The Morning Meeting with Al Tompkins is a daily Poynter briefing of story ideas worth considering and other timely context for journalists, written by senior faculty Al Tompkins. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.
Keep in mind that I am married to a United Methodist minister, so you can filter my thoughts through that lens. But I am always struck by how many Americans offer “thoughts and prayers” in painful moments like watching Damar Hamlin being rushed off the football field Monday night. I am struck because polling shows that most Americans do not pray daily. Nearly one in four Americans say they don’t pray at all.
(Pew)
The majority of Evangelicals, Mormons, Historically Black Protestants and Muslims say they pray daily, but Jehovah’s Witness adherents lead all other religions with 90% saying they pray every day.
(Pew)
Generally, 30-49 year-olds pray most often according to Pew’s research.
(Pew)
You can look at the questions Pew asked as part of their survey. I always recommend looking at the research tool before reporting results. Pew also says in the survey footnotes that people sometimes report that religion is more important when they are responding to a researcher than the respondent might claim if they were answering in a self-administered survey.
The most recent Gallup polling shows that one in five Americans do not believe in God.
(Gallup)
Gallup has been asking Americans about their religious views since 1944, and this trend shows belief in God hit a new low last year. Gallup summarized its findings:
Gallup first asked this question in 1944, repeating it again in 1947 and twice each in the 1950s and 1960s. In those latter four surveys, a consistent 98% said they believed in God. When Gallup asked the question nearly five decades later, in 2011, 92% of Americans said they believed in God.
A subsequent survey in 2013 found belief in God dipping below 90% to 87%, roughly where it stood in three subsequent updates between 2014 and 2017 before this year’s drop to 81%.
Which brings me to Monday night, when football players knelt in tearful prayer, and fans and TV anchors offered thoughts and prayers. But Gallup’s polling finds only about four in 10 people, less than half of Americans, believe that God hears prayers and intervenes. Gallup summarized:
About half of those who believe in God – equal to 42% of all Americans – say God hears prayers and can intervene on a person’s behalf. Meanwhile, 28% of all Americans say God hears prayers but cannot intervene, while 11% think God does neither.
(Gallup)
Journalists generally shy away from asking people about their religious beliefs. When a politician or sports figure offers thoughts and prayers, would it hurt to ask, “What are you praying for? How sure are you that would matter?” In my experience, people who are comfortable with their own beliefs are not afraid to offer thoughts on such questions. Maybe ask thoughtful people to kick those questions around for everyone to consider before they offer thoughts and prayers as if they’re talking to a short-order fry cook. And be open to voices that do not offer the usual thoughts and prayers but still express genuine heartfelt concerns in their own non-religious way.
Could your local athletic leagues provide the lifesaving response that saved Damar Hamlin?
When Damar Hamlin collapsed in cardiac arrest, NFL emergency response protocols had first responders on the field in seconds, ready to perform CPR, which medical experts say saved his life.
Keep in mind, this is the first time that a player suffered cardiac arrest on the field since 1971, when Lions’ wide receiver Chuck Hughes suffered a heart attack and died. In that case, the underlying cause of death was an undiagnosed heart condition.
This might be a time to consider how sports leagues for players of all ages and skills are prepared to quickly respond to a medical incident.
The National Institutes of Health says that when the heart stops, quick action can save one in four patients. But when it takes more than three minutes to restart a heart, only about three in 100 people survive.
In an NFL game, there are 30 medical officials on hand for each game. But what medical backup is on hand for high school sports? Think beyond the football games in Texas that attract college-sized crowds. Think about hockey, soccer and baseball games. Does everybody get the same protection?
One other consideration is whether teams have given enough thought to the equipment that protects players’ chests. Commotio cordis, which may be what Hamlin experienced, is a bruising of the heart caused by blunt trauma. It is rare but happens more often in baseball and hockey. In fact, the Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends soft “safety” baseballs “to reduce the risk of soft tissue trauma.” The CPSC says there is a “correlation between CC events and the hardness of a baseball. Unfortunately, safety baseballs will probably not eliminate CC.”
Every year, high school students die playing sports. Of the 4.2 million players on football teams in 2021, from Pop Warner to pro players, The National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research reports:
NCCSIR found a total of 20 fatalities among football players of all play levels (four college and 16 high school).
• Of these 20 deaths, four were directly related to football participation,
• 13 were indirectly related to football participation, and
• Three deaths were non-football or non-exertion related.
• The overall rate was 0.48 per 100,000 players
The National Athletic Trainers Association recommends:
• Athletes should undergo cardiovascular screenings before participation in competitive activities.
• Ensure that appropriate health care professionals, such as athletic trainers or sports-medicine trained physicians are educated in the evaluation and management of cardiac emergencies and are immediately available at all events.
• An automated external defibrillator (AED) should be on-site and readily available within three minutes (with one minute being ideal) for all organized sports activities.
• School staff, medical professionals, parents, coaches and athletes should be educated annually about location and use of AEDs.
• Any athlete who has collapsed and is unresponsive should be assumed to be in SCA until proven otherwise.
• Proper management includes: prompt recognition of SCA (brief seizure-like activity occurs in 50 percent of young athletes with SCA and should not be mistaken for a seizure); early activation of the EMS system (call 9-1-1); early CPR beginning with chest compressions; early use of an AED; and transport of the patient with SCA to a hospital capable of advanced cardiac care.
• Athletes who have cardiovascular symptoms, such as chest pain, excessive or new shortness of breath or exertional fatigue, should be evaluated by a physician and require medical clearance before returning to sports participation. Patients with an identified cardiac disorder, unexplained symptoms or prior sudden cardiac event, should be cleared by a cardiologist.
Do your local schools, leagues have AEDs available? Can they be ready to use within a minute of a medical emergency? How often are coaches, officials and others in the vicinity of games and practices educated about AED and CPR use?
The growing refugee crisis in the Florida Keys
Over the New Year’s weekend, 300 migrants from Cuba arrived by boat at Dry Tortugas National Park in the Florida Keys. Yesterday, another 200 migrants from Haiti packed into a boat landed near Key Largo.
The Dry Tortugas National Park website said, “Like elsewhere in the Florida Keys, the park has recently seen an increase in people arriving by boat from Cuba and landing on the islands of Dry Tortugas National Park. Park first responders provide food, water and basic medical attention until the Department of Homeland Security arrives and takes the lead.”
So many people from Cuba are arriving in the Florida Keys that days could go by before federal officials are able to pick up migrants on the side of U.S. 1 to be processed, according to local law enforcement. Since Friday, more than 500 Cubans arrived in the island chain. So many landed in a group of sparsely inhabited islands off Key West that the federal government was forced to close the Dry Tortugas National Park on Sunday. The situation is frustrating local officials. Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay issued a statement Monday calling the scenes playing out on the sides of the Keys’ only major highway a “federal failure” that is “creating a humanitarian crisis.”
Cubans trying to flee their country may travel by sea to Florida or attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Under long-standing agreements with Havana, migrants interdicted at sea by the Coast Guard are sent back to the island. Those who land on U.S. soil — including the Florida Keys — are transferred to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and generally allowed to remain in the United States to seek asylum or humanitarian refuge.
The Coast Guard sent 80 asylum seekers back to Cuba last week.
WPLG showed video of the ship packed with Haitians seeking asylum. The migrants told reporter Christina Vazquez, that they risked their lives at sea for three days, and one man said that if he is sent back to Haiti he will “try to make the trip again the next day.”
