Psychojoe, How does one decide which Christianity to promote to the team? The one you mention is very evangelical, post-reformation Christianity. (There is even a disagreement in Evangelicalism called the "Lordship Controversy"by serious Bible loving Christians). I doubt the Eastern Orthodox or Roman Catholic Christians would fully support what you just defined as Christian nor the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder-day Saints who tell me they are Christians when they knock on my door. Nor the many different oneness Christians, many of whom take their Christianity very seriously. To promote a particular form of Christianity is to risk controversy because a team is made of many different belief systems. Jesus is controversial as demonstrated by the thirty-thousand+ different Christian denominations which now exist and that number continues to grow. It seems most reasonable to have a person who helps student athletes find the spiritual support they need by referring them to their particular spiritual tradition rather than appointing one chaplain for the whole team who holds views some players may disagree with.
We do not know what Muschamp's problem is with the chaplain. My guess it has something to do with the letter the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent the University of S. Carolina concerning a public university paying team chaplains and in particular the chaplain he let go. That is probably the distraction Muschamp is trying to avoid. I think that Muschamp has recently denied he said "Jesus was a distraction" according to the link in the first post above. I personally do not understand why a team needs a chaplain when most universities are surrounded by churches and organizations offering spiritual guidance to students.
Arian Foster is a former player at the University of Tennessee who felt he did not have the option to attend a Church service with the entire team. There was an interesting ESPN article about Arian Foster . Here is some of what the article said.
"The separation of church and football -- not to mention church and public education -- blurred at Tennessee, Foster says. Coaches, led by head coach Phil Fulmer, scheduled trips to Sunday church services as team-building exercises.
Foster asked to be excused. He was denied. (The school confirmed that these team-building exercises to churches took place.) Word spread: Foster was arrogant, selfish, difficult to coach. "They just thought I was being a rebel and didn't want to participate in the team activities," Foster says.
"I was like, 'No, that's not it. Church doesn't do anything for me. I'm not a Christian.' I said, 'We can do other team-bonding activities and I'll gladly go, but this doesn't do anything for me.'
"So I went, probably five times. I don't want to bring race into it, but we never went to any predominantly black churches. We went to a lot of those upper-middle-class white churches, which I always found interesting because the majority of the team was black, so I thought the majority of the team would relate to a black church. I would rather go to a black church, honestly, because the music is better to me. If the majority of your team is black, why wouldn't they try to make them as comfortable as possible? But I guess when you're dealing with religion, color shouldn't matter." From
Arian Foster: 'I don't believe in God'
