The topic of God was a popular one in the NFL this year after Seattle's improbable 28-22 win over the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship.After the win, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson said that God set his team up for the win. Then there was Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who held firm to the belief that God doesn't care "a whole lot about the outcome" of football games.
"He cares about the people involved, but I don't think he's a big football fan," Rodgers said.
Texans running back Arian Foster agrees that God doesn't care about football, but Foster's reason for believing that is slightly different than Rodgers' reason:Foster believes that God doesn't care about football because God doesn't exist.
During an interview with ESPN the Magazine, Foster revealed that he doesn't believe in God.
"If there is a God and he's watching football, there are so many other things he could be doing," Foster said. "There are hungry children and diseases and famine and so much important stuff going on in the world, and he's really blessed your team? It's just weird to me."
Foster's brother Abdul jokes that Arian is "The anti-Tebow,"
The chairman of Openly Secular, Todd Stiefel, believes that Foster is the first professional athlete to openly admit he doesn't believe in God.
"This is unprecedented," Stiefel told ESPN. "He is the first active professional athlete, let alone star, to ever stand up in support of gaining respect for secular Americans."
Foster believes there are other players like him, but they're afraid to open up about their beliefs because of potential backlash.
"You don't want to ruin endorsements," Foster said. "People might say, 'I don't want an atheist representing my team.' "
Foster said that being a star in the NFL allowed him to open up about what he believes.
"I'm established in this league, and as I'm digging deeper into myself and my truth, just being me is more important than being sexy to Pepsi or whoever," Foster said. "After awhile, what's an extra dollar compared to the freedom of being you? That's the choice I made."
The 28-year-old was raised Muslim, but that only lasted until his junior year in high school when he finally told his dad about his beliefs.
"Everybody always says the same thing: You have to have faith," Foster said. "That's my whole thing: Faith isn't enough for me. For people who are struggling with that, they're nervous about telling their families or afraid of the backlash ... man, don't be afraid to be you. I was, for years."
According to the Texans running back, some people just don't understand what it means when he says he's secular.
"I get the devil-worship thing a lot. They'll ask me, 'You worship the devil?' " Foster said. " 'No, bro, I don't believe there's a God, why would I believe there's a devil?' There's a lot of ignorance about non-belief. I don't mean a negative connotation of ignorance. I just mean a lack of understanding, a lack of knowledge, lack of exposure to people like me."
Foster, who's expected to miss some serious time in 2015 after injuring his groin this week, is probably going to have to get to used to people like this.
Don't look for Foster to respond to stuff like that though, the Texans running back said he respects all beliefs.
"I have no ill will toward religion or religious people. I have no quarrels," Foster said. "Believe what you want to believe."