# Is it wrong to pray for your football team to win? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 29, 2009, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391 "2009-11-29T23:05:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391/21 "2009-11-30T04:40:20Z")
The pastor at our church\* has a Steeler’s themed stole given to him by [Jack Ham](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ham). \*I don’t go there anymore, but since it’s where I grew up, I was baptised there, I had my first Communion there, my confirmation, I went to school there, etc, most of my family is buried in the cemetary, I still think of it as MY church. ---
**Author:** ![guyblond](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@guyblond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guyblond)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391/22 "2009-11-30T05:23:23Z")
Praying keeps people who believe that praying works, busy. So it’s a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391/23 "2009-11-30T05:57:36Z")
> [@Mojo\_Pin](#): > > I don’t think they ever address what happens when two equally heartfelt prayers are at odds. They go down to some pretty convoluted tie breakers, including conference record and point differential. If all else fails, God tosses a coin. To answer the OP: not any more wrong than it is to pray you get that new job with the stock options and the corner office, or for that chick from accounts with the spectacular rack to give you her number. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391/24 "2009-11-30T07:18:26Z")
Who says God is answering _my_ prayers? Maybe God is answering _her_ prayers. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391/25 "2009-11-30T07:28:38Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > If you pray for the Steelers and another guy prays for the Ravens, how is God supposed to choose? Who cares? God likes the Cowboys. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391/26 "2009-11-30T07:32:50Z")
Somebody has to. ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391/27 "2009-11-30T10:40:01Z")
All intercessionary prayer is pretty cheeky when you think about it. I don’t see praying for your team to win as much different than, for example, praying that your brother survives his cancer. They’re both really about the emotional needs of the person (or people) praying. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391/28 "2009-11-30T13:39:30Z")
Prayer is expressing your heart’s desires to God, therefore I would say that no prayer is “wrong”. Some prayers are answered and others are not (well, technically they’re answered with “I’m not intending to intervene here, things will play out as they play out…”), and I would expect this to fall into the latter category. YMMV, IANGod, etc ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391/29 "2009-11-30T13:56:14Z")
Most players thank Jesus when they win, but I don’t understand why they don’t carry this to its logical conclusion and wonder why Jesus chose them to lose at other times. Tony Dungy, former Colts coach, a very religious guy, when asked something along these lines - whether he prays for his team to win or something like that - sort of scoffed at the question and said that God doesn’t care about football. Not that I give much respect to any religious view, but that’s certainly a more reasonable belief than thinking you can out-pray the other team for god’s favor or something. I mean - yeah, it’s pretty silly, isn’t it? You’re asking the Almighty God, creator of the universe, capable of manipulating the world in meaningful, yet so subtle they aren’t detectable or provable ways - to invoke his supernatural powers to influence the outcome of a game - also knowing that no matter the result, someone has to be dissapointed anyway. Is it wrong? Eh - in reality, of course, it can’t hurt anything - but it’s arrogant and silly. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391/30 "2009-11-30T13:57:49Z")
[Obligatory Tom the Dancing Bug comic link](http://archive.salon.com/comics/boll/2000/09/28/boll/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391/31 "2009-11-30T14:13:38Z")
Dear God, I know I haven’t prayed for a while but it seems there are armies arrayed against me. I am worried that your constant attention to prayers for American “football” teams may limit your effectiveness in caring for the world game - soccer. To ensure the success of the next World Cup I therefore request that everyone playing American football at any level be smitten with Lou Gehrig’s Disease and quickly die. Thanks in advance. A Christian ps Bad luck with the swine flu. looked like you were on a winner there. pps Hey is this global warming stuff for real? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391/32 "2009-11-30T14:32:25Z")
> [@grimpixie](#): > > YMMV, IANGod, etc Thanks for clearing that up. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391/33 "2009-11-30T15:21:07Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > "Hi God, > > I know I don’t call very often, but this Sunday the Steelers are in big trouble. You know already that they’ve lost Aaron Smith for the season, and last week they lost Charlie Batch and Troy, and Ben has a concussion, so they’re down to their third and fourth string QB’s against those darn Ravens. > > Could you possibly find a way to help out the Steelers today? I know it would probably be too much to ask to make Dixon throw for 400 yards or run for 3 TD’s, but please smite Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Joe Flacco with some sort of injury, or even make them lose their footing and/or drop the ball on key plays? > > I don’t know if it’s wrong to ask for favors like this, but you know that today’s a key game and Cinci won so we really need this one. > > Thanks a lot, you’re the man, Amen." Dear **Superhal** : If you read what I have already [told you](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2023:23&version=NIV;NIV), you will notice that I consider some things much more important than others. Certainly [everything is subject to My will](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+12:7&version=NASB%5B/url), but [the desire to be subject to My kingship and My will](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%206:33&version=NASB) needs to be pre-eminent. So the short answer is “No, but keep in mind that I love you more than you can imagine”. Regards, God ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391/34 "2009-11-30T15:27:00Z")
Well, I know that after the big game in Canada yesterday God hates Saskatchewan. Two Montreal players were quick to point out that God was responsible for the win in the post game interviews. I don’t know what Saskatchewan did to piss Him off. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391/35 "2009-11-30T15:35:38Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > If we can assume these are xtians praying for their team, then according to [this Bible verse](http://bible.cc/matthew/6-6.htm) it is wrong: I don’t see how that’s relevant. That verse says nothing about the propriety of praying for one’s favored sports team. That verse is often misapplied by skeptics to criticize believers for praying in public; however, nobody said anything about praying publicly. (You said, “Presumably the players are on the field of a packed stadium and not behind a closed door?” That’s a presumption though, not an evidenced fact.) Moreover, the passage was not written to condemn public praying _per se_. Jesus was speaking about people who prayed ostentatiously in order to garner attention, and Jesus himself prayed publicly on multiple occasions. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391/36 "2009-11-30T16:18:28Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Man I should have prayed harder…stupid flacco…stupid ray rice… Or we Lutherans just have an “in” with the Boss? 😃 (Sorry but you gotta realize us Vikings fans have had to suffer quite a bit. And it still rankles me a little that it took a Packer to put us in this position.) > [@Guinastasia](#): > > The pastor at our church\* has a Steeler’s themed stole given to him by [Jack Ham](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ham). > > \*I don’t go there anymore, but since it’s where I grew up, I was baptised there, I had my first Communion there, my confirmation, I went to school there, etc, most of my family is buried in the cemetary, I still think of it as MY church. You have a former church? Cool! You are half-way to being a good Lutheran! We almost require that you have a church and a church you used to go to. 😃 That is one of the things that really soured me on the Stillers. I come from northeastern PA where there really was no home team. Philly, both New York teams, the Pats – all were sort of close. When I came here this whole fanatical fandom just confused the daylights out of me. I knew the guy with the original Terrible Taxi and other “Gorillas” from Glassport, I knew clergy to add the Stillers to the weekly intentions. I even remember a Catholic school putting a jersey on their patron saint statue during a Super Bowl run. Never understood it at all. Then a few years ago a Philly fan got beaten to death in the mens room of Tom’s Diner in Dormont. Sorry Steeler Nation ------- you are nuts!!! Just plain nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391/37 "2009-11-30T21:48:14Z")
My personal opinion is that it’s okay. God’s omniscient and omnipotent, according to most believers, so you’re not going to be distracting him from other people praying for things like world peace of the lives of their children. And you not asking for anything sinful unless you specifically pray for something like having the other team’s airplane crash. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391/38 "2009-11-30T21:52:16Z")
I’m surprised that nobody has pointed out that there’s a difference between praying that your team wins and praying that players on the other side get hurt. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391/39 "2009-11-30T22:08:00Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > It’s not wrong, it’s just a waste of time. I don’t pray, but that’s how I see it. While I find the entire “I thank God for letting me win the Super Bowl” shtick pompous and obnoxious, I don’t see anything immoral about it. In fact the same goes for most kinds of prayer, including the prayer for the president’s death thing that popped up recently. Praying is just hoping that something will happen. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391/40 "2009-11-30T22:15:12Z")
> [@blinkie](#): > > Not wrong at all, unless it’s for the Cowboys! Who would dare pray “against” America’s Team (trademark thingy) ??? OUTLANDER! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-wrong-to-pray-for-your-football-team-to-win/519391.md?page=3)