Teaming up for prayer
By Nancy Armour
ASSOCIATED PRESS
December 6, 2005

There are signs of faith and prayer everywhere you look in sports these days.

Players kneeling in prayer on the field after NFL games. Fingers pointed skyward after home runs, touchdowns and victories. Signs for chapel services in baseball clubhouses. Bible study and Christian fellowship groups at high school and college campuses across the country.

"I don't think a relationship with the Lord only occurs in church or only in your own private lives," says University of Washington basketball coach Lorenzo Romar. "Every moment you walk, you want to live in such a manner that you are acknowledging God's presence. ... I don't think we turn it on and off."

But not everyone is comfortable getting God into the game. Five years after the Supreme Court reaffirmed a ban on officially sponsored prayer in public schools with a ruling that said students couldn't lead crowds in prayer before football games, the question of who can pray together -- and how -- is far from settled. Story