Should Christian athletes miss church for sports activities?

The following is a response to the Winter 2009 Pro and Con column featured in Sports Spectrum magazine.

For those of you not familiar with the mag, SS is a nationally-distributed Christian sports magazine published every quarter. In the center of each mag is a “Pro and Con” column section in which writers Ted Kluck and Allen Palmeri debate various clashes of Christianity and athletics such as yoga, hosting Super Bowl parties at a church and most recently the question: “Should a Christian youth athlete miss church for sports activities?”

Both agreed that missing church for sports events is a big no-no.

“It’s a no brainer,” says Palmeri.

But of course, there’d be no writing of this blog if there was no disagreement by me. I respectfully offer a sincere “maybe” as an answer.

The point of my Kenly column

Part of my writing process involves a lot of re-writing, even after sending in a column for publication. Every once in awhile, the original version is already edited and ready for publication, leaving the later-submitted rewrite dangling in unpublished limbo. 

This happened this week with Kenly, to nobody’s fault but my own. Naturally, I like my rewritten version better, and since I have the convenience of a blog in which to share it, I am posting that version here. The column may have been written for Kenly News publications, but applies to all of you as well. If you’ve got questions, I’d like to seek answers for all of us. 

Read on for the column.