praying fields

About 'Praying Fields'

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.

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On Faith is an interactive conversation on religion moderated by Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham and Sally Quinn of The Washington Post. It is produced jointly by Newsweek and washingtonpost.com, as is PostGlobal, a conversation on international affairs. Please send your comments, questions and suggestions for On Faith to David Waters, its producer.