Essay Example on Religion and Sport: Christianity's Influence on Modern Sports Culture

Religions and sport often are at opposition with one another. Sports culture has often been influenced by the moral philosophies and traditions of faith, even though others contest that god has no place in sport. Religions influence in shaping sport has taken place over many centuries, sport at times being chastised by religious leaders and at others being endorsed by religious leaders. The religion with the most influence to have changed modern sports culture is Christianity. Christianity, however, did not originally agree with the concept of sport. For example, in the 17th century, the Puritan settlers of New England considered sport and play to be evil. The play was considered to be especially evil by the Puritans because their perception of the motives of play is it distracts you from your work and God. For the Puritan's having self-control to resist the temptations to play was highly valued. In contrast, Quaker, Catholic, and Baptist denominations were, for the most part, accepting of play, physical activity was seen as a way to practice and exemplify the moral teachings of scripture and honor God by performing athletic feats.

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Similar to the Catholic, Quaker, and Baptists I agree as using sport as a way to bring interconnectedness to society by practicing and exemplify morality taught in scripture. The Functionalist perspective on of 6 major theories best compliments my views towards the relationship of sport and religion (Parry, Robinson, Watson, & Nesti, 2007). The functionalist perspective examines how each part of society can influence its other parts. Sports in our culture are participated in at every age by every race. Christian morality embodied in most sports makes it one of the important tools in bringing society closer together. Although I played sports at a public high school being Christian still had a significant influence on how I conducted myself as an athlete.

My perspective regarding religion and sports is that religious groups and organization should support sports because it was the will of God to give people talents in sports to utilize them (Lefor, 2015). God gave people talents in sports so that through sports they could be able to spread the gospel. People have been given different talents in sports, and therefore they should use them to glorify the god that they worship. Sports make one exercise to keep their bodies fit which is referred to as a temple of God by Christians. Many people have been able to utilize sporting activities in the past to spread the gospel.

Christians are the people that follow the teachings of Jesus Christ through the teachings of the bible. A Christian engages in all activities that pertain Christianity. Christians are expected to strictly follow the teachings of the Bible and commit to always following the example of Jesus Christ. My perspective regarding Christians is that they should follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and avoid engaging in activities that are against the wishes of god. Their behavior should teach other the teachings of Jesus Christ, people have a perception of how Christians should behave and therefore the behavior of the Christians should reflect the teachings of Christianity.

Christianity makes one change the behavior from the one that they used to have before to align it to the teachings of Jesus Christ. The people change their behavior because they become new creatures away from the evil ways that they used to engage in before (Downey, 2018). Christians should spread the word of god to non-believers who have not yet accepted Christ as their savior. Christians should focus on doing and engaging in activities that please god by following the Ten Commandments and other related teachings, of Christ. Jesus has affected my sporting behavior positively because I know understand that God has given talent in sports so that I can glorify him through sports. I take my sports seriously to exploit my talents, failure to engage in sports is against the will of God because I was given the talent to utilize it by god. It is possible to be a Christian and still a sports person. As a Christian player, I acknowledge the importance of adhering to the rules and being honest. Christianity also contributes to sports because it embraces discipline (Wieting, 2016). To succeed in sports one must be disciplined because mastery of a game requires sufficient practice. It, therefore, means that as a Christian who is involved in sports it's easier to coordinate different sporting activities with life activities.

Sports can be used by a Christian to spread the gospel whereby during a tournament a player acts as an ambassador. When he/she excels in this sector, then people acknowledge that even Christians are social and are excellent in other spheres of life apart from the religion. When as a Christian I win I become an example to others, and they are likely to embrace my steps because my efforts will have borne fruits. Christians should excel in other areas such as football because the recognition will not only make them famous but will have a positive impact on their faith and religion in general. Gifts and talents are God give, so there is no harm in engaging n such activities as a Christian.

References

Downey, R. J. (2018). Book Review-When Race, Religion, and Sport Collide. Journal of Higher Education Athletics & Innovation, 1(3), 74-77. Retrieved from https://journals.shareok.org/jheai/article/view/992/933

Lefor, M. K. (2015). The Religion of Sport. Retrieved from https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1064/

Parry, J., Robinson, S., Watson, N., & Nesti, M. (2007). Sport and spirituality: An introduction. Routledge. Retrievedfrom https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Vr6aH3jGE8kC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=religionand+sports&ots=hZZwEqHKWd&sig=LT8v3UqU6m23puAJkhea--JPZFs

Wieting, S. G. (2016). The sociology of hypocrisy: An analysis of sport and religion. Routledge. Retrieved from https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781317015345