This Sunday, hundreds of professional football players with religious faith will do what thousands of American churchgoers do every Sunday.
They will go to work.The biblical commandment to remember the Sabbath and "keep it holy" has been interpreted differently by various faiths and individuals, and many of those interpretations have changed with time. Not every religion even agrees on which day is the Sabbath.
Decades ago, according to local clergy, the Sabbath was more uniformly observed as a day of rest and worship. But in modern society, where convenience has won the tug-of-war with spirituality, the Sabbath cannot always be kept sacred - especially when a time clock is involved.
The Rev. David Brown, youth pastor of the Holladay Baptist Church, said young Baptists today are not being told that working or doing anything else on Sunday is wrong. However, he said, Baptists know their scripture and would prefer to reserve Sundays for worship, prayer and restful activities - which might include watching football.
But if individuals choose to work on the Sabbath, that is their prerogative. They would not be shunned by the church, the Rev. Brown said. Representatives of local Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Nazarene and Presbyterian churches, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, agreed.
"I have a strong belief in the Sabbath day and in keeping the Sabbath day holy, and myself and my family have tried to maintain it the best we can all these years," said NBA basketball player Greg Kite, one of many LDS professional athletes who have reluctantly agreed to work on Sundays. Speaking from his home in Orlando, he said, "There's still ways to attend church or spend time with family."
For professionals like Kite, an absolute commitment to the Sabbath would force them to abandon their chosen careers - or in Eli Herring's case, require a decision not to enter a particular field at all.
Herring, an offensive lineman for Brigham Young University, turned down a lucrative NFL contract with the Oakland Raiders earlier this year because of his personal interpretation of the fourth commandment. The Raiders contacted Herring several times this summer, trying to persuade him to wear the silver and black. But Herring, still a BYU student and now an assistant football coach at Springville High, stands firm in his resolve.
"I am happier and happier with the decision," Herring, who is married with a small child, said this week. "It's pretty tight, but we do make ends meet. We feel very blessed, and we're very happy."
Luther Elliss, who stared across the line at Herring as a member of the University of Utah football team, will make his NFL debut Sunday as a defensive lineman for the Detroit Lions. Kickoff in Pittsburgh is scheduled for 11 a.m., the same time members of his former Salt Lake church will congregate.
Elliss attended Christ United Methodist Church regularly last season, even when the Utes arrived home late Saturday night after playing an away game, according to the Rev. Khan McClellan. But if Elliss ever had reservations about working on Sundays, he didn't discuss them with his minister or his family.
Luther's father, Jack Elliss, said the family's economic situation dictated that he take work whenever it was offered, including on the Sabbath. But he predicted professional football won't change his son's devotion.
Steve Christensen is sure about his son's religious commitment, too. McKay Christensen, who had planned to play football for BYU before his selection as the sixth overall pick in the 1994 Major League Baseball draft, will play baseball on Sundays when his professional career begins next summer. The 20-year-old is currently serving a Mormon mission in Japan.
"Before he ever agreed to be drafted or signed professionally, he spent a lot of time praying about that very issue," his father said from his home in Clovis, Calif. "He studied everything he could read from the prophets, he talked to his parents a great deal, made it a matter of fasting and prayer and finally concluded that in his own life everything was fine between him and the Lord and that he should pursue his vocation. . . . It is an intensely personal decision."
Danny Davis, a Mormon and current Ute football player, said he and most of his LDS teammates likely would choose to play on Sundays if they get the chance. Even so, many don't like practicing on Sundays as they are sometimes required to do at the U., Davis said.