Saints Win; God Responsible

Clearly, several players on the winning team of Super Bowl XLIV are committed Christians.

“Give glory to God,” said Saints safety Chris Reis, after the big game. “I’m just so humble that the Lord would use me… I give all the glory to Him, I didn’t do anything.”

“I…got on my knees and said, ‘Thank you God,’” said safety Ron Harper. “I just looked up to the sky, that’s all I could do.”

Any sports fan knows that it’s not uncommon for members of a winning team to praise or thank the god they believe in. How many times have we seen an athlete point towards heaven during a game?

For many people, the give-the-glory-to-God sentiments expressed by the Saints may be heartwarming, signs of true humility. For those of us outside of the circle, however, this mindset is baffling.

The timing may be especially ironic, considering that just under a month ago, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake destroyed much of Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, with the latest figures suggesting a death toll of a staggering 200,000.

Apparently, god takes a vested interest in who wins the Super Bowl, but he couldn’t be bothered to spare the lives hundreds of thousands of Haitian citizens. He either couldn’t or wouldn’t save the life of 11-year-old Anaika St. Louis, who lay trapped under the rubble with a crushed leg for 48 hours, only to pass away after her rescue when she was unable to receive proper medical treatment. Could not god, in his infinite wisdom, at least rearrange things so that the little girl could have died immediately, without quite so much seemingly-needless suffering?

Many will accuse us at Skeptical Monkey of being short-sighted and selfish. After all, how can we, with our limited knowledge, claim to know better than god?  Prepared as we are for such a response, it will, again, baffle us.   Are we really the short-sighted and selfish ones, when other folks can insist that god can preside over a world filled with suffering, and yet care about a football game?

Some will say that this Super Bowl win is especially poignant, since New Orleans itself is still recovering from the devastating Hurricane Katrina of 2005. Yes, it is wonderful to see New Orleans with a reason to celebrate, but if god really played a part in the Saint’s win, could he not have interfered in other ways, as well? Could he not have, say, interfered back in ’05 and simply kept the levees from failing? Is the Super Bowl really the only bone he had to throw New Orleans? Is god really that powerless? Is he just a dedicated football fan?

So, for those of you that still think we are short-sighted and selfish–feel free to post here and explain your reasoning.

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Tweet by Sara on Feb 10, ‘10 in religion