“March Madness” is now upon us and, as usual, I filled out my bracket (even though my beloved Tar Heels missed this year’s cut).
Yet for many, this isn’t about sports.
It’s about religion.
As a recent article by Kurt Streeter in the New York Times noted, the “soulful, spiritual aspect of games has elevated them to something like a modern religious experience.”
He’s right.
Just think about Lionel Messi in the World Cup final, LeBron James becoming the N.B.A. scoring king, Patrick Mahomes winning the Super Bowl, the undefeated South Carolina women’s basketball team, Tiger Woods getting three straight birdies at the Genesis Invitational, or even Mac Mclung stealing the show at the AT&T slam-dunk contest.
Streeter goes further, noting the depth of feeling with the passing of soccer great Pele, Tom Brady waving goodbye, or the Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin receiving CPR on the field and then later making his stand for all the world to see.
“Did you feel it?” writes Keener. “The soulful, spiritual nature of what has become one of our great faiths—sports. I’m a religious agnostic who is critical of much… but I sure did.” He quotes Varun Soni, dean of religious life at the University of Southern California:
When you are seeing the greats play at their peak and bend the limits, it feels like a spiritual moment because you are being transported. You get so caught up in the moment. You are not thinking about your phone, your ego or your job. It’s just this great game in front of me, that great players and the drama of it all…. It’s much the same as people described standing in front of the burning bush. Or the way being in a house of worship can take our breath away. Or when we are looking at an incredible sunset.
As Keener observes, sport is not better than religion. But it is a form of religion. Or as Bart Giamatti once described baseball’s “ethereal effects,” it possesses a “purchase on our souls.” As Keener adds,
This isn’t exactly new. Our long-ago ancestors conceived of sports as having a divine purpose. Often, games were part of religious rituals meant as offerings to the gods or ways to communicate with spiritual powers. Stadium venues have long been compared to cathedrals, and modern-day athletes to modern-day gods. None of that is off the mark.
It brings to mind a scene from one of my favorite sports movies, Remember the Titans, where Coach Boone, played by Denzel Washington, walks onto an empty high school football field with a member of the school board, Dr. Ferdinand Day, turns on the lights, and says: “Yeah, this is my sanctuary, right here. All this hatred and turmoil swirling around us but this, this is always right. Struggle. Survival. Victory and defeat. It’s just a game, Doc, but I love it.”
Yes, we all do.
And one reason is because it is akin to a spiritual experience, and we so yearn for the real thing that we seize any slice of transcendence we can.
So enjoy March Madness. I will. And on Monday, April 3, I will be cheering on one team or another for the NCAA championship.
Just not as much as I will be cheering about something a bit more real on Sunday, April 9.
James Emery White
Sources
Kurt Streeter, “In Troubled Times, the Sports World Offers a Necessary Salve,” The New York Times, February 20, 2023, read online.
About the Author
James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age, is now available on Amazon or from your favorite bookseller. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit churchandculture.org where you can view past blogs in our archive, read the latest church and culture news from around the world, and listen to the Church & Culture Podcast. Follow Dr. White on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @JamesEmeryWhite.
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.
James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age, is now available on Amazon or from your favorite bookseller. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit churchandculture.org where you can view past blogs in our archive, read the latest church and culture news from around the world, and listen to the Church & Culture Podcast. Follow Dr. White on X, Facebook and Instagram at @JamesEmeryWhite.
