Godball: How Athletes Are Saving Christianity

“Today’s athletes are doing more than thanking God in postgame interviews,” writes sports journalist Eubanks (All American) in this scattershot polemic. “They are changing the culture of teams, leagues, sports, communities, and nations.” Eubanks begins by celebrating high school football coach Joe Kennedy, who was disciplined in 2015 by his school district in Washington State for leading prayers at midfield but vindicated in 2022 when the Supreme Court deemed his prayers protected speech. For Eubanks, this signals a welcome thinning of “the wall separating church and state,” fueled in no small part by the rise of “sports-driven evangelism” that finds athletes using their platforms to praise God and coaches leading prayers in locker rooms and on sidelines. The movement has emerged at a moment when trust in institutional churches has plummeted to historic lows, putting athletes in a unique position to organically spread their faith to fans, especially young men, who now outnumber women in identifying as Christian. The author sees this “revival” as an antidote to a secular culture rife with sin and starved of positive Christian American values. Unfortunately, most of the account is spent scare-mongering about everything from “goat-headed statues of Satan” on U.S. state capitol grounds to the supposed proliferation of “drag queen story hours” in schools, leaving little room for Eubanks to develop his thesis about athletes and Christianity in depth. This misses the mark. (June)