America’s pastime (baseball) enters its sprint toward the World Series, and the sport that is America’s pastime in more than just name (football) has fans transfixed from coast to coast.
Anyone who watches pro and college football or follows the drama of the baseball playoffs can’t help but notice something else that often competes for our attention amid the passes, pitches and home runs: religion.
Players point skyward to the Almighty after reaching the end zone or home plate, star athletes voice thanks and praise to their savior after a big win, and sports heroes use their media spotlight to promote the Christian message. (See University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and his eye-black, touting Scripture.)These are the outward signs of a faith surge that has made big-time sports one of the most outwardly religious sectors of American culture.
So Christianity is bearable and tolerable, so long as its adherents (particularly those who dare profess their faith in public fashion) do not make an exclusive truth claim. This is, then, in essence an argument that Christians should not be allowed to be Christians, since the essence of Christianity is that Christ and Christ alone can and does save. It is also, the writer’s nod to the Great Commission notwithstanding, an assertion that Christians who seek to share the Gospel because they actually believe that Gospel saves are somehow out of bounds and should be reined in. The poll cited regarding Americans believing there are multiple ways to heaven has elsewhere been criticized on the grounds that Baptist respondents might have been thinking of Methodists, Presbyterians thinking of Roman Catholics, etc. But even if those figures are correct, that to the Christian should be more compelling evidence, not less, for evangelism.
This is what passes as tolerance of Christianity in some quarters: let them believe what they want, as long as they don’t tell anyone–a “don’t ask don’t tell” policy for believers.
Maybe its the gray day here in Charleston compounded with a family fighting minor sicknesses, but this article made me sad.
As a Christian who happens to love sports, I just don’t understand what Jesus has to do with scoring a touchdown or hitting a homerun.
Chaplains in big league sports (the NCAA included) are part of a cultural protestantism that strips the real Christian message of its power.
Melanchthon, you’re correct that one shouldn’t conflate sporting achievement and winning games with properly living a Christian life, or make the suggesion that God is blessing people with touchdowns and such because they are Christians. Non-christians excel at sport also, after all. But the writer here goes far beyond that, wanting these very public Christians to be less so–especially if they believe the truth claims of Scripture. Surely it is helpful when those in high-visibility positions commit that visibility to God’s work. It sends a message that there is more to life than (in their case) sport; it shows kids that being a Christian doesn’t mean they have to be nerds and uncool; and it definitely helps bring others to Christ (consider as one example that of Tony Dungy). Yes, it can be trite and self-serving. But it can also be selfless (as the writer points out) and glorifying to God.