When most athletes look back on their glory days, it’s the game-winning plays and the intense team camaraderie they want to relive.

Not former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

‘My victory was secure on the cross … and it doesn’t matter if I win this tournament or lose this tournament.’

Ten years after he first knelt in protest during the National Anthem, the onetime culture warrior has written a book. His publisher describes “The Perilous Fight” as “equal parts memoir and manifesto.”

Kaepernick may miss that era — after opting out of his contract in 2017, he never played for another NFL team again — but it’s safe to say most fans are happy to have moved on.

In fact, there’s been a different kind of rebellion brewing in pro sports lately — quieter and less disruptive, but no less profound.

Players taking a knee today are more likely doing it to pray than posture — and they don’t seem especially concerned with who’s watching.

While faith has always had its place in sports, this boldness is something new. These aren’t symbolic gestures or vague references to “the man upstairs” but unabashed statements of conviction: Christ comes first.

Here are five Christian athletes proudly living their faith.

1. C.J. Stroud

Stroud doesn’t treat faith as a postgame add-on. The Houston Texans quarterback consistently credits his success to God.

Even after a career-worst performance led to a crushing playoff loss against the Patriots, Stroud kept it in perspective: “Before I do anything, I want to give God the glory — my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Without Him, I’m nothing. I just appreciate Him giving me this opportunity, this platform to play this great game with this great organization.”

2. Brock Purdy

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49ers quarterback Brock Purdy may have been last pick in the 2022 NFL draft, but his subsequent success has shown he’s no “Mr. Irrelevant.” His legendary predecessor Steve Young says that makes sense, considering that the greatest QBs aren’t flashy, but “at peace.”

The secret to Purdy’s serenity? Founding his identity on faith, not football: “No matter what I’m going to face moving forward … football, God, and Jesus are going to be my identity.”

3. Scottie Scheffler

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For someone who’s the highest ranked golfer in the world, Scottie Scheffler doesn’t seem too interested in keeping score.

After his second Masters victory in 2024, the 29-year-old made it clear that he’s got his eyes on a higher prize.

“My buddies told me this morning, my victory was secure on the cross,” he said. “And that’s a pretty special feeling to know that I’m secure for forever, and it doesn’t matter if I win this tournament or lose this tournament. My identity is secure for forever.”

4. Clayton Kershaw

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Clayton Kershaw was always the kind of player who let his performance do the talking. Over 18 years pitching for the Dodgers, the left-hander racked up three Cy Young awards, 3,000 strikeouts, and three World Series titles — including last year’s, his final season.

He brings that quiet excellence to his life as a Christian as well, putting his time and energy into Kershaw’s Challenge, the Christian charity he and his wife run. When the Dodgers insisted on holding “Pride Night” in 2025, he countered by writing “Genesis 9:12-16” on his hat — drawing attention to the rainbow’s older, sacred meaning.

5. Stephen Curry

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Stephen Curry may have been born into basketball — his father played for the Charlotte Hornets — but it was his family’s deep faith that formed his life.

Early in his career as a Golden State Warrior, the gifted point guard made his priorities clear:

The Holy Spirit is moving through our locker room in a way I’ve never experienced before. It’s allowing us to reach a lot of people, and personally I am just trying to use this stage to share how God has been a blessing to my life and how He can be the same in everyone else’s.

More than a decade later, Curry is still at the top of his game — and making sure his three kids get the same faith-first upbringing he did.

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An old comment from Pope Leo XIV is circulating widely again on social media amid his ongoing apostolic journey to Africa, where he has been meeting with Muslim leaders and visiting Muslim holy sites, including the Grand Mosque of Algiers.

In December 2025, during an in-flight press conference on the papal plane returning from his trip to Turkey and Lebanon, the pope said, “I think one of the great lessons that Lebanon can teach to the world is precisely showing a land where Islam and Christianity are both present and are respected and that there is a possibility to live together, to be friends.”

He added: “I think those are lessons that would be important also to be heard in Europe or North America. We should perhaps be a little less fearful and look for ways of promoting authentic dialogue and respect.”

Liz Wheeler, BlazeTV host of “The Liz Wheeler Show,” is deeply disappointed to hear “the successor of Saint Peter [articulating] leftist political opinions.”

Liz shares some harrowing statistics: “93% of the 4,849 Christians who were murdered for their faith last year were murdered by Muslims, by Islamists, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa.”

“The pope is visiting Africa as we speak, and I would wonder if he visited the mass graves of the Catholics slaughtered in Africa,” she says, playing a video clip of a Nigerian Catholic priest pleading for Western intervention, as he stands behind the body of a woman murdered for her faith by Muslim radicals.

“[The pope] put a wreath on a Muslim grave yesterday in Algeria to commemorate Algerians that were killed in their war of independence. What he didn’t mention was these Algerians who were killed were fighting Catholics. They murdered Catholics,” she continues.

“It is discouraging to hear the pope tell us to be less fearful of Islam as if we’re in sin for this — for recognizing the fanatical nature of their religious belief in jihad, which is based on our observation that our differences with Muslims are not relegated to something in the past,” she says.

“It wasn’t just a battle during the Crusades centuries ago, but it’s happening now. The massacre of Christians is happening today in Africa at the hands of Islamists who are killing in the name of their religion.”

To hear more, watch the video above.

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