Answer: No
Disclaimer: It is not our role to determine whether or not somebody is a Christian. We just use our discernment based on the evidence we have found on the internet to come to a likely or best-guess answer. Our answers do not actually determine who is or is not a Christian and it is ultimately between the person and God. Not us.
Shaquille Rashaun O’Neal who was born in March 1972 in Newark, New Jersey is a former professional Basketball star. The basketball player who is also known as “Shaq” played basketball for 19 years and is now a sports analyst for “Inside the NBA” television program. Shaq was named by the NBA as one of its 50 best players of all time.
Shaquille O’Neal played college football for Louisiana State University and started his professional Basketball career in 1992 when Orlando Magic drafted him and has since then won different awards for his exceptional talent. Some of these awards are; Four-time NBA Champion, three-time NBA Finals MVP 2000 NBA MVP, 15-time NBA All-Star, three-time NBA, All-Star Game MVP, Eight-time All-NBA First Team, Two-time All-NBA Second Team, Three-time NBA All-Defensive Second Team, 1993 NBA Rookie of the Year, Four-time All-NBA,
Shaq is also known to be a television personality and has up to four music albums to his name.
Shaquille O’Neal is a popular figure and as a result, many people want to know about his life and religion. Most people are also confused about the basketball player’s religion because he has identified with more than one religion. If you are one of such people, this article will explore comments and reports to determine the religious views and Christianity status of Shaquille O’Neal.
Is Shaquille O’Neal Religious?
Shaquille O’Neal grew up with his mother who was a devoted Christian of the Baptist denomination. Lucile O’Neal grew up in the church and was also raised by her mother, Odessa Chambliss who was known to be a Christian nurse.
The report has it that Shaquille O’Neal is a vegetarian.
According to Wikipedia, “Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter”.
During Thanksgiving in 2022, Shaquille O’Neal partnered with the Sheriff’s office of Henry County to welcome people in need into the Tabernacle of Praise Church to help them celebrate. The former basketball player named the act of charity “Thanksgiving”. He told CBS News:
“People are going through a lot, and I just want to make sure I do my part, seen and unseen.”
He is very charitable and is known to make donations to people in need and victims of bad circumstances. In 2022 Shaquille O’Neal bore the funeral cost of a 3-year-old boy who was killed by a stray bullet.
An article written by Oge Okonkwo and published by Pulse Nigeria confirms the charitable works of Shaquille. The article says:
“Shaquille O’Neal is known for his unbelievably successful NBA career, his success as a sports broadcaster and his graduating with his doctorate. Many may not know that O’Neal works very closely with two charities – O’Positive Foundation and Green My Parents (GMP). The O’Positive Foundation focuses on the needs of children and helps impoverished families get the education and necessities that they need to make it. While Green My Parents is an organization developed around the environmental economic movement. GMP focuses on the importance of a healthy environment, energy consumption, and how to engage children and parents into making eco-responsible changes within their homes and lifestyles”.
O’Neal had a difficult childhood and he went to jail for almost killing another kid because he was heading down the wrong path. In a statement made to the PEOPLE magazine, he said
“Every time I went to a place, I made my name quickly, I’d find out who ‘the guy’ was, study him, and I’d beat him up. Take his spot. Everybody knew who I was. I almost killed a kid. They showed me the jail. I shifted everything into becoming the class clown. Just to make people like me. It was [another] mechanism for [dealing with my insecurity]. I wasn’t a leader yet. I was a follower on the wrong path.”
Even though O’Neal is not a conventionally religious person, his lifestyle is unique. The star is a preacher of unity and love irrespective of color, religion, and ethnicity.
In a recent interview with Basketball Network, he said,
“One thing you have to understand about me, is I’m not on that black-and-white kick. Even though I’m a hard-core brother in some ways, I’m not on that racist bandwagon. Never been. Never will be. My mother and father taught me to respect people as people. My father is Muslim. You could say he’s down with Malcolm X. But just the same way Malcolm X found out that Muslims are other colors when he made a pilgrimage to Mecca, my father understands that people are people. He taught me that, growing up around different nationalities and cultures on army bases. To this day, I’m not one of those brothers who surrounds himself with only friends from the hood—because I think those are the only people that understand where I came from. My chef, who also happens to be my good friend, is white. One of my personal assistants and closest friends from high school is half-Thai, half-Italian. In short, color does not matter to me. You are who you are.”
Does Shaquille O’Neal Believe in God?
In a recent interview with The Christian Post, Shaquille O’Neal said that he believes in God. The comment was:
“Most definitely. I believe that God is the head of my household. I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe that God is the reason why I’m here today. My faith has helped me get through a lot of tough times. It’s helped me get through the death of my sister, it’s helped me get through my divorce, it’s helped me get through a lot of things.”
Is Shaquille O’Neal a Christian?
Shaquille O’Neal was born to a Baptist mother and a Muslim stepfather and as a result, it is difficult to determine which religion he conforms with.
Secondly, the former professional Basketball player said that he identifies with more than one religion. While giving a speech in 2010, he talked about making plans to attend the Islamic pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia known as “Hajj” which took place in 2019.
In 2010 when a reporter asked him which religion he belongs to, the basketball star said; “I’m a Muslim, a Jew, a Buddhist, a natural person, and everybody’s welcome because I’m just a guy.”
In response to this, a Twitter user “The Tentative Apologist” tweeted:
“When asked about his religion, Shaquille O’Neal said “I’m Muslim, I’m Jewish, I’m Buddhist. I’m everybody ’cause I’m a people person.” Um, obfuscating about your religious identity doesn’t make you a ‘people person’”.
Shaquille O’Neal once stated that his name is of Islamic origin. In a video he said he asked his mother about his name and the mother told him that he wanted to name him something special. Below is the statement:
“I said, ‘We have Brians and Kennys and Mikes and Gregs in our family, why did you name me Shaquille?’ ‘I wanted to name you something that meant something.’ My name is Shaquille Raushaun O’Neal, Shaquille is an Islamic name, it means ‘little,’ and Raushaun means ‘warrior.’ She said, ‘You my little warrior, I fought with you, I fought for you.’ She tells me a story that as a two-year-old I was very very over-sized for a two-year-old. So, of course, kids three and under ride a bus for free. So she would drag me up to the bus and the guy was like, ‘Hey you gotta pay the extra money,’ and my mom would say, ‘No, he’s only two,’ so I saw her fistfight with a bus driver one time.”
Moreover, Shaquille O’Neal once called one of his friends who is also an NBA player, Hakeem Olajuwon, “Another Muslim brother.”
Is Shaquille O’Neal Baptized?
Shaquille O’Neal has not disclosed if he is baptized or not and there are no reports that suggest that he has been baptized. As such we do not know his baptism status.
What did Shaquille O’Neal say about Jesus?
Shaquille O’Neal has not said much about Jesus, but in a recent interview with The Christian Post, he talked about his belief in Jesus Christ. He said:
“I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe in the Holy Spirit”
Shaquille O’Neal is known to be very outspoken about his views and ideas. For instance, he once argued that the earth is flat instead of round as we have been taught. In the statement he made in 2017, he said:
“it is true, the Earth is flat. Yes, it is. I drive from coast to coast, and this s*** is flat to me. I’m just saying. I drive from Florida to California all the time, and it’s flat to me. I do not go up and down at a 360-degree angle. Listen, there are three ways to manipulate the mind — what you read, what you see, and what you hear. In school, the first thing they teach us is, ‘Oh, Columbus discovered America,’ but when he got there, there were some fair-skinned people with long hair smoking on the peace pipes. So, what does that tell you? Columbus didn’t discover America”
Conclusion
Shaquille O’Neal’s religious stance is quite complex because of his statements and affiliation with different religions. Sometimes he identifies as a Muslim and other times he will identify with other religions. His mother was a Christian while his stepfather was a Muslim and he once claimed to believe in Jesus. As a result, we are not certain of O’Neal’s status as a Christian. If we were to guess, we would say probably not.
Think we were wrong? Write your reasoning in the comments and prove us wrong!