ABSTRACT
From the earliest glimmer of civilization to the most recent World Cup, religion and sport have been intimately connected. Not surprisingly, religious devotion and competitive sport share essential attitudes and modes of behaviour. They hold similarly polarized visions of good and evil, heaven and hell, winning and losing. Both require total commitment and discipline of adherents whose efforts contribute to communal values and beliefs. Rabid sports fans and religious fanatics drink from a common cup of true belief. Both religious and sporting events thrive on rituals, ceremonies and liturgies; each spawns self-defining creeds and mythologies. As religion and sport have interacted vigorously throughout history, the terms of their relationship have changed over time, but never has the one been far removed from the other.1
