In Jesus' Name

As I've written before, I don't necessarily dislike University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow. If even half of what's written about him is true, then he's probably a good guy. Given his public declarations of faith, it is impossible to think of Tebow without also thinking about his Christianity. Rhetorician that I am, I see his Christian commitment as neither inherently good nor bad. Christianity has done wonderful things for some people, while it has also contributed to devastating structures of oppression. So let's not pretend that someone is a good person simply because he is a Christian.

Unfortunately, most of America sees things differently. "Christian" automatically equals "good." In recent weeks, Sports Illustrated has given us a double-dose of this thinking, thus giving sport even more visibility as a window into Christian faith. In the July 6 issue, Lee Jenkins wrote a story called, "A Good Man Down," which detailed the tragic killing of Aplington-Parkersburg (Iowa) High School football coach, Ed Thomas. The sub-title of the article is telling:

"In Parkersburg, Iowa, it was a high school coach who led the townspeople out of the rubble of a tornado, showed them how to live a Christian life and brought honor to a football field he mowed himself. What they can't understand is why Ed Thomas was gunned down by a former player."


I am not disputing the assertion that Thomas was, in fact, a "good man." I simply don't know. But the most cursory reading of this article would certainly suggest that we are supposed to conclude Thomas was a good person because he was a Christian.


More recently, SI has featured, you guessed it, Tim Tebow on the cover. In the story, "You Gotta Love Tim Tebow," we are reminded over and over again that Tebow's gift to humanity isn't his football ability. It is his evangelical commitment to saving souls. Souls in the Philipines. Souls in prisons. Souls on his football team. You get the idea. Throughout the article, writer Austin Murphy expends so much energy touting Tebow's faith that you'd expect to see the Florida QB pictured hanging on a cross. It's not that far off, actually, as the "T" in "Tim" and "Tebow" are mutually designated by a cross for the article's headline, and in subsequent pages little grey crosses are used to mark column breaks. Subtle, SI, very subtle.


I'm not suggesting that the editors of Sports Illustrated are engaging in some kind of covert evangelistic project. Besides, they're hardly the only media outlet to prop up Christian athletes without the slightest bit of reflection. But it's reflection that is precisely needed, and here's why. As Murphy himself points out, the organizations for which so many Christian athletes perform their services are commonly affiliated with problematic political positions. Tebow's dad, Bob, for example, leads the Bob Tebow Evangelicstic Association, a mission-based group that believes, among other things, that anyone who has not given their lives to Jesus Christ will be sacrificed during the Rapture. Here is more specific language from the BTEA's website:

"We believe that at the end of the Millennium there will be one final rebellion of man ending in a last battle and victory of God. The universe will be destroyed, followed by the judgment at the Great White Throne. Here, all of the unregenerate of all time will be raised from the dead (rather, reunited with their bodies, for the unsaved dead are in hell now [Luke 16:19-31]) and judged on the basis of their works. Everyone judged according to his or her works will be cast into the lake of fire for all eternity (Revelation 20:11-15). Satan and the fallen angels will also be judged at this time and likewise be confined to the lake of fire for eternity (Jude 6; Revelation 20:11-15). The believer, based on the meritorious work of Christ, will enjoy the glories and bliss of God's presence in heaven for all eternity."


This is fire and brimstone, good versus evil kind of stuff. Sound familiar? It should, because it's the same kind of apocalyptic thinking that has seeped into too much contemporary Christian discourse and made its way to the highest levels of government in the United States. It's no accident, folks, that George W. Bush made the "war on terror" about "ridding the world of evil" (for more on the links between Bush and hardline fundamentalism, see Michelle Goldberg's book, Kingdom Coming).


In other words, when we encounter Christianity--or any faith, for that matter--in the world of sports, it isn't good to say, "Oh that's great, that person must be very nice." Christians, like anyone else, come in all varieties and some of them are real assholes. Tim Tebow may be a great guy, but each time some sanctimonious sportswriter reminds me of this, I can't help but grow weary.