Response Post to: Athletes as God and God Helping Athletes

     Vanessa's points on the unjustified relationship between religion and sports rings very true to me. While many sports stars claim to be religious and say that they owe their talent to their beliefs, much of the time they do not portray these claims in their daily lives where it really counts.

     I really like the line where Vanessa states, "Did God really help them win? If so, did God want them to win over their opponents?" What makes one team's win more important than another? Did the losing team do something to upset God? Maybe they didn't pray hard or long enough? It's a very sticky situation and I don't think anyone can give a correct answer.

     Without pointing any fingers, in all truth sports players are known to cheat on their spouses. I'm sure it happens to all types of people all the time yet sports stars have the unlucky truth of having their mistakes portrayed all over the media. Moreover, much of these stars as previously explained claim they are religious and the last time I checked lust was definitely a sin. Athletes such as Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant and Brett Favre have all cheated on their significant others. Brady left his pregnant girlfriend, Bridget Moynahan for supermodel Gisele Bundchen. Favre, who has been known to retire, then call it off seems to be undecided on his marriage as well after cheating on his wife of many years. He even claims that he and his family are very religious and his wife has stayed with him through it all, stating religion as what has helped her get through the ordeal.

     How are these players (apparently not only on but off the field as well) justifying calling themselves pious men who ask for God's assistance to win the games they're playing (ultimately to make more money) if their personal lives are so riddled with blasphemy? It seems unfair that they should ask for such help from the almighty creator when really all they are asking for is more money. Should they not really on their skills that they attain through hard work and leave God to do his holy work on people who have much less?

     In my opinion all these athletes are selfish and tend to lie in order to keep their true images and secrets out of the public eye. It may sound a little harsh but in my humble opinion I really do think that asking God to help you kick around a ball is a ridiculous notion.

 

Response Post to Kanye West blog: Using God as an escape route

I agree with Riley's post on Kanye West's wayward religious following. Many rappers, not just Kanye, claim to follow the teachings of Christianity and have immense faith in Jesus yet their actions in their everyday lives would tell us a different story.

     How many times have we watched an awards show where when a rapper won they would thank God first and foremost? How many rappers wear chains around their necks with symbols of crosses? It's ironic then when we're invited into their houses while watching MTV cribs and these same celebrities own the most ridiculous and over the top things...have they not heard of the seven deadly sins? All that Vitamin Water in the fridge definitely would fall under "gluttony".

     This does not only happen with rappers however. Country music stars, pop stars, and even rock stars all seem to be ungrateful while claiming to be devoted Christians. (Three examples would be Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears and Kings Of Leon.) All of these celebrities at one point have claimed to be Christians yet all have been connected to negative things such as drugs one time or another.

     One could think that they're just following the religion in their own way as Riley mentioned yet what I believe is really going on is that they're using the idea of religion as a cover up. They believe...or should I say their publicists tell them to say they believe in Christianity to the media so they seem like good, devoted and honest people. While all the artists I mentioned were raised in Christian households and the teachings of the bible were surely ingrained in them at a young age they have clearly changed their ways over time.

     It's also an escape. If they do something such as smoke salvia and are careless enough to get caught doing it on camera (I won't mention any names) they can claim the old "God" excuse. That's where they say that it was a slip up and that really deep down they're good Christians and in the end it doesn't even really matter what we think because only God can judge them. (Maybe they should get that last one tattooed on them and save themselves the time).

     Basically, artists use religion as a safety net. They think they will be forgiven if they claim to have faith and want to make amends for their mistakes because of God. In the end though should they not want to make things right for the fans? After all, it is us buying their albums.