Patton Dodd

A lot of people complain that religion and sports are too intertwined—a quarterback thanking Jesus after a victory, a team circling up for a televised pre-game prayer. I get that concern. At the very least, it's hard to trust the authenticity of such moments.

After I embraced the Christian way at 19, I enjoyed about 18 months of doubt-free Christian living. I read the Bible for long stretches, prayed a ton, talked to all kinds of Christians and listened to all kinds of preachers—all that, with nary a skeptical thought. Then, basically out of nowhere, the...

Late in the evening of the presidential election last November, as Barack Obama addressed the nation for the first time in his role as President-elect, a Facebook (and real life) friend of mine named Brandon posted the following status update: “Brandon is sad that Americans are so naive.”

Last winter, a young friend of mine named Rob gave up on his faith. I’ve seen people drift away from God before— me included—and I’ve seen people wilt in the face of hardships, doubt and tempta­tion. But this guy’s experience was unlike anything I had faced. He just gave up—knowingly, willingly and without...

A few years ago I walked into class of undergraduates in Boston a moment before it was to begin and picked up the book I was using for instruction that day. It was not the typical textbook—it was a book many of them had heard of all their lives but never read: a Bible.

A few years ago, I was a teaching fellow at Boston University for an undergraduate course on the Bible. On the first day of the fall semester, the professor opened the class with a touch of drama. He walked in just as class was to begin, stood in silence at the front of the room, and waited for the students...