Religion News Service | Religion and Sport

COMMENTARY: Into the great hereafter

Tom Ehrich | Apr 27, 2010

(RNS) In the hothouse world of a high school gymnasium, one basketball player in my class seemed to float through the air. He was tall, thin, elegant, with an imperturbable expression on his face. Game after game, in a city and state where basketball meant so much, a full house shouted his praise. A...
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Spring marks the opening of the `Church of Baseball’

Daniel Burke | Apr 9, 2010

(RNS) Megachurch pastor Rick Warren stood on the mound at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif., last Easter Sunday and delivered his pitch. "Baseball is a game of numbers in which every player falls short of perfection," said the best-selling author and evangelical powerhouse. "Similarly, in life, while...
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COMMENTARY: The virtue of virtue

Cathleen Falsani | Mar 10, 2010

(RNS) Last winter, while on a trip to Southern California, theologian N.T. Wright spent some time strolling through Laguna Beach, the seaside village I happen to call home. He wandered into one of our many charming boutiques -- he called it, perhaps more accurately, a "junk shop" -- and saw a sign t...
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COMMENTARY: The Christmas gift you can give to yourself

Cathleen Falsani | Dec 23, 2009

(RNS) The following is an actual exchange, unedited, except to remove the profanity. The setting: Mid-morning at a suburban gift boutique. The time: The week before Christmas. The players: The pleasant store clerk, a 40-something soccer mom-type and me (browsing for stocking stuffers). Enter the fra...
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Church scores with men on a football Sunday

Tanya Drobness | Dec 1, 2009

EAST ORANGE, N.J. (RNS) The Rev. Dwight Gill figures if there is one thing that will bring more men to church, it's football. So Sunday (Nov. 29) at New Hope Baptist Church, NFL didn't stand for National Football League, but rather for New Found Life -- as in the church's annual NFL service and cele...
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Amish sharks (via The Onion)

Daniel Burke | Sep 16, 2009

From the Onion: Amish Woman Knew She Had Quilt Sale The Moment She Laid Eyes On Chicago Couple LANCASTER, PA _Repeatedly referring to them as "easy money," Amish quilt shop proprietor Mary Stolzfus, 43, said Monday that as soon as she noticed Tom and Helen Foreman's matching Chicago Cubs baseball ha...
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Rivals find common ground on religious grounds

Adelle M. Banks | Sep 3, 2009

It took, of all things, a Mets fan, to resolve a religious conflict that surfaced around an upcoming Red Sox-Yankees game. Major League Baseball announced Tuesday that it will move back the Sept. 27 game between the famous rivals to a 1 p.m. start to accommodate Yom Kippur, which begins that evening...
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United Church of Canada: No churchwide boycott of Israel

Adelle M. Banks | Aug 15, 2009

(RNS) The United Church of Canada General Council adopted a resolution Thursday (Aug. 13) that denies calls for a churchwide boycott of Israel, but encourages church members to consider boycotts to help resolve to the Middle East conflict. "The United Church has not begun or approved a boycott at th...
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COMMENTARY: Hey, religious partisans, relax

Tom Ehrich | Aug 11, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO -- Which is the "real" San Francisco? The city we saw from the sky, or the son who greeted us with a big smile and big hugs? We're here to see our son, of course, so the rest was real estate. Maybe the "real" San Francisco was the epic downtown that suddenly swung into view as we turne...
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Faith in Football?

Lindsay Perna | Jul 24, 2009

Looks like Florida Gators' quarterback Tim Tebow is tackling prison inmates and other potential believers with his faith. Sports Illustrated profiled Tebow using his force off the field as a Christian missionary man. From the story: "Watching Tebow zip passes into the seams of opposing defenses, low...
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