The blogger at Reason Reaction recently began chatting with a college football player who happens to be a starter at a major school (in that they’re constantly mentioned in discussions about the best teams in the country).
It turns out this player is an atheist. Because of that, he didn’t reveal his identity or school, but he agreed to do an interview:
Q: … Why did you request for your identity and your team’s identity to remain anonymous?
A: I requested my identity to be anonymous because the sad truth is that I cannot share it with the public on the stage that I am on. If I were to publically “come out” as an atheist, fans and the media would have frenzy. The idea of atheism in the south is a taboo in itself, and we as student athletes are not supposed to bring attention to ourselves through anything other than football.
…
Q: … during the team prayer, do you die inside a little?
A: To be honest, yes. I never bow my head and usually try to get out of it. I will for no reason pretend to pray to anyone’s god.
It’s a fascinating conversation.
Obviously, take it all with a grain of salt. We don’t know who this player is or whether he’s telling the truth (though maybe some of his responses offer enough clues for people to figure it out). But there are undoubtedly more non-religious athletes in professional (and college) sports than we know about. If only more of them would talk about it…
(Image via Shutterstock)
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