{"id":30182,"date":"2023-11-20T14:46:10","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T19:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=30182"},"modified":"2023-11-21T09:03:34","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T14:03:34","slug":"megan-rapinoe-receives-backlash-after-saying-god-does-not-exist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2023\/11\/megan-rapinoe-receives-backlash-after-saying-god-does-not-exist.html","title":{"rendered":"Megan Rapinoe Receives Backlash After Saying God Does Not Exist"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mikolaj Barbanell \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Megan Rapinoe\u2019s final game of her career did not end as she planned when she went down during the first few minutes with a no-contact injury during the Women\u2019s Soccer League Championship game between the OL Reign and Gotham FC. Rapinoe was reported to have torn her Achilles tendon after the game and went on to have <\/span>successful surgery<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on the tear the following Monday. She had mentioned at a press conference that she would reach out to Aaron Rodgers to receive the same medical care he\u2019d received for his own season-ending tear.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, it was not the injury or Rapinoe\u2019s official retirement that has kept her in the news. During the conference, Rapinoe stated she believed the injury confirmed that God does not exist. \u201cI\u2019m not a religious person or anything and if there was a god, like, this is proof that there isn\u2019t. This is f—ed up. It\u2019s just f—ed up. Six minutes in and I eat my Achilles,\u201d she <\/span>said<\/span><\/a>. She also added that she\u2019d heard a \u201chuge pop\u201d as she injured herself. \u201cJust a huge pop, and I can\u2019t even feel where the Achilles is, but pretty sure I tore my Achilles,\u201d she said, calling it \u201cThe worst possible outcome.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rapinoe, who is famous for pushing for equal pay for the women\u2019s soccer team and kneeling during the national anthem, faced swift rebukes regarding her comments about God. \u201cNarcissism at its finest,\u201d <\/span>wrote<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Sage Steele on X. Steele is a former ESPN commentator who got into hot water with the company after discussing COVID-19 vaccine mandates and men identifying as women playing in women\u2019s sports. Rapinoe had previously called Steele \u201ctransphobic\u201d after she made statements supporting former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines. Gaines has made headlines pushing to keep women\u2019s sports fair and has spoken out about Leah Thomas, a man who identifies as a woman, beating biological women in competitions. Piers Morgan went even harder against Rapinoe, writing in an op-ed for\u00a0<\/span>The New York Post<\/span><\/em><\/a>, \u201cI\u2019d say it\u2019s more like definitive proof that God does exist \u2014 and shares my view that this arrogant, pink-haired, self-promoting prima donna didn\u2019t deserve the glorious send-off she so desperately craved.\u201d He criticized Rapinoe for her inconsistencies, such as taking a knee during the national anthem to protest racism yet cashing checks from Qatar, a sponsor of the World Cup, despite the country\u2019s outlawing of being gay. He ended his criticism of Rapinoe by quoting the Bible. \u201cAnd given she thinks what happened to her was somehow all God\u2019s fault, let me offer her some biblical words of advice from Proverbs 16:18: \u2018Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Writing for <\/span>The Washington Times<\/span><\/em><\/a>, CBN\u2019s Billy Hallowell suggested a correct view of God. \u201cToo often, we treat God like a genie, begging and pleading for our wishes to be granted while openly chiding or internally doubting the Lord when reality doesn\u2019t match our demands,\u201d he wrote. He then pointed to Senator Tim Scott\u2019s recent announcement that he had suspended his presidential campaign. Noting how Scott had quoted Romans 8:28, Hallowell wrote, \u201cRather than blaming God, Mr. Scott fully submitted to the Lord\u2019s purposes for his life \u2014 a humble and critical reaction in the midst of incredible disappointment. Despite wanting the presidency, he recognized it wasn\u2019t God\u2019s plan for him right now.\u201d He encouraged Rapinoe to have gratitude for her successes. \u201cOur lives might not go how or where we want, but we can have faith that, through trust and seeking God\u2019s hand, we\u2019ll end up exactly where God intended.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Megan Rapinoe\u2019s final game of her career did not end as she planned when she went down during the first few minutes with a no-contact injury during the Women\u2019s Soccer League Championship game between the OL Reign and Gotham FC. Rapinoe was reported to have torn her Achilles tendon after the game and went on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":30197,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"\nMegan Rapinoe Receives Backlash After Saying God Does Not Exist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Megan Rapinoe receives backlash after she made a comment about God not existing after she suffered a career-ending injury.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2023\/11\/megan-rapinoe-receives-backlash-after-saying-god-does-not-exist.html\" \/>\n<meta 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