far more prayer-worthy than football games? Why not advocate that a public prayer be offered at each public school at the beginning of each school year, asking God’s blessings on all the students and all the teachers/staff? Why not urge Christians to gather once a year at local hospitals, fire stations, and police stations and pray for those who serve so sacrificially in these places? If having a public prayer is so important, why not press for it to be done at something that impacts more of the community? I like football as much as the next fan. But is it really the hill we Christians want to die on?
Second, as Dorothy so eloquently put it in “The Wizard of Oz,” “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.” Most social and religious researchers agree that to whatever degree American culture was once Christian, it is now significantly non Christian. We are living in a post-Christian culture. Within my lifetime, we’ve witnessed a shift from a culture in which Christianity was central and influential in most spheres to a culture in which Christianity is increasingly marginal and influential in a small number of spheres. We’re not in “Christian” America anymore (if we ever were). This ought to radically impact our expectations of what happens in the public arena. In a Christian culture, I might legitimately expect that a Christian prayer at a public event like a football game would be permitted. But in a non Christian culture, this is an unrealistic expectation. And forcing this issue makes us aggressors. We should focus more on what might win people in our post-Christian culture over to the love of Christ rather than trying to hit them on the head with our prayers in the name of Christ.
Finally, this debate moves in the direction of reversing the simple way of life taught by Jesus. In his Sermon on the Mount—Christianity’s most succinct marching orders—Jesus taught the importance of private prayers and public deeds. Private prayers, he taught, connect us deeply with the Father who loves us. Public deeds, he taught, shine the love of God to others and help win them over. Too many Christians today focus more on public prayers and private deeds. Privately (within the confines of our own homes or congregations) we live out our Christian deeds (often showing love and compassion for each other while neglecting those in the culture). And publicly we press for things like prayers at athletic events. This seems a bit backwards. It is not public prayer but public deeds that turns hearts and heads to God.
So, let’s cheer like crazy for our teams. Let’s give these players our applause and encouragement. Let’s follow them all the way to the championship. But let’s not demand access to their microphones or bullhorns. Let’s leave those for the announcers.
