Does God Care Who Wins?
Huge games annually provoke the question, “Does God care who wins this game?”
Hovering over this discussion is a predominant but twisted American value long ago absorbed into our sports culture itself: Winning is everything in life, and losing is for losers. Winning is the ultimate worldly good in the sports culture; therefore, since God does “good” toward those who do “good,” the team reflecting the most “goodness” should win — or so the thinking generally goes.
Though most people might cringe at the unsophisticated nature of this argument, a recent Pew Religion Research Institute article reports that 48% of Americans believe athletes of faith are rewarded with good health and success, and the number jumps above 60% for professing Protestant Americans, regardless of racial background. We assume that God will bless the righteous with scoreboard victories and leave the less righteous sorting through their own limitations — both physically and spiritually.
