Paxman interviewed a guy last night who had to be in the dark, shot from behind and given a disguised voice because he had done a drawing of the Prophet.
“As Americans tune in to the Super Bowl this year, fully half of fans – as many as 70 million Americans – believe there may be a twelfth man on the field influencing the outcome,” Public Religion Research Institute CEO Robert Jones said in a statement. “Significant numbers of American sports fans believe in invoking assistance from God on behalf of their favorite team, or believe the divine may be playing out its own purpose in the game.”
Football fans were the most likely to pray for their own teams to win, with 33 percent saying they ask God to intervene in games, compared to 21 percent of fans of other sports. They were also more likely to think their teams were cursed (31 percent compared to 18 percent) and to take part in rituals before or during games (25 percent to compared to 18 percent).
Also note, the same survey found that a plurality of Americans (48%) believe religious athletes will be rewarded with divine success and health by virtue of their religiosity.
