This article was first published in the State of Faith newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Monday night.
If you watch the Olympics closely, you’ll notice that religion is always in the room.
It’s there when a soccer player crosses himself after scoring a goal. It’s there when a gymnast thanks God after her routine. And it’s there at the Olympic skatepark when a 16-year-old second-time medalist points people to Jesus in the midst of her special moment.
That skateboarder, Rayssa Leal, had quite a Sunday, according to The Washington Post.
Three years after winning a silver medal in Tokyo as a 13-year-old, she was on the precipice of going home empty-handed this weekend when she chose to take a risk with her final trick.
She tried and then landed “a kick flip frontside board slide,” something that she’d never done in competition before, per the Post. It was enough to secure the bronze medal and to make the days of all the Brazilian fans who’d come to watch Leal in Paris.
“The Brazilian fans howled as if she had won the whole event,” The Washington Post reported.
Throughout the day, she showed viewers not just how to celebrate your faith on a big stage but also how to let your joy run wide in life’s special moments.
Instead of sticking with the typical routine for winners and transitioning from the medal ceremony to a press conference, Leal ran toward the crowd to embrace her fellow Brazilians, to dance with them and cheer.
When she eventually made it to the press conference, she shared a lesson with those listening who maybe felt like they’d never accomplish anything so grand.
“I think we make history every day in our daily lives,” Leal said through her interpreter, per The Washington Post.
Fresh off the press
The 3 major changes President Biden wants to make to the Supreme Court
Religion’s role in the Olympics
Why those bells you heard during the opening ceremony were significant
Why Utah’s approach to religious freedom makes it stand out
Term of the week: dewe’igan
Dewe’igan is the Ojibwe word for drum, according to The Associated Press. It’s related to the Ojibwe words for heart and sound, which gives you a clue as to how important drumming is in the tribe’s culture.
The Ojibwe community in Hinckley, Minnesota, is currently grappling with the local school district’s decision to exclude the drum group — as well as other student groups — from high school graduation.
“Many Native families felt the ban showed how little their culture and spirituality is understood,” The Associated Press reported, noting that the school officials have cited a concern about appearing to endorse religion to explain their decision.
What I’m reading ...
Some religious and political leaders were offended by what they felt was a reference to Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” in Friday’s opening ceremony at the Olympics. Organizers have apologized and said their goal was to celebrate diversity, not cause offense. “My wish isn’t to be subversive, nor to mock or to shock,” said Thomas Jolly, the ceremony’s artistic director, to The Associated Press. “Most of all, I wanted to send a message of love, a message of inclusion and not at all to divide.”
In last week’s newsletter, I linked to a story about the closure of a church led by an expert on religious trends in the U.S. A few days later, that expert, Ryan Burge, wrote an essay for the Deseret News about saying goodbye to the congregation.
My friend Daniel Silliman at Christianity Today has a book coming out next month on former President Richard Nixon’s religion. Ahead of the book’s release, Silliman wrote an amazing story about the one pastor who challenged Nixon to “be honest with the American people” about his role in Watergate.
Ahead of the Olympics, the Deseret News sports team rolled out a series of profiles of Olympians with Utah ties. Several of the stories highlighted faith, including Krysyan Edler’s look at Courtney Wayment and Doug Robinson’s piece on Whittni Morgan.
Odds and ends
Last week’s “Flashback Quiz” from The New York Times featured Olympics-related questions. I placed 7 out of 8 items correctly on the timeline. Can you beat my score?