Tim Tebow, the Denver Broncos young starting quarterback, is joyful, grateful, cheerful and publicly singing the praises of his particular religious faith. So what’s all the fuss and disgruntled frustration about?
Not much, in my opinion. A tempest in an NFL teapot, and a dandy way for extremists to do what they do best: be extreme and a tad silly.
On the anti-religious extremist side are annoyed haters angry at Tebow’s frequent outbursts of religious fervor. Prime among that ugly ilk is a website, TebowHaters.com, that proudly spews stupidly disgusting bile about the smiling 24-year-old who was born in the Philippines to Baptist missionary parents.
Adding fuel to the raging Tebow fire, atheist comedian Bill Maher tactlessly tweeted after the Broncos lost to the Buffalo Bills, “Wow. Jesus just (expletive deleted) Tebow bad. And on Xmas Eve!”
Friends, haters act with hate. We know that. But like all Americans, haters have first amendments rights to freedom of speech in our great country. If they choose to define themselves through cruel and hate-laced words, why do you care? Ignore them. Tune them out. For your own mental health, let it go.
On the conservative-evangelical-or-bust side are Christian apologist extremists who reject the views of all who don’t pass their true-believer litmus tests. Commonly, true-believer hardliners demonize those who disagree with them, and idolize those who agree with them. And they simply can’t tolerate disagreement with their rigid beliefs.
Michael Medved, conservative Christian political commentator, lavishly illustrates in the Wall Street Journal laughably extremist idolatry of Mr. Tebow:
“… a remarkable athlete whose behavior on field and off exemplifies the values of hard work, fearlessness and concern for the downtrodden…
“So why should Tim Tebow draw more resentment than other religious athletes? In part, it stems from the fact that he’s too apparently flawless to evoke much sympathy from the uninitiated… most males look at Mr. Tebow and see a virtuous rebuke to our own limitations and imperfections.”
Idolizers and obsessive religious lionizers also have first amendments rights to freedom of speech in America, of course. Clearly, Tim Tebow is Michael Medved’s golden calf of the moment, as the football player is for thin-skinned others who especially revere Tebow’s public confessions of faith.
Again, who cares? Extremists are, well, extreme, whether their antics are hateful or downright dumb and nonsensical.
The reality about Tim Tebow is this: He’s joyful, grateful, cheerful and publicly singing the praises of his brand of religion. He’s also very young, and possibly not as mature as many 24-year-olds who’ve not focused the last 15 years of their lives on football.
Tim Tebow is an imperfect human being, a man with a feet of clay, just like the rest of us. In my view, he’s amply proved his imperfection in two mildly annoying ways:
- By continually using every possible public forum to gush about his passion for Jesus Christ. We get the message. You’re a strong Christian, and you love the Lord.
I agree with tongue-in-cheek advice from the controversial Saturday Night Live skit: Take it down a notch, Tim. After all, remember Matthew 6:5: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.”
- Conflating his joyous religious fervor, in TV commercials, with a powerful ultra-conservative political lobbying organization, Focus on the Family. Tebow flagrantly introduced politics into the discussion, not his critics. Tebow supporters shouldn’t whine because political opponents respond. It’s the way of American democracy and of American free speech.
So what’s a befuddled football aficionado to do if he detests being subjected to Tim Tebow’s frequent on-mike declarations of gratitude to Jesus Christ? Take a Doritos break. Grab another Corona. Turn off TV.
Or maybe watch. After all, Tim Tebow seems like a charismatic, watchable guy. “… a clean-living quarterback with deep commitments to charitable service” amid the NFL which unarguably is “generously stocked with forgiven felons, including millionaire wife beaters and dog killers,” in the words of Mr. Medved.
Lighten up! What’s not to like?
No one likes sanctimony. You don’t have to be an extremist to consider his proselytizing tedious and annoying. Like everyone who pushes religion.