It's More Than A Little Weird To See 10,000 People Pray For Daniel Sedin's Concussed Brain

The Passion World Tour is an annual series of gatherings of college-age evangelicals for music and prayer. The 2012 tour kicked off on Friday at Vancouver's Rogers Arena, home of the Canucks and their concussed superstar Daniel Sedin. At one point during the festivities, Pastor Louie Giglio asked the crowd of over 10,000 people to join together in prayer for Sedin's recovery—in time for the playoffs, if you don't mind, God.

"We lift this team and this city unto you in the name of Jesus. And Lord, in particular, we pray for Daniel tonight in your strong name. And we pray Lord God, that you would put your hand on him, and you would touch him, and that he would sense and know that something is going on in his life tonight, and that full healing and recovery would come, Lord. And that his brain would be in your hands, Lord."

That's actually Daniel Sedin's helmet, because the whole idea was Paolo Aquilini's. Aquilini, one of the co-owners of the Canucks, is a born-again Christian and requested Giglio to lead the crowd in prayer.

The Canucks only confirmed Sedin's concussion on Monday, but would not give updates on his recovery or expected return. Study after study has shown that prayer offers no tangible benefits for healing, but the playoffs are two weeks away.

A friend of Deadspin was actually in attendance at Passion, and takes issue with the prayer.

"It was offensive, but not in the way you're going to write about," she says. "It was offensive because we're not all Canucks fans. I'm a Flames fan. The next Passion tour stop is in Rwanda. Do I have to go to that one to avoid having to help the Canucks?"

Pastor Louie Giglio prays for concussed Daniel Sedin, at the request of Paolo Aquilini [Pass It To Bulis]