Ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl, a Washington Post guest opinion piece praising the deliberate growth of the Christian sports movement is being met with criticism by readers who appear to largely disagree with professional sports becoming overtly religious.

“Today athletes are some of the most prominent Christians in public life, far exceeding any pastor or priest,” writes Paul Putz, director of the Faith and Sports Institute at Baylor University’s Truett Seminary. “And the interviews offered at the end of sporting events may be the only time many Americans will hear a proclamation of faith.”

“Christians will be prominently featured during the biggest sports Sunday of the year. Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Patriots quarterback Drake Maye have already used the run-up to the game to share their faith in Christ,” he notes. “When the contest starts, players will be found at various points kneeling in prayer, and pointing upward to God in celebration.”

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Putz also points to the event’s popular commercials, which he says for the fourth year will include “the latest Jesus ad from the ‘He Gets Us’ campaign.”

“And during the postgame interviews they’ll hear the winners give glory to God, while the losers try to make sense of the disappointment, perhaps turning to the Bible for solace.”

Putz makes clear that this “transformation” from a largely secular game to one infused with religion “did not happen by accident,” but is “the result of a Christian sports movement that has been growing since the 1950s.” He points to evangelical sports ministries such as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Pro Athletes Outreach, and Athletes in Action.

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes reportedly has come under scrutiny over the years for its recruitment efforts in public high schools, and for its statements against homosexuality.

Readers offered sharp criticism.

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“People of faith have always been in sports. They just didn’t feel the need to ram it down our throats before,” wrote one reader in the most popular comment.

“I hate to break it these athletes but God doesn’t care if you score a touchdown. God hopefully has more important things to be concerned about,” said another.

“Performing public Christianity is not Christianity, which Republicans do not seem to get at all. Aren’t we all just sick of politics and culture war dressed up as religion?” asked still another.

“Football Christianity and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes…really?” asked another reader. “What does that have to do with the Sermon on the Mount, Beatitudes, compassion teachings, taking care of the poor, the hungry, the stranger, the ill? Where are they in Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles? When people were being rounded up, beaten, shot, pepper sprayed, dragged from their homes and automobiles?”

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Concern is mounting over reports that the FBI emailed election officials in all 50 states to invite them to a conference call with multiple federal agencies about the 2026 midterms — an outreach election officials reportedly view as unusual and concerning.

“The exact purpose of the call remains unclear. But it’s raising concerns after President Donald Trump called for state elections to be nationalized,” Crooked Media reported on Thursday. “The email is raising anxiety at a moment when Trump is calling for the federal government to take control of elections in 15 states, and dispatching the FBI to investigate the 2020 election in battleground state Georgia.”

“Election officials from every state received an invitation for the call on Feb. 25th, to be joined by Trump’s FBI, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and U.S. Election Assistance Commission,” according to Crooked Media’s Matt Berg. He added: “The email, which was obtained via public records request, was sent on Tuesday by an official named Kellie Hardiman, who gave her title as ‘FBI Election Executive.'”

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Berg published a copy of the email to social media.

“To prepare for the 2026 US midterm elections, your election partners at the FBI, DOJ, DHS, USPIS, and the EAC would like to invite you to a call where we can discuss our preparations for the cycle, as well as updates and resources we can provide to you and your staff,” it read.

“Last week,” NBC News, adding to the story, reported that “at a meeting of the National Association of Secretaries of State, officials pushed back against a Trump administration official who spoke about supporting election officials’ work.”

Critics expressed deep concern.

Veteran journalist Jay Bookman described it as “extremely alarming,” and wrote: “It sounds like the Mafia declaring itself your ‘partner’ and inviting you to a meeting that you dare not refuse.”

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“Trump is very actively planning to rig the upcoming elections,” alleged attorney Aaron Regunberg, a contributing editor at The New Republic. “I guess we better keep funding the terrorist militia force he’s going to use to execute these plans without ever securing a single real concession.”

“The regime is now doing everything in its power to prevent the midterms from being free, fair and independent elections — if they even allow elections to occur at all,” argued MS NOW analyst Fernand R. Amandi.

“Better get ready, and at every level,” claimed professor and historian Steven Seegel. “The incumbent MAGA-GOP party-cult will allege fraud (‘stop the steal’) in advance, use ICE in strategic districts and locales, then escalate from voter intimidation to violence. That’s the basic set-up here for 2026. It’s premeditated.”

“Trump said he wants to nationalize elections and deploy ICE to Blue cities in swing states, which is his way of trying to steal the midterms, and every election after,” alleged health care activist Melanie D’Arrigo. “This is how it begins.”

Historian and associate professor Keith Orejel claimed the “maneuvering to try and steal the midterms is so clumsy and transparent.”

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President Donald Trump is defending allowing the nation’s last nuclear treaty with Russia to expire by declaring he’s already “stopped” nuclear wars between several countries. Experts and advocates warn that the treaty was the last barrier against a nuclear arms race.

“As of today, for the first time in over half a century, the US and Russia don’t have a legally binding arms control treaty in place anymore,” observed Wall Street Journal national security reporter Robbie Gramer.

“Without the New START treaty,” NBC News reported on Thursday, “which caps the number of deployed nuclear warheads at 1,550 on each side, there will be no limits on the American and Russian arsenals.”

“Not only are there no discussions between Washington and Moscow on what comes next,” NBC added, “but also officials from both countries are left guessing about the other side’s capabilities and intentions, increasing the possibility of misunderstandings and an unrestricted nuclear arms race not seen since the 1960s, experts and officials warn.”

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Former President Barack Obama warned that allowing the treaty to expire “would pointlessly wipe out decades of diplomacy, and could spark another arms race that makes the world less safe.”

Former Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, called it a “tragic day for global security,” and noted that “the world is now a more dangerous place.”

Richard Stengel, a former Under Secretary of State during the Obama administration, warned: “Sure, the START treaty has its flaws, but it’s the last restraint on a new nuclear arms race.”

“Letting it die doesn’t do anyone any good,” he continued. “The US president’s bellicosity and cavalier attitude to nuclear weapons and NATO has caused many new nations to contemplate building their own nuclear arsenal. That’s also bad news. The math is pretty simple: the more weapons, the more danger.”

President Donald Trump, however, appeared unperturbed.

“The United States is the most powerful Country in the World,” he declared. “I completely rebuilt its Military in my First Term, including new and many refurbished nuclear weapons. I also added Space Force and now, continue to rebuild our Military at levels never seen before. We are even adding Battleships, which are 100 times more powerful than the ones that roamed the Seas during World War II.”

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“I have stopped Nuclear Wars from breaking out across the World between Pakistan and India, Iran and Israel, and Russia and Ukraine,” he claimed.

Trump then appeared to suggest that Russia has been violating the treaty, arguing that therefore it made sense to allow it to expire. And he suggested that a new nuclear treaty should be crafted — although he did not say when.

“Rather than extend ‘NEW START’ (A badly negotiated deal by the United States that, aside from everything else, is being grossly violated), we should have our Nuclear Experts work on a new, improved, and modernized Treaty that can last long into the future.”

For the first time in more than half a century, there are no limits on the world’s two largest atomic arsenals. The sole remaining nuclear arms treaty in the world, known as New START, is expiring between the U.S. and Russia, and arms control advocates fear a new arms race.… pic.twitter.com/P2eqsTi9WC

— PBS News (@NewsHour) February 4, 2026

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