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Americans do not believe God cares about Super Bowl, survey reveals

Dot Mediano Friday, February 05, 2016

San Francisco, CA, USA; Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos helmets with the San Francisco skyline and Bay Bridge as a backdrop prior to Super Bowl 50 between the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos. | Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports/Reuters

A new survey by Lifeway Research found that Americans do not believe God cares about the National Football League's Super Bowl.

The survey also found most Americans are not convinced that God determines winners and losers on the football field, and that God had greater concerns.

According to LifeWay Research, almost 9 out of 10 Americans do not believe God determines winners and losers in the Super Bowl. Oout of those who do believe so are Americans who attend religious service at least once a week (13%), those with evangelical beliefs (15%), those with non-Christian faith (18%) and those with graduate degrees (15%).

When asked the question: "Does God care who wins the Super Bowl?", 88% of respondents said "no" while almost 1 in 10 said "yes", while the remaining do not know.

God was given credit to in two of the most well-known plays in NFL playoff history, 1972 "Immaculate Reception" by Pittsburgh Steelers' Franco Harris and 1975 "Hail Mary" pass from Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach to Drew Pearson.

Vice president of LifeWay Research Scott McConnell noted that the Bible says it is God who sets up and takes down nations and rulers, and that either Americans do not agree to this or they think God focuses on political leaders rather than sports like football.

1,000 Americans were surveyed using the Random Digit dialing method. Fifty percent of the respondents were called on landlines and the other fifty percent were called on cell phones. To accurately reflect the population, slight weights, and maximum quotas were used for gender, region, age, ethnicity, and education.

Christian author, Dr. Sproul Jr., wrote on his website that God decides who will win the game of football as much as He decides who wins other games. The author of "A Call to Wonder" stated that he believes God does, in fact, control and cares who wins football games.

A 2014 LifeWay Research survey found only about 1 in 8 Americans (13%) have prayed for a sports team.