Sports have increasingly become a pulpit for expressing an athlete’s religious beliefs. Whether it’s the baseball player who points his index finger skyward after hitting a home run or the running back who kneels in the end zone after scoring a touchdown, God appears to have joined many professional, collegiate and high school teams. But what do we make of this religiosity in what is otherwise a secular game?

Praying Fields explores the interaction between sports and religion by inviting coaches and athletes to talk openly about their faith -- or lack of faith -- and how their beliefs have affected them on and off the field. In conversations with sports people from all levels -- professional, college, high school and youth -- we’ll try to answer whether religion plays a greater role in riskier sports, whether God is a fan of [your team name here] and whether the winner-take-all mentality agrees with religious teachings.

I have been a sportswriter for nearly 15 years, most recently at The Washington Post, where I covered the Baltimore Ravens' Super Bowl-winning season and the Maryland women's basketball team's run to an NCAA championship. Raised a Methodist, I consider myself a “submarine” Christian, surfacing at Christmas and Easter. I hope these discussions lead to a better understanding of how people come to believe what they do.