Packers quarterback commits blasphemy by saying that God doesn’t care about football

January 23, 2015 • 12:45 pm

If there’s one thing sacred in America besides God himself, it’s football. In fact, the two are routinely combined, not only with players praying en masse in the locker room and “Tebowing” on the field, and half of American sports fans (and 55% of football fans) believing that “the supernatural” plays a role in sports. In fact, as Sports Illustrated reports, Russell Wilson, the Seattle Seahawks quarterback who will soon be performing in the Superbowl, said this about his team’s dramatic victory over the Green Bay Packers last Sunday:

“That’s God setting it up, to make it so dramatic, so rewarding, so special,” he said, alone for a moment in the locker room before heading out for the night. “I’ve been through a lot in life, and had some ups and downs. It’s what’s led me to this day.”

Yes, surely God guided the football into the hands of receiver Jermaine Kearse, who made the stunning overtime touchdown. Here’s a weeping Wilson thanking his Maker for the victory:

What a country we live in!

Unfortunately, another quarterback takes issue with this stuff. It is in fact Aaron Rodgers, the quarterback whose team was bested by Wilson’s. And Rogers has put his foot in it by doubting God’s concern with football. CBS News quotes Rogers in this exchange:

Jason Wilde [Host of a radio talk show in Wisconsin]: Melissa says: I always find it a little off-putting when athletes, actors, and anybody says, “This is what God wanted” or “I want to thank God for helping us win today” — anything along those lines when a game or award is won. I’m paraphrasing here, but you get the gist. Personally, with all the chaos in the world, I’m not sure God really cares about the outcome of a game or an awards show. What do you think of statements such as these? You’ve obviously got your faith. Does what happens on Sunday impact your relationship with God or your faith at all?

Aaron Rodgers: I agree with her. I don’t think God cares a whole lot about the outcome. He cares about the people involved, but I don’t think he’s a big football fan.

That’s blasphemy! Or maybe he’s just making fun of his opponent’s beliefs, and imputes the result of a game to—can you believe it?—a difference in skill.

Regardless, Rodgers—and probably Wilde—are about to be excoriated. It’s a good thing we don’t live in Saudi Arabia, as they’d be executed for the exchange.

h/t: Phillip

 

 

65 thoughts on “Packers quarterback commits blasphemy by saying that God doesn’t care about football”

  3. I have always wondered this–if you believe in an omniscient, omnibenevolent, and omnipotent deity, he must care about EVERYTHING. no? The direct effects of a football game stretch far–gambling, domestic abuse, and so on. Surely those knock-on happenings would concern an all-powerful deity!

    1. Maybe you’re right. I don’t follow football and if I did it wouldn’t be the American kind. Yet somehow, the instant I watch footage from a match, or even know the names of the competing cities, or the colours of their outfits, I find myself forming a faint desire for one particular side to beat the other one.

      It’s a desire I can easily live with not being satisfied, though.

      And maybe it’s a desire I wouldn’t have if I was omniscient, and knew every outcome in advance.

  4. You have to be kidding. How can a non-existent being care about total trivia like football. Whatever functions football has for the world at large, no god or gods have anything to do with it.

      1. Save, of course, that God is omniincompetent; his incompetence knows no bounds. There ain’t nothin’ he can’t and won’t fuck up….

        b&

        2. 🙂 omni-incompetence… Great! I really like that!
          To paraphrase TH Huxley: ‘how stupid not to have thought of that’.

  5. I’m thinking g*d took the air out of those footballs too. If so, he surely had a bet on the game as well.

          1. LOL!
            I cannot argue with one syllable of any of that!
            You get bonus points for inflicting collateral damage on a former Florida State Seminole. Well done!

          2. I have no clue how I could possibly have remained ignorant of the existence of such a movie. I shall have to obtain and observe….

            b&

          4. I’ve heard from somebody else that it’s not worth watching. So, now, of course, I have to watch it to see who’s right!

            If the stars align, I’ll finish building the monochromator today in time for an extended walk with Baihu this afternoon, which would, in turn, mean enough time after dinner for a movie with a big bowl of popcorn….

            b&

          5. If it’s the version I’m thinking of, it’s as camp as a row of frilly pink tents (anything with Brian Blessed in it has to be completely OTT), but kinda fun and worth watching for the magnificent painted skyscapes. (Possibly enhanced a little in my recollection by 80’s recreational substances?)

  9. I don’t think God cares a whole lot about the outcome. He cares about the people involved, but I don’t think he’s a big football fan.

    I think this is pretty much the faith position of all the football players, even the ones who “thank God” in loud amplified tones. God doesn’t care about the football game itself of course: God is closely, intimately attuned to the faith of the players, watching over every single one of them like a careful mother hen and noting which ones need a bit of a peck or a bit of a pat.

    God cares about the people involved, not the game. The folks on the field, and each and every person watching. He’s focused like a laser on YOU.

    Put that way I doubt if Tebow, Wilson, or anyone else making a big stink about thanking God will make a big stink about this statement. After all, if anything it places them even MORE front and center in God’s eyes. Your team won or lost because God knew that was what you needed to strengthen your faith (funny how almost any possible event can always be framed as helping ‘strengthen faith’ – and funny how this then frames doubt as weakness and failure on your part, not God’s.)

    The only way Rogers is likely to get criticism is if his words are interpreted as him wanting the religious to mute their praise. In that case the complaints will be loud and long.

    1. Wilson was saying that his interceptions were because of god, so that his team could make a dramatic comeback. That’s pretty specific.

  10. It’s not totally unreasonable to think that some of these athletes are playing along. John Ameche, a former NBA player and a gay atheist from England, betcha didn’t know the world had one of those, admits that he would just play along with his more religious teammates because it was just easier.
    It has been my experience that a team with 53 players on it, like an NFL squad, there might only be a third of the locker room that is really devout, but in that culture, and especially if the coach is a devout theist, those are the guys that get to set the tone for the whole room. Some of the football, baseball and basketball teams I’ve played on were like that.

    1. Yeah, I remember in high school basketball the team would say a prayer in the locker room just before going out. Nothing specifically tailored to the situation was uttered; not one word uttered about enabling us to do our best and be good sportsmen. We fell back on “The Lord’s Prayer.” Guess it was just expected of us. The coach would ease on out, leaving us to our spiritual ministrations. Never for a moment did I perceive that he had any specific, ardent spiritual predilections. I did wonder throughout my teammates monotone, monotonous intonations whether Providence cared one whit about our sports fortunes.

      1. “I did wonder throughout my teammates monotone, monotonous intonations whether Providence cared one whit about our sports fortunes.”

        The answer, of course, is “No”.

  11. “Dear Praying People,This is God. I’m sorry but I can’t answer your prayers right now. Tim Tebow is fervently praying for Me to help him complete his next pass, and has promised to do that little thing he does every time he thanks Me (he looks so cute when he does that).Your prayer is very important to Me. Please stay on your knees and the next angel, saint or deceased relative will be on the line to intercede for you, and I’m really sorry for any deaths, illnesses or natural disasters that happen during the game due to My negligence.”

  12. I’m looking forward to the day a team that credits Jesus with their wins plays a team that credits God. What will be the point spread?

    1. Jesus will be out-numbered (versus God plus the Holy Ghost), so I think the spread would be Jesus +2. I think I would give the points and take God because omnipotent.

      1. On the other hand, Jesus has a reputation for making miraculous comebacks after seeming to be out of the game, so maybe the better bet is to take the two points and Jesus to win.

  13. “… maybe he’s just making fun of his opponent’s beliefs, and imputes the result of a game to—can you believe it?—a difference in skill.”

    Or maybe he prefers to take that position, rather than consider the alternative. (Which would be, that God hates him and wanted him to lose.)

  15. I’ve seen versions of this attributed to Vince Lombardi and to Frank Leahy (former coach of Notre Dame): but these guys said something to the effect: “God is on the side of the team with better players”.

    So I suppose God cares to the degree that God prescribes the appropriate alleles.

  16. The Superfans address the real question:

    Bill Swerski: That’s right. Da question is: Now, did God create Da Bears, and make them superior to all teams? Or is he simply a huge fan, and Ditka made them superior to all other teams?

  17. I can’t recall where I saw it now (might have been here), but I remember reading a comment to the effect that if you truly believe praying to God can have an effect on the outcome of the game, how is that not cheating? I mean, you’re no longer relying on your own team’s skill – you’re getting an outside force to influence the game on your behalf.

  18. G*d and football, yea right. Reminds me of when someone says”pray for me”. My response “If I did such things, if it made a difference I would pray for world peace.”

  19. And the losers? *** why did you forsack us today in our hour (or is that a hour and a half) of need.
    Secret shower talk: Just whose side are you on? didn’t we pray like f**k before the game started?

    Urban Dictionary:
    Forsack
    A beast of epic proportions. A person that contributes to the defense of an American football team by sacking the opponents Quarterback multiple times. A crazy, intelligent, fun, tough, handsome guy that is looked up to by others. A champion.
    That Linebacker is Forsacking their backfield to death. He is a Forsack!

    I didn’t know this til today.

  20. I don’t think Rodgers will be excoriated. Most fan agree that their god doesn’t have a rooting interest, except if Tebow plays…god loves Tebow…but anyway, everyone is much too busy talking about Tom Brady’s balls to comment on this. If there’s one thing America loves to talk about more than god, it’s Tom Brady’s balls.

  21. That was the only game I watched all season. I’m pretty sure the seahawks sacrificed a cheerleader to Satan towards the end of the fourth quarter.

    1. If televised sacrifices = higher ratings, the NFL will adopt them in a New York minute!

    2. As amazing as the end of the game was, it is really too bad they didn’t show that in the halftime show.

  22. It’s obvious: the Seahawks apparently performed their prayers, rituals, and sacrifices properly before the game; the Packers didn’t. Somebody must have sneezed just as the dove’s neck was wrung….you’ve got to be very CAREFUL with these things!

  24. I think Seattle may be the most secular city in America – I hope some fans will renounce this bullshit. As a fair weather Seahawks fan, kudos to Rodgers for making even the mild observation he made. I’d love to have heard something along the lines of, “20 thousand people on this planet die every day from hunger or its effects, and Russell Wilson thinks God is concerned with the outcome of our football game?”

  25. If God has such a powerful influence Notre Dame should win every athletic contest it ever plays, no? That it doesn’t means what exactly?

  26. It’s a good thing we don’t live in Saudi Arabia, as they’d be executed for the exchange.

    I wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised if someone from the NRA didn’t pop up to correct that omission. The omission of a “cap” in the appropriate “ass”, that is.
    Or … perhaps the focus of mass shootings would move out of the classroom and the post room and into the stadium? (It is, of course, incredible that mass shootings will stop.)

  27. “Aaron Rodgers: I agree with her. I don’t think God cares a whole lot about the outcome. He cares about the people involved, but I don’t think he’s a big football fan.”

    Somewhat ironically, Rodgers appears to be a Xtian (or at least going along with the Xtian line) when he says “[God] cares about the people involved”

    So it’s not like he’s insulting G*d, just the sacred game of f**tball. I would have thought that should be entirely acceptable to any Xtian who takes their religion seriously.

    I’ll try an experiment – I don’t give a flying f*ck about football (and for the benefit of a New Zealand audience, that includes rugby). It’s a stupid waste of time. It’s not a sport, it’s an overhyped commercial ‘entertainment’ that only those of limited intelligence could be entertained by. I hope I’ve insulted it sufficiently…
    Right – if G*d really gives a stuff about f**tball, He should zap me right now. Go ahead, G*d, I’m waiting.
    If I’m still posting tomorrow, you’ll all know that G*d doesn’t care enough about f**tball to bother with a minor thunderbolt.

  28. Somewhere in the psalms it says, “The Lord taketh no pleasure in the strength of an horese, neither delighteth he in any man’s legs.”

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