As America enters the second weekend of playoff football, many churchgoing fans will be faithfully setting their DVRs.
A new study from LifeWay Research showed that only 15 percent of worshippers would skip church to watch their favorite team.
"Researchers found most of the faithful balk at skipping church for football. More than 8 in 10 (83 percent) disagree with the statement: 'I would skip a weekly worship service in order to watch my favorite football team,’ ” LifeWay Research reported, noting that 68 percent strongly disagreed.
The research comes at the tail end of a controversial year in the National Football League, one that caused some faith leaders to question whether religious communities should follow the sport at all.
In a podcast titled "Is Watching Football a Sin?," the Rev. Paul Raushenbush, religion editor for the Huffington Post, led a conversation about how to reconcile religious teachings about the inherent worth of all human beings with the football culture of violence, citing news stories about concussion risks and broken families.
"What we can ask ourselves is, 'What do we enjoy when we enjoy watching football?' Is it the artistry? Is it the incredible display of athleticism? Or is it a kind of fascination with the violent spectacle?" said Eric Gregory, a professor of religious ethics at Princeton University and participant in the discussion.
John Backman, a Christian author and HuffPost religion contributor, wrote a blog in October about his decision to stop watching football, similarly highlighting the game's violent themes and asking individual churchgoers to think about how football fandom mixes with their personal faith.
Men and women of faith worried about the sinfulness of football are still very much the minority, however, just as the NFL, arguably the most prominent offender of religious sensibilities with some players accused of spousal and child abuse, is only one small part of the sport's overall impact on American life.
"More than 95 percent of the people who participate in tackle football are under 18 years of age," wrote the Rev. David E. Prince and the Rev. Jimmy Scroggins in a 2013 post celebrating the sport on The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Church's website.
LifeWay Research's article noted that pastors are often good-natured about the temptation to skip a few fall or winter Sundays for a football game, sharing the experience of Daniel Espy, pastor of the Bridge Church in Snohomish, Washington.
Espy created an 8 a.m. church service in order to accommodate people who want to be home in time for kickoff. He said the change is more effective than a guilt trip.
The new survey uses data from a Sept. 19 to Oct. 5, 2014, phone survey, incorporating 994 responses.