# When is there going to be an out atheist



## retracekim (Jan 13, 2013)

athlete in the US?

Specifically a NFL or NBA player? 

Especially with team prayers and stuff being so prevalent...will it be soon?

More importantly when will this stupid notion of god even caring about frivolous things like sporting events end?


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## novalax (Jun 7, 2013)

maybe there are no atheist athletes, and team prayer can be individually directed to any deity of the players choice even including the player him/herself assuming they subscribe to the idea of apotheosis


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## anonymid (Oct 16, 2005)

Dan Fouts (Hall of Fame QB) is an atheist. Not sure if he was "out" during his playing days, though.










Also, apparently, former Vikings running back Robert Smith:


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## ugh1979 (Aug 27, 2010)

novalax said:


> maybe there are no atheist athletes,


Hardly! :lol

Young males are the most atheist demographic, and of course the most likely to be athletes. As the estimated atheist population is around 10% in the US (or around 20% if just irreligious), then that means the percentage of atheist athletes will be much higher.


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## retracekim (Jan 13, 2013)

Yeah but I'm talking now...there has to be a handful that are just not out in each league.


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## Deepthought (May 27, 2013)

I had no idea that this was an issue in america, in UK there are plenty of athletes that are atheists. It isnt an issue here. It is more of an issue of openly gay athletes, as expected there are many openly gay women, but very very few openly gay men. The ones that have come out are pretty much at the end of their career.


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## retracekim (Jan 13, 2013)

Deepthought said:


> I had no idea that this was an issue in america, in UK there are plenty of athletes that are atheists. It isnt an issue here. It is more of an issue of openly gay athletes, as expected there are many openly gay women, but very very few openly gay men. The ones that have come out are pretty much at the end of their career.


Yes, I think it's harder...this is kind of the next barrier that has to broken in our society..

Hopefully when the boomers die out this theocratic stronghold will begin to topple.


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## ugh1979 (Aug 27, 2010)

Deepthought said:


> I had no idea that this was an issue in america, in UK there are plenty of athletes that are atheists. It isnt an issue here. It is more of an issue of openly gay athletes, as expected there are many openly gay women, but very very few openly gay men. The ones that have come out are pretty much at the end of their career.


That's because the UK (and Western Europe in general) is a generation or three ahead of the US in certain progressive/liberal areas.


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## ugh1979 (Aug 27, 2010)

retracekim said:


> Hopefully when the boomers die out this theocratic stronghold will begin to topple.


Indeed, it's inevitable it will follow Northern Europe with the theists becoming the minority.


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## marybobary (Jun 19, 2013)

Agreed!! I hate how christianity is still so prevalent in politics too, by now everyone knows it is just a device to allow the dbags in charge to have their own f*cked up agenda...i think in sports too it would be nice for the kids who look up to these guys to see that its ok to be atheist or christian or muslim or whatever without it being a huge deal...i dont like how publicized things get when these people do come out as atheist or gay or what have you...it should be more normalized imo, people shouldnt have to hide who they really are and then be scrutinized for just being themselves!


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## ugh1979 (Aug 27, 2010)

marybobary said:


> Agreed!! I hate how christianity is still so prevalent in politics too, by now everyone knows it is just a device to allow the dbags in charge to have their own f*cked up agenda...i think in sports too it would be nice for the kids who look up to these guys to see that its ok to be atheist or christian or muslim or whatever without it being a huge deal...i dont like how publicized things get when these people do come out as atheist or gay or what have you...it should be more normalized imo, people shouldnt have to hide who they really are and then be scrutinized for just being themselves!


Indeed. The US has some awful equality issues due to Christianity dominating significant parts of it's society. Equality issues are bad enough economically without having to bring faith issues in to it as well.


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## retracekim (Jan 13, 2013)

ugh1979 said:


> Indeed. The US has some awful equality issues due to Christianity dominating significant parts of it's society. Equality issues are bad enough economically without having to bring faith issues in to it as well.


When I hear equality issues I automatically think about the terms person hood, viability, bodily rights and the separation of church and state in schools.


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## wordscancutyoulikeglass (May 4, 2012)

That would be awesome! I would love to see people be more open with atheism, and not always pretending to be christian like the rest of us do, especially because they get put in the position of pretending a lot in sports. If one of them opened up, it could show some of us we can open up too, and it's not so horrible that we keep having to lie.


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## ugh1979 (Aug 27, 2010)

wordscancutyoulikeglass said:


> That would be awesome! I would love to see people be more open with atheism, and not always pretending to be christian like the rest of us do, especially because they get put in the position of pretending a lot in sports. If one of them opened up, it could show some of us we can open up too, and it's not so horrible that we keep having to lie.


Indeed it's very disnhonest/amoral lying constantly. It's just a very unfortunate state of affairs you currently have in the US where so many sportspeople are forced to go along with it. In any other developed country nobody would have batted an eye lid about being atheist. The subject wouldn't even come up anyway, as very few players openly pray to or thank god on screen.

It's basically frowned upon to talk about god in post match interviews in the rest of the developed world. It's not in touch with the general viewers strong beliefs so is seen as a bit weird and old fashioned, plus a discredit to yourself, your team, your manager and your fans if you give all the thanks to an invisible deity instead of the people who actually put you there.


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## Forwhatiamworth (Mar 3, 2013)

Its gonna take a while  Sadly, I fear they could possibly be asked to resign from the team or recieve so much hate from the media they resign their contract.
But when it does happen, Glenn Beck will be the first person to say it is the sign of end times and that Rockefeller was really a communist with a hidden agenda as he had carved into Rockefeller Center in New York City in 1930 !


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## Tomyx (Jun 27, 2013)

Why does there need to be support for every ideal? The whole idea of not believing in god is that you are the center of your own universe. Not really a hero worship kind of deal. I'd say focus on that and ride it all the way...


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## retracekim (Jan 13, 2013)

Forwhatiamworth said:


> Its gonna take a while  Sadly, I fear they could possibly be asked to resign from the team or recieve so much hate from the media they resign their contract.
> But when it does happen, Glenn Beck will be the first person to say it is the sign of end times and that Rockefeller was really a communist with a hidden agenda as he had carved into Rockefeller Center in New York City in 1930 !


They can't ask them resign..they could release him though.


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## Joe (May 18, 2010)

Do they really see it as something important enough to bring forward?


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## KevinInTexas (Jul 16, 2013)

I was an atheist athlete but was never a pro. Still, when we bowed our heads for team prayer I was always faking it. Usually peeking at cheerleaders.


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## tennislover84 (May 14, 2010)

novalax said:


> maybe there are no atheist athletes


It makes sense. :b God only lets true believers be any good at sport, and then chooses the ones he likes best to win?

It always makes me laugh when Serena Williams says "thanks to my god Jehova", in her victory speech at tennis tournaments.


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## WhatBITW (Jan 26, 2013)

CM Punk is an atheist (if you don't know who that is, you should be shot lol). He posts some pretty controversial stuff on his twitter.


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## retracekim (Jan 13, 2013)

I want someone at the ESPYs this year to say "Most importantly I want to thank myself, without me I wouldn't be here" lol.


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