Read “The religion of football,” a June 4, 2010, post at CNN’s Belief Blog about the parallels one author sees between his religion and his passion for soccer.

Read a May 27, 2010, column at the Huffington Post by Jim Wallis of Sojourners, a leader of the religious left.

Another is a June 10, 2010, piece at The Huffington Post, “Love and Devotion: The World Cup and the ‘Religion’ of Soccer,” by Bradley B. Onishi, a doctoral candidate in the religious studies department at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Read a June 7, 2010, blog post at Beliefnet.com by Mark Silk, Professor of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College about whether or not Christianity and the Tea Party are compatible.

One of those stories is a June 11, 2010, item from Baptist Press’ sports pages about evangelicals using the World Cup spotlight to witness to their faith.

Read a July 22, 2010, Religion New Service story posted on the Washington Post site discussing whether or not the Tea Party is compatible with Christianity.

Read “Is God watching World Cup soccer?,” a June 13, 2010, entry at USA Today‘s religion blog, Faith & Reason, which rounds up a number of stories related to religion and the tournament.

Read “The Evangelicalism of Brazil,” a June 14, 2010, post at the World Cup blog of The New Republic, about the number of dedicated evangelical Protestants on Brazil’s team and what it says about religion in what was once a Catholic stronghold in Latin America.

“Who’s Afraid of Sacred Soccer?” is a June 16, 2010, essay at ReligionDispatches.org by Gary Laderman, head of the Department of Religion at Emory University.