Crossroads Podcast: The Missing Faith Angle In The WNBA’s Culture War Controversy
To say the least, Indiana Fever star Sophie (“Do the Sophie”) Cunningham’s quotes about trans athletes and women’s sports ignited a firestorm in sports, politics, social media and the elite press. In this case, the sports world includes the small, struggling Women’s National Professional Basketball Association.
The furor started at ESPN, of course:
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that,’” she says. “I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”
How did this controversy end up in this week’s “Crossroads” podcast? We will get to that shortly. However, readers know that debates are official important when the New York Times (via The Athletic) offers a headline like this: “Sophie Cunningham says it’s ‘common sense’ to keep trans athletes out of women’s sports.”
The “common sense” language came from an encounter between Cunningham and a flock of reporters, who offered her a chance to modify or walk back her controversial statement of belief.
Here’s the quote, from a Yahoo! Sports report:
“I said what I said. I think it’s kind of common sense,” Cunningham said. “And I think I’ll always believe in that. I think it’s really important to protect children, and that’s little girls who are also involved in that category. I stand on what I said.”
As the storm grew, I started getting feedback from readers who wanted to know why journalists were not covering the religion angle in Cunningham’s pronouncement on this hot-button moral, cultural and political story.
The mainstream press reports contained zero, zip, nada religious content. To be honest, I had never seen any mainstream press coverage about the religious faith of Cunningham, a 6-1 sharpshooter and defensive ace who has also attracted plenty of attention with her bombshell-blonde personna and fashion smarts.
However, Yahoo! Sports picked up an interesting feature from Basketball Network, a small news outlet. The headline is certainly provocative: “‘They want to hush you’ — Sophie Cunningham on being a Christian in the WNBA.” Check out these quotes:
“It’s different,” she said. … “I’ve learned that my competition isn’t with anyone else, like God gave me all these gifts and blessings to show all these young boys and girls and sometimes my parents and older people too, like it’s okay to be like this but you got to learn how to channel it a little bit.”
And also this:
“There’s a lot more believers than you would actually expect because a lot of people don’t speak out about it. I think our league, they want to have a certain look to them, they want to have a certain style to them, and if you speak out against it, sometimes they want to hush you, but that’s not what I’m here for,” Cunningham added.
Here is one more quote from that same feature:
“I am loud, I am confident, and I think being actually a woman of God, it’s allowed me to walk into rooms with my shoulders back and I have a different type of swag and confidence about be because I know God has me,” Cunningham stated.
The crucial information that had escaped mainstream press coverage was this — this past spring, Cunningham — who was raised Roman Catholic — openly rededicated her Christian faith, via a April 14 post on TikTok. She was baptized at Christ’s Church of the Valley, an evangelical megachurch near Phoenix, Arizona.
A Christian Post report quoted her saying:
“I got baptized when I was little, but I was feeling a tug on my heart to do it on my terms as an adult! Such a fun, amazing day. Thank you, Jesus,” she wrote.
Addressing the decision at a press conference … , Cunningham, 29, said it is “one of the better things” she has done in her life.
“I’ve always been a faithful person, but I just feel like now it’s my own decision. One of the better things I’ve done in my life is getting baptized,” said Cunningham.
The obvious question: Why has elite coverage of her stand on gender and women’s athletics avoided any references to her renewed interest in Christian faith?
Consider this language from ESPN, while addressing current debates about whether players with male DNA should be eligible to play in all forms of women’s athletics, include basketball. Look for the key word in this sentence: “… [Cunningham] also insists that none of this is some Rosetta Stone to unlocking the true nature of her political worldview.”
Yes, the hoops star had used the word “political” when insisting that she didn’t want to be pulled into left-right political debates. The question is whether, in reality, the roots of her convictions may not be political, at all.
Writing at Religion Unplugged, journalist Clemente Lisi (a friend and academic colleague) connected some important dots in a feature with this headline: “WNBA Star Sophie Cunningham’s Faith Bigger Than The Culture War.”
“I’m going to let people just do the speaking for themselves, but for me, I want to get back to basketball,” Cunningham told reporters on Aug. 6. “It’s always been about basketball.”
That sounds like an athlete trying to escape controversy. Maybe it is. But it also reflects something deeper. For Cunningham, whose Christian faith has long been part of her public identity, basketball has never been just about winning political arguments. It has been about purpose.
The WNBA increasingly finds itself pulled into America’s culture wars. Every major social issue eventually seems to arrive on the league’s doorstep. Whether it is race, LGBTQ issues or transgender participation in sports, players and coaches are expected to take sides.
Near the end of the feature, Lisi offered this commentary:
Faith offers an interesting perspective here because Christianity has always distinguished between conviction and conflict.
Jesus never instructed His followers to avoid difficult issues. Neither did He encourage them to seek controversy for its own sake. Paul, for example, wrote that Christians should “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). Those two concepts — truth and love — are often separated in modern debates. One side emphasizes compassion; the other. The Bible insists both belong together.
That is how Cunningham framed her original comments. She rejected accusations that she hates transgender people, insisting instead that her concern centers on protecting women’s sports while extending love to everyone involved.
I will end with one other interesting piece of Cunningham material, care of Basketball Network. The headline: “‘I want someone to lead our house’ — Sophie Cunningham opens up about what she wants in a husband.”
After years of speculation about her private life, including social-media whispers that she might be a lesbian, Cunningham openly stated her goals for marriage and family, while explicitly linking them to her faith.
Why didn’t these eyebrow-raising comments draw media attention? This small-media feature noted:
Aside from her preference for dating a taller guy, she also hopes to end up with someone who will take charge of the family
“I’m not shy about this at all,” Cunningham responded after confirming she is single and in response to the question of what the perfect man looks like for her. “I grew up in Missouri. Missouri was like the No. 3 party school. … Yeah, I went through the huge party stage. I’ve been with guys. But now that I’m actually where I’m at now today, my No. 1 thing is I want someone to push me towards Christ.”
Then there was this next quotation, offering a perspective that — if debated on cable-television talk fests — might be more controversial than Cunningham’s statements on gender and sports.
Speaking as if she was addressing a potential husband, she added:
“If you’re not about it, and you don’t talk about it, then don’t even talk to me. I have my blinders on. I still have a bunch of guy friends. I’m open to ideas and whatnot. But my No. 1 thing is I want you to lead our house, lead me, lead our future kids to serve and love a good, good God. …”
Truth is, that’s church talk. Pure and simple.