Why is it that the vast majority of champion athletes pay homage to a god?

[arnold layne]

Wow man. Seriously?

Fuck you dude.

[magisme]

Some of them are believers, some of them know damn well it's a good PR move.

[T.wa.T]

Well if war can have a God (Ares), why not sports? Maybe the God of Sports only needs a name so people can identify with him/her/it better.

[Coma16]

Think about it, most champion athletes say that they draw inspiration from god.

Could it be that believing you are supported by a god makes you even stronger psychologically (as opposed to god actually rewarding you for your faith)? It's certainly less daunting than believing athletic greatness is entirely down to your own strengths.

I know it's a shocker to many people here in Anything Goes but LOTS of people believe in God. Maybe the ones paying homage are ones who believe in God? Interesting theory about being better at something (or sick people healing faster) because one thinks there is a higher being assisting them. I can see there being some truth to that, on a subconscious level.

[SoulMonster]

Think about it, most champion athletes say that they draw inspiration from god.

Could it be that believing you are supported by a god makes you even stronger psychologically (as opposed to god actually rewarding you for your faith)? It's certainly less daunting than believing athletic greatness is entirely down to your own strengths.

Well, they have certainly not become athletes because of their intelligence.

Besides, I never see any Norwegian athletes thank any gods.

[Facekicker]

Whenever someone mentions celebrities/athletes droning on about religion/god the vast majority of time they are talking about Americans.

A lot of Americans are like this. They never shut up about religion or politics and feel the need to ram their views down everyone's throats.

It kind of reminds me of that scene in Life of Brian where Stan is constantly going on about women.

Reg turns around to him after a bit and says - "Why don't you shut up about women Stan, you're putting us off."

I do think however that a lot of these people are merely doing so for PR purposes.

[Nobodys_Fault]

Because athletic competition at the championship level has its roots in religion. The Olympics were held in honour of Zeus. They took part in games they envisioned their gods taking part in. The Celts and the Egyptians held games honouring their own gods before them. There were an awful lot of gods back then so it was conceivable they would take sides in the contest. For example - it made sense for the Greeks to thank Athena for the victory over the Trojans because Athena was, on some Olympian level, duking it out with Ares and Aphrodite. It has come a long way since then but religion is still ingrained in the culture and mythos.

Thanking a monotheistic god for an athletic victory is a ridiculous corruption of that idea, because it makes no sense for an all-encompassing, omniscient god to have stakes in an athletic competition. You're making a statement as to what you believe is God's opinion of your inherent worth in comparison to the inherent worth of your opponent. Vanity isn't going to make you a better athlete at that level of competition - the only thing that makes a difference is natural talent and hard work.

[Guest NGOG]

Because athletic competition at the championship level has its roots in religion. The Olympics were held in honour of Zeus. They took part in games they envisioned their gods taking part in. The Celts and the Egyptians held games honouring their own gods before them. There were an awful lot of gods back then so it was conceivable they would take sides in the contest. For example - it made sense for the Greeks to thank Athena for the victory over the Trojans because Athena was, on some Olympian level, duking it out with Ares and Aphrodite. It has come a long way since then but religion is still ingrained in the culture and mythos.

Thanking a monotheistic god for an athletic victory is a ridiculous corruption of that idea, because it makes no sense for an all-encompassing, omniscient god to have stakes in an athletic competition. You're making a statement as to what you believe is God's opinion of your inherent worth in comparison to the inherent worth of your opponent. Vanity isn't going to make you a better athlete at that level of competition - the only thing that makes a difference is natural talent and hard work.

That's all well and good, but you haven't commented on my theory that truly believing a god has your back could be psychologically strengthening. At least, in the context of being an athlete. Obviously it could be disastrous if you are say, a politician.

For example, Usain Bolt is a devout Christian and believes that God is an inherent part of his success. That's not out of vanity, it's out of genuine belief.

[Facekicker]

God. Is that what they are calling PEDs these days?

[Dazey]

Because athletic competition at the championship level has its roots in religion. The Olympics were held in honour of Zeus. They took part in games they envisioned their gods taking part in. The Celts and the Egyptians held games honouring their own gods before them. There were an awful lot of gods back then so it was conceivable they would take sides in the contest. For example - it made sense for the Greeks to thank Athena for the victory over the Trojans because Athena was, on some Olympian level, duking it out with Ares and Aphrodite. It has come a long way since then but religion is still ingrained in the culture and mythos.

Thanking a monotheistic god for an athletic victory is a ridiculous corruption of that idea, because it makes no sense for an all-encompassing, omniscient god to have stakes in an athletic competition. You're making a statement as to what you believe is God's opinion of your inherent worth in comparison to the inherent worth of your opponent. Vanity isn't going to make you a better athlete at that level of competition - the only thing that makes a difference is natural talent and hard work.

But Zeus is a fake made up god unlike ......... errrrrrr............

[SoulMonster]

They are either stupid enough to believe their god helped them win or vapid enough to adopt a retarded custom.

As to the questioning of whether theism can be psychologically strengthening. Sure. Many things can. Some gain an advantage from their pride, from their love, from their ambition, from their competitiveness, from their drive, and, probably, a belief in having a supernatural creature on your side, helping you along, too. We all have reasons for doing what we do and succeeding at what we do, athletes included, but I see no reason to assume that theistic athletes gain some extra advantage over the rest. I simply don't think that believing that you have some supernatural ally is more of a help than, say, wanting to make your kids proud, wanting to be famous, etc, etc.

[T.wa.T]

There's also plenty of guys who lose that also thank their God.

[pestilence]

maybe they just want to make their mothers happy

[wasted]

there are no saints in the animal kingdom, only breakfast and dinner.

[SoulMonster]

They are either stupid enough to believe their god helped them win or vapid enough to adopt a retarded custom.

As to the questioning of whether theism can be psychologically strengthening. Sure. Many things can. Some gain an advantage from their pride, from their love, from their ambition, from their competitiveness, from their drive, and, probably, a belief in having a supernatural creature on your side, helping you along, too. We all have reasons for doing what we do and succeeding at what we do, athletes included, but I see no reason to assume that theistic athletes gain some extra advantage over the rest. I simply don't think that believing that you have some supernatural ally is more of a help than, say, wanting to make your kids proud, wanting to be famous, etc, etc.

They do have an advantage, it comes from the extra motivation and additional inner strength they receive from their spirituality. How can you possibly not understand that? Actually I believe you do understand it, but you simply refuse to acknowledge all positive aspects of religion such as this. You just can't admit that religion helps many people live happier lives and accomplish things they wouldn't have been able to accomplish otherwise.

Okay I'll even put it in scientific terms for you. Obviously you know what a placebo is, correct? Basically it's a pill or medicine or procedure given to patients who believe there's something within it that will help them with some sort of physical ailment. Even though the placebo has NOTHING in it that actually helps the patient physiologically, there's documented evidence that the patient feels better - at least psychologically - because they THINK there's something in it that will help them get better.

So how is having faith in a god any different than having faith in a placebo? There's no difference, just believing in each of them can be very helpful psychologically.

I did acknowledge that theism may be psychological strengthening, I even said it explicitly in my post above. But so many things can be motivating and I don't think these things are additive, meaning that I don't think theists have an extra advantage because they are motivated by theism IN ADDITION to everything else or that the effect is drowned out by all the other factors and hence negligible. If so it would be easy to prove this by comparing looking for correlation between religiosity and success among athletes. I am certain this study has already been done but I don't have time to look for it now.

[netcat]

There's also plenty of guys who lose that also thank their God.

all in all, religious people are supposed to be very good at taking defeat. such a relief when you have a chance to share the responsibilities for your failure with someone who is said to be omnipotent

but i don't know how this applies to sports, with its do or die attitude