Athletes & Religion

A new book called Onward Christian Athletes explores religion on the athletic field. Religion writer Tom Krattenmaker especially focuses on the influence of evangelical Christian groups in locker rooms. Krattenmaker goes back to the days of baseball pioneer Branch Rickey who helped to found the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He includes information on Athletes in Action as well and writes, "The conservative Christians got their upper hand in the sports world the old fashioned way. They earned it.'' However, he does encourage pro athletes to be more sensitive in their tone and timing of when they discuss their faith.