A 10-second public prayer in tongues by University of Colorado Buffaloes head football coach and NFL legend Deion Sanders at the start of a postgame press conference after a 52-21 blowout win over Weber State University on Saturday has sparked a debate among Christians over whether the prayer was biblical.
Outspoken Evangelical Christian writer and commentator for OutKick Jon Root was among the first people to question the prayer by “Coach Prime” before dismissing it as unbiblical “nonsensical babbling” in a statement on X. Root’s X post has garnered nearly 500,000 views since Saturday.
“Colorado HC Deion Sanders attempted to ‘pray in tongues’ before starting a press conference,” he said. “This is nonsensical babbling. Not Biblical at all.”
Root’s statement sparked an intense debate, with many people agreeing and disagreeing with Root’s position.
He later followed up with a second statement on Sanders’ prayer, noting on X: “I have yet to hear a solid, Biblical defense that Deion Sanders is ACTUALLY speaking in tongues in this clip.”
Pastor and content creator Matt Green defended Sanders praying in tongues before his press conference as biblical, citing Scripture from I Corinthians 14, saying, “That’s an example of what Coach is doing.”
“Coach is building up; he’s strengthening himself; he’s getting ready,” Green said in a TikTok video. “He’s saying I need to speak in my heavenly language to the One that is going to bring me through this.”
In an NIV translation of I Corinthians, which highlights intelligibility in worship, the Apostle Paul, in verses 1 to 5, says that spirit-filled Christians can speak in tongues for personal edification and prophecy.
“Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit,” Paul said.
“But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging, and comfort. Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church,” the apostle added.
Sanders, who surrendered his life to Christ after a failed suicide attempt in 1997, has been vocal about his faith since then and has publicly spoken in tongues before.
A three-year-old video clip from September 2023 shows Sanders segueing into tongues while he delivered a prayer in English.
In 2022, Sanders, who is a Super Bowl winner and NFL Hall of Famer, shared with Chris Neely of “Thee Pregame Show” how he cried out to God after he was hospitalized in 2021 for blood clots in his leg. He described how he repeatedly prayed in tongues as he fought to recover from the illness he described as life-threatening.
“We may smell like the smoke because we’ve been through the fire. But I wouldn’t change none of it. I needed it. I love it, I’m proud of it, and I’m thankful for it. I got to really see God’s face and the different personalities of God, I feel,” he said of the experience.
“It was a blessing. Because I could have lost my life very easily. It was there. It was that thought process of losing my leg from the knee down. It was almost there,” he recalled.
“So when I look up and say thank you, Jesus, it’s because I know the quiet cries at night that were in that hospital,” he said. “I know all the speaking in tongues and the prayer, fellowship with God, and the praising Him, through and through. I’m pretty sure some of those nurses thought I was crazy.”
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