What do you do with public figures who wear their religion on their sleeves, who use their celebrity to extoll their beliefs, who advocate on behalf of political issues which speak to their faith commitments?
Let's call this the Tebow Quandary. Here we refer to incoming New York Jets' backup (?) quarterback and Evangelical icon Tim Tebow, who has somehow landed in one of the least Evangelical-friendly markets in the United States.
This is the question I ask on this week's episode of The Secular Center, a show devoted to thinking through basic issues of interest to those religious and non-religious people who consider themselves to be American secularists.
As I wrestle with this dilemma, I am pretty sure the answer to my questions above are: You don't do a thing. You exhibit tolerance. You shut your yapper. And you make noises only when certain lines are crossed.
This isn't France, after all. We don't have a long and hard-fought tradition of banning religious symbolism and iconography in public space (and I want to be very clear that the French have their profound historical reasons for doing so). Nor is there any constitutional requirement in this country that citizens refrain from openly discussing their faith.
But this does raise the question: What would be crossing a line?
Were Mr. Tebow to correlate his team's victories with some type of divine favor (as some of his fans seem inclined to do), we could accuse him of poor professionalism, not to mention having a shaky grasp of theology.
Were he to create a locker room atmosphere in which non-Evangelical athletes were made to feel uncomfortable, then that, too, would rouse the ire of secularists.
Were he to derisively call out or mock other faith traditions, that would clearly be a trespass upon the vaunted American tradition of religious tolerance and pluralism (i.e. secularism).
Were he to make noises about this being a "Christian nation," once again, we'd have cause for concern.
But the point I wish to make is that, up until now, we simply see a young athlete who is very serious about his faith and acting charitably in accord with the dictates of his conscience.
I render this verdict of "so far, so good," admittedly, with a lingering pessimism. The fact of the matter is that many American Evangelical icons have engaged in one or more of the aforementioned illegal procedures, personal fouls, and crackback blocks.
We have seen none of that in Mr. Tebow's behavior. What we have seen -- and I do wish all variety of secularists would consider his example -- is a commitment to building hospitals and helping sick children.
So while secularists may disagree with his extremely public exhibitions of faith -- I wish he would forego such effusions -- there presently doesn't seem to be much to complain about and a good deal to laud.
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Tim Tebow (and the Secular Jews) - Brainstorm - The Chronicle of ...
Byrne: Tim Tebow in the secular city
Why The Secular Left Dislikes Tim Tebow | The American Catholic
Let us be quite clear — Tim Tebow adheres to a particular form of American Protestantism. He belongs to — and proselytizes for — a splinter of a splinter, no more or less than Mitt Romney once did. This particular splinter has a long record in America of fostering anti-Enlightenment thought, retrograde social policies, and, more discreetly, religious bigotry.
Really, a peron does not have to be a secularist to have disdain for the showcasing of religion, they just need a sense of good taste.
If, for example, someone published an article in the Huffington Post that said, 'Tebow and/or his fans; wear their religion on their sleeves, extoll their beliefs, and advocate on behalf of political issues which speak to their faith commitments', it would be clear to a Tebow fan like me (a citizen of the Gator Nation) that the writer of such an article has some inaccruate perceptions of Tim and many of his fans.
Matthew 6:5-6: "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men....when thou prayest, enter into thy closet and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret...."
Tim Tebow... let me introduce the hypocrites. Hypocrites... Tim Tebow.
This behavior reinforces the idea that God blesses with success those who are righteous and "hard working" and holy and so therefore those who are winners, rich and powerful are blessed by God.
This is not just a harmless meme we can disagree about. This is a root cause of imperialism and chauvinistic attitudes about America. Every time Tebow does this he adds fuel to Christian and American triumphalism and it's horrible result of drones killing innocent Muslims around the world.
I didnt know freedom of speech was curtailed if you are talking to God.
I think the ego is that deceptive after all it has convinced thousands of scientists that a certain particle is catholic because without it there is no mass.
Talking to God can be done anywhere. I know the part of the bible you are refering to and I always took it to mean be humble in prayer and that you are not praying for the ears and eyes of other people but for the ears and eyes of God. That doesnt mean you have to hide everytime you pray, it simply means that sincerity of prayer can turn any place into a solitary moment between you and God. At least thats my take on it.
I do think it is not right to give a public display announcing that God is on my side and not on others' side who aren't as religious as me in the "right" way. In fact I think this kind of action directly leads to oppression and justification of the privileged in a hegemony.