Super Bowl Sunday is America's biggest religious holiday

A decline in formal religious participation makes this game the event of the year

Super Bowl
(Image credit: (Elsa/Getty Images))

Americans compare their love of football to religion so routinely that it's almost become a cliché. But it's easy to see why those comparisons are so common. Games are played on the Lord's Day. Devotion to both football and faith peak in the South and heartland. The game presents itself in themes that are deeply spiritual: Sacrifice and toil lead to glorious conquest and victory.

And the Super Bowl is this faith's high holy day, when even the most non-observant find themselves cramming in for the spectacle. Consider the different elements of the "event" — fighter jet flyovers, the national anthem, the game, the awards — which all neatly combine into a kind of liturgy. Buffalo wings, any food that can be plausibly grilled, beer — they all become a kind of festal offering. The only day on which more food is consumed in America is Thanksgiving. The winning player's declaration "I'm going to Disney World" stands in where "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" might as the recessional hymn.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is the founder and editor of The Slurve, a newsletter about baseball. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, ESPN Magazine, Slate and The American Conservative.