A few months prior to the 2008 election my friend The Destroyer of Colons asked me, “When Bush is gone, who are liberals going to hate?” He was only half joking. “Not to worry,” I assured him with a smile, “liberals can always find someone to designate as an object of their hatred.”
When I was in high school the priest who was teaching our Senior year psychology class had us write an essay based on the quote, “If God did not exist man would have to create him.” This was many years ago, but I recall my conclusion being something to the effect of saying that given mankind’s emotional and psychological needs if God did not exist we would have to create some divine being to believe in to give our lives greater meaning.
This was actually a blog post I was kicking around last year, looking back on 2008 when the focus of the left’s anger was directed toward Sarah Palin. It was almost surreal watching the hateful delight they took in watching our press journalistically rape her family while these same “professionals” ignored trivial matters like the horrifically flawed economic policies or lack of experience and questionable past of one party’s actual presidential candidate. Personally I’m not a big Palin fan – I see her as someone with very real flaws to go with some very real accomplishments, but the way she enunciates just grates on me (sorry, that’s just me). Then again, at least I generally agree with the substance of what she’s saying and if her speaking manner is fingernails on a blackboard to me hearing her talk is probably a tabasco sauce enema to leftists. For that matter, the fact that the very mention of her name can send most leftists into a seething, purple-faced rage will always earn her a place in my heart. Not to mention this past summer’s bus tour when the same press who had so much fun dumpster diving through her and her family’s lives were now crying that she was treating them like paparazzi – that was a thing of beauty.
Getting back on topic, it seems that no matter what the time is, the left has to have someone as their focus as their anger. Even in those early days of the Obama presidency when all was right in the world their focus went toward Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck – reliable standbys. And then came the Tea Party. If you missed it the first time, check out my two part posting illustrating the left’s anger toward the Tea Party as told through the five stages of death and dying.
The left threw out every bit of hateful invective that they had in their arsenal. The Tea Party was labeled astroturfers, racists, seditionists, idiots, rubes, and terrorists. Their crowning slur came when none of these charges stuck and the left threw to the most disrespectful, malevolent smear they could find toward the Tea Party – they compared the Tea Party to leftists.
Another interesting case study in leftist anger is the comic strip Doonesbury. While I once enjoyed it as an actual comic, over the last decade it’s morphed into a sounding board for the angry and bitter leftist, Garry Trudeau. From 2000 – 2008 his range of topics could be summed up as:
- Hatred for George Bush
- Hatred for Fox News
- Hatred for George Bush
- Hatred for Schwarzenegger
- Hatred for George Bush
And of course, during the 2008 presidential campaign Sarah Palin joined this crowd. Mix in some patronizing, if not outright disdain for the military, and that pretty much sums up every comic not involving the personal lives of the characters, although these themes are generally woven in as well. One would expect that with a president as spectacularly inept as President Obama, Trudeau would have a field day. So naturally his strips have become focused on hated for Palin, Donald Trump, the Tea Party, and of course sympathy for the OWSers and their distaste for… prosperity?
After following the progression of Bush-Chaney-Palin-Limbaugh- Beck-Tea Partiers-The Un-Romney of the Month, we find ourselves at Tim Tebow. For those of you unfamiliar Tim Tebow is a pro football player, and is currently the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos. He has gained fame for his erratic style of play, leading his team to several improbable come-from behind wins. That made him famous in the sports world, but what took him beyond was his religion. To build on Dr. John’s analysis, Tebow became famous for combining his unusual talents with his spiritual beliefs. Tim Tebow is a devout Christian, and is quite public about it. “Tebowing”, the act of kneeling and bowing one’s head in prayer with fingertips on your forehead has become a national sensation in itself. He gained some notoriety for painting scripture verses in his eye black while playing college ball at the University of Florida. Tebow also caused a minor uproar during last year’s Super Bowl when he starred in an ad for a Pro-Life group, telling about how his mother had an at risk pregnancy where abortion was recommended, and how happy Tim Tebow and his mother were that she chose to have him. This created a bit of controversy, but no more than if a tasteful Pro-Choice ad had aired during the Super Bowl starring a famous female athlete. An example off of the top of my head would be if a top track star mentioned how getting pregnant in high school would have cost her a college scholarship and ensured a life in the impoverished place where she grew up. An ad like that would have gotten some criticism on the right, and would probably have blown over as quickly as Tebow’s ad did.
But then Tebow did the unforgivable – he became a famous Christian who is open about his faith. With the Denver Broncos’ poor play early on in the 2011 season Tim Tebow, who opened the season at #3 on the Broncos’ depth chart at Quarterback, was now the starter. And he started winning. And winning. And winning ugly. The team adjusted its offense to make the best use of Tebow’s athleticism and, let’s face it, terrible passing accuracy. Tebow had this strange habit of playing badly for three quarters and then pulling out an almost miraculous victory. I saw one person nickname Tebow “Uncle Miltie”, based on an NSFW-ish story about the late comedian Milton Berle that ends with the punch line, “just enough to win.”
The end of regular season’s performance (losses) by Tebow and the Broncos have bought Tebowmania back to Earth, but during his ascent and decline and once again ascent in his playoff win over the Steelers we’ve seen no shortage of venom from the left directed at this young man. David Schuster, the always reliably unhinged Bill Maher, even one of the more rational leftists in Bill Press all took their turns attacking Tebow. Heck, even The Nation, not exactly known as a sports publication, had to write several articles on the quarterback that the left loves to hate.
Why all of this hatred for someone who has done nothing wrong, or broken any laws? For that matter, while some may find his openness about his faith obnoxious, Tebow isn’t out trying to beat everyone he meets over the head with a Bible and preaching conversion. You know what else he isn’t doing? He’s not doing drugs. He’s not driving drunk. He’s not participating in dog fighting rings. He’s not bringing guns into nightclubs. He’s not fathering children out of wedlock to several different mothers. And he’s not murdering anyone. Granted, the matelote in each of the scenarios I just mentioned have gotten varying degrees of scorn for their actions, but none that were so ideologically centered. So why do leftists give the athletes in the categories I just mentioned a pass while directing so much venom at one man who most people would actually be happy to see their sister or daughter dating? It’s the same reason the left has so much hatred for the likes of Sarah Palin or the Tea Party.
They have to. Leftist policy just doesn’t work in the real world – look at Communism in Soviet Russia, Europe’s socialistic gradual death spiral (and that’s despite the US subsidizing their national defense) or or that matter, look no further than the White House. When Oregon was considering an Obamacare/Romneycare-esque health care mandate The Destroyer of Colons mused, “I hope that this bill passes, just so we can show leftists once and for all that government run health care doesn’t work.” I just shook my head and responded, “That won’t happen. Leftist policies never fail because they are bad ideas, only because greedy individuals refuse to throw enough money at their bad ideas.”
This is what leads to the Left’s permanent state of anger. When your bad ideas don’t work you can either reflect on them and learn from it, or you can cling to your bad ideas and be angry because nobody gets your genius. Without introspection as an option, a target must be found – hence the left’s continuous rotating figurehead as the object of their anger.
Even worse is how badly it is often misdirected. Look at the OWS’ers and their anger at… something. Granted, most of the movement is made up of Unionistas, career grievance mongers (Code Pink, ACORN, etc), students who have no idea what the real world is like, and criminals. These are all traditional Democrat-leaning groups, but at some point one would think that the Obama-rose-colored glasses have to come off and the realization has to set in that the president and Congress are the reason our economy is flagging. Maybe people who demonize profitability and threaten to punish the prosperity that leads to job creation are why companies are afraid to hire. On a personal level, maybe their facial piercings, lack of personal hygiene, and sense of entitlement are why nobody wants to hire them for any of the ever-scarcer job openings. Sorry, but the 12-16 years spent getting gold stars and being told you’re special for just showing up are over.
Again, rather than look at the causes of their unhappiness it is easier for the left to lash out in unthinking rage. The worst example that would actually be comical if it weren’t so disgusting was the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords. So blinded by their hatred for Sarah Palin were the leftists that they had to manufacture an excuse to pretend that she was somehow responsible for the shooting. To make matters worse, when she called them on their idiocy, they double downed on stupid and got even angrier at her simply for pointing out the error of their ways. And the sad part is the lefties started shrieking about how classless and stupid Palin was for doing so, when the place they should have been looking was the mirror.
This is not to say that all leftists are constantly out looking for someone to hate to fill the void in their lives. I understand that the tone of this post is a lot more accusatory than what I usually write but, as I dispel my own straw man a better question does come from it. Why does there always seem to be someone in the news who is the object of leftist anger, and why is it so viscous?
So where will Tebow go? Maybe he fizzles out by losing to the New England Patriots this weekend as badly as he did a few weeks ago, or maybe he goes on to win the Super Bowl.
"Only Tim Tebow can save us now!"
My favorite take on Tebow came in ESPN columnist DJ Gallo’s weekly satire of Peter King’s "Monday Morning Quarterback." In this week’s "The Hangover" Gallo speculates as to where Tebow may be in twelve years:
"Will a wholesome, handsome ex-football star who can draw the religious vote and appeal to the tens of millions of Oprah-loving pop psychologists win 51 percent of the vote in the 2024 presidential election? No, he will win 91 percent of the vote in the 2024 presidential election. The 9 percent who don’t vote for him will just be hard-core Raiders, Chargers, Chiefs, Alabama, LSU, Georgia and Ron Paul fans."
Tebow for President in 2024!
I’m kidding, of course. The only person to get Brother Bob’s coveted endorsement for president is none other than the great Stannis Baratheon.
But until then we have Tim Tebow.
Well said! I love how they vilified the tea party for years on end, then attempted to compare OWS to it!
Nicely done and spot on. One could argue that the reason that Tebow, Palin, et al are vilified is because the left is allowed to do so unfettered. It seems to me that whenever a Republican is in position to to defend the targets of the lefts concocted rage, they either ignore it pretending that they are above it all, or do so with such meekness that it really has not effect. Its one of the major reasons behind the Tea Party movement. The lack of Republicans to stand up and fight for what they believe in. The Republican Establishment truly is clueless as to why people are leaving them in droves and this for me was a major reason. I will not fight for a party that allows itself yo get slapped around for no other reason then because its easier to deal with it that way. And this is not just Bush, Palin and Tebow. Many before them were left to fend for themselves while Republicans looked away. Clarence Thomas, Robert Bork, Dan Quayle, even Newt Gingrich have all been victims of the left. Add to this the Tea Party itself, but in this instance, like Gingrich in the 90’s, factions of the Republican Party are abetting the attackers.
Baratheon/Snow 2012
Hell Ya!
Sorry to rain on the Tebow parade but I hope the Patriots crush him on Saturday.
P! A! T! S! PATS! PATS! PATS!
Rabid leftists need someone to be the focus of their hate and to feel superior to.
Tebow is a phenomenon. More importantly, he’s an original. He’s got a lot of the Frank Sinatra “My Way” attitude about him.
I love sports. You can read and watch 400 year old Shakespeare dramas or you can watch polar opposites (Tebow and Brady) do battle in the real world, in real time.
So much in today’s world is entirely artificial, contrived, and illusory. In the entertainment world (including theater and cinema), it’s close to 100% fake. Sport is real.
2012 is going to be a great year in Sport.
The Sinner vs The Redeemer (Brady v Tebow)
Olympics
Presidential Election(no, that one is definitely artificial and contrived).– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach CA
P.S. Just read a totally great article (highly recommended) about the spread offense (both shotgun and zone read variants), and it had the following quote (which nicely recapitulates what I wrote in my previous comment):
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach CA
Is Tebow-hatred just a diversion from REAL attempts by Obama to destroy religious liberty in the USA?
Read the whole thing: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/01/11/supreme-court-delivers-knockout-punch-to-white-house/#ixzz1jCOvKIcq
Thanks for the props everyone, but I need to give one special shoutout – In all of the comments that Larry W. has written on my posts I think this is the first time I have completely agreed with him!
It’s another Tebow miracle!
And I’ve been away for so long I forgot to include the post’s link back to my own site:
http://brother-bobs-blog.blogspot.com/2012/01/if-tim-tebow-did-not-exist-left-would.html
Rock on everybody!
You are right, Nan. It’s a huge case. Hard to argue against 9-0. In my own opinion, though, it wasn’t an attempt to “attack religion,” but it was an (unfortunately misguided) attempt to defend the Americans with Disabilities Act and general worker protections. The same EEO lawsuit would have been brought, no matter whom the employer. The Court did its job in establishing a limit to the ADA, in this particular case.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach CA
It’s simple really, the hate they spew, they don’t like decent people. Plain and simple.
Where did skook go?
I’m a ‘leftist’ and I love Tebow. I saw his last game as a Gator in the Swamp.
You follow Fox like a dog sniffing ass and believe the public and the media’s bullshit hatred for him. It’s a moronic wingnut fabrication.
Yeah, some leftists have criticized him for his public displays but the wingnut media blows it up to keep their minions outraged.
I am a Christian too (I can hear the cognitive dissonance all the way over here) but I cringe when to see ‘born agains’ who feel they have to put on public displays.
Please don’t feed the troll, folks…
A guy taking a knee in prayer during a football game makes you cringe?
Only kilobytes and my time would be wasted to respond further.
Go Patriots!
@Nan G: I think one of the fascinating things about Hosanna-Tabor is the tangle of evident misunderstandings or animosities between the key players in the fact set, which became the foundation for a major First Amendment ruling:
* Perich is diagnosed with narcolepsy in December;
* in January the doctor tells her she can return to the classroom in February;
* she passes that info on to her principal;
* three days later, the principal tells the congregation he doesn’t think she’ll be able to return to teaching that year or the next;
* they ask for her resignation;
* a week later, the doctor gives her unconditional permission to return to teaching.
Why did the principal think he was more of an authority than the doctor on Perich’s ability to work? Did the school and church want to get rid of her for some other reason and see this as just a convenient opportunity? I’d love to know more about the interpersonal dynamic there. But those were the facts entered at trial, and thus all the facts available to the Circuit Court and to SCOTUS. So that’s the platform they used to talk about the First Amendment.
But I’m absolutely stunned that it was a 9-0 ruling. Thomas, Alito and Kagan concurred (Thomas in one opinion and Alito and Kagan in another), but even so, I would never have expected Ginsberg, Sotomayor and Kagan to join in. The Court never loses its capacity to surprise.
Here’s a much more detailed recap than Fox gives. It’s written by Lyle Denniston, a legal journalist who has covered the High Court for over 50 years.
@openid.aol.com/runnswim: The idea that this wasn’t an attempt to attack religion would be news to both Leondra Kruger, the Assistant S.G. who argued the case, and C.J. Roberts, who penned the opinion. Kruger argued on religious grounds: against the ministerial exception and against the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod requirement that differences be arbitrated by church tribunals rather than courts. At one point she said,
And Nan G’s link indicates that the Chief Justice framed his response in equally religious, rather than ADA or EEO terms:
Actually, most of what I hear about Tebow is from the myth-making right-wing.
@Hard Right: if it weren’t for us “leftists” what would you have to whine and moan about? who would be left for you to try and brainwash and convert?
Liberalmann
MY GOSH, you drawn me back at it after closing another POST, where I brilliantly won the 4 the 5 and the 600, [one have to brags itself sometimes]
well TEBOW, is not dressing himself with his religion, which make you remember the blood spilled
FROM THE BRAVES MILITARY and so viciously done with the ENEMIES EIDS,
EVERY TIME YOU SEE ONE OF THEM WEARING IT TO PROUDLY TELL OF WHO THEY ARE COMING FROM.
BROTHER BOB, GREAT POST, THANK’S for the opportunity
@Brother Bob: please don’t feed the hate, Bob.
@ilovebeeswarzone: Bee…Tebow wore scripture on his eye black in college and i’m sure would still if the NFL allowed it.
how is that NOT “dressing himself with his religion”???
your hypocrisy makes me sick sometimes.
Bees the “other post” isn’t closed.You were accused of being a bigot,a hypocrite an islamaphobe.For starters. Your defense was weak and your supporters few.Your self centered victory dance sad to see.
CAS Marines pictured in video will be court-martialled.
Semper Fi
@ilovebeeswarzone: are you proud of these WARRIORS, Bee? where is the pride and respect for life, death, or humanity?
@Richard Wheeler: i hope you understand i am not clumping all Marines into this category…just trying to make a point. i respect our armed forces. i have 3 cousins who are Navy Seals who spent many years overseas.
@dee:
possibly the most absurd comment i’ve read here. i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again…it’s not Tebow i have a problem with…it’s the army of bigoted religious fanatics who want to put him on a pedestal like some false messiah.
Richard Wheeler and Andrew
you are both TROLLS, IN THE SAME DIRTY BAG, out to attack and discredit the CONSERVATIVES, because you can’t stand them being smarter than you 2 trolls,
keep targeting me, but don’t touch my friends THE BEST OF WHAT AMERICA IS,
PUT THAT IN YOUR PIPE AND SMOKE IT
@C Andrew Scott: Our entire society has a huge problem with putting people on pedestals. As Bob Dylan opined years ago, “Gotta Serve Somebody.” And gotta worship somebody, too. Unfortunately, most of the foci of our worship are way too small, Tebow included.
That said, your simile (they want to put him on a pedestal like some false messiah) is a most unfortunate one. Conservative Christians (some–but not all–of whom are, indeed, bigoted, religious, and fanatic, just like the rest of the human race), to whom I’m guessing you’re referring, are, along with Orthodox Jews, probably the best-equipped people in the world to recognize that there is indeed a Messiah, and it sure as shootin’ ain’t Tebow.
Bees You discredit Conservatives.
Carolyn says “There is indeed a messiah and it sure as shootin ain’t Tebow” Beautiful
@Carolyn: kudos! thank you for a sound-minded opinion.
Richard Wheeler
you always done that, not me
I told you before that you where a snake, there’s your proof,
now iss
@ilovebeeswarzone:
no, Bee. quite the opposite. i don’t have a problem with conservatives. i have a problem with SOME conservative thought. my problem here is hypocritical prejudice. that’s all.
and don’t make a martyr of yourself. i have questioned (“attacked”) your friends (like anti) when they’ve stood up to defend your prejudices. and i’ve defended myself when outnumbered and cornered.
you call me a troll. i’ll try and keep this a family show and restrain from dipping to your level.
Carolyn
those bigoted religious and fanatics are all in the DEMOCRATS SIDES, AND THEIR ATTACKS ON TEBOW ARE FROM THEIR MEDIAS SMALL SHOT COMEDIANS INCITING AMERICA AGAINST CHRISTIANITY,
WHICH THEY DEMOCRATS MEDIA ,FOLLOW THE GOVERNMENT POLICY AS A NEW god THEY ALL BOW TO.
bye
Andrew
you cannot go lower, you did reach the bottom floor,
that’s why you where dump by all, including me.
and I will dump you again right here.
@ilovebeeswarzone: Bees:
1) The syntax at the end of your comment loses me.
2) I agree with the middle part of your comment: There is a lot of hostility to Christianity in the MSM.
3) I disagree with your opening salvo: I’ve met very dedicated, close-minded bigots on both sides of the fence, whether the fence you’re talking about is political or spiritual.
Carolyn
political and religious, just like the religion they embrace and favored from the top OF GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIP GOING DOWN, AS LOW AS THE FLOOR.
that’s why they can’t stand TEBOW EXPRESSING HIMSELF AS A FREE AMERICAN, in a time where CHRISTIANS ARE ACCUSED AND ATTACK never encountered before, they are the roots of AMERICA’s founders and pioneers which came with few things few clothes, few tools, but not without their BIBLE,
why now?
THANK’S I CORRECTED THE LAST LINE,
BYE
@Carolyn: you have to give Bee a break. she’s French-Canadian (so i’ve been told).
@ilovebeeswarzone:
Now why do you want to insult snakes like that Bees? 😉
Snakes actually do good things and are useful. RW, CAS, and Greg, not so much.
@ilovebeeswarzone:
why can’t you stand a non-Christian doing the same?
please do some homework on OUR Founding Fathers and the history of OUR country.
@HardWrong:yes…snakes are good and useful. they take care of the vermin.
Hard Right
yes it takes one snake to say that.
they are the sneaky ones
The people with the loudest microphones get heard the most. Bill Maher has a big, loud microphone.
Most secularists are Democrats; most Democrats are not secularists.
A lot of writers, entertainers, and scholars are secularists (the group from which Obama got the highest percentage of votes, following African- Americans, were voters with post-graduate degrees). These people also have big microphones.
The point is that epithets such as “Godless Left” — when used to label an entire class of voters — are grotesquely unfair and inaccurate.
To put objective number on it, 98% of conservatives believe in God; 85% of liberals believe in God. So, yes, 88% of non-believers are liberal and only 12% of non-believers are conservative. But 85% of liberals are believers and it does no good whatsoever to the best interests of the nation to use religion as a wedge issue between Republicans and Democrats or between conservatives and liberals.
– Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach CA
openid.aol.com/runnswim
so the MAJORITY are GOD believers, so why are they being assault, to be replace by another one to lead on their political agenda , because they are in the top leadership positions, and use their power EVEN IN MINORITY, BUT WITH THE POWER
to give priority to so many never seen before,FOREIGNERS WITH A QUESTIONABLE INTENT TO EMIGRATE, DISREGARD THE FACT OF KNOWING OF THE COLLUSION AMONG THE CITIZENS ROOTED IN FOR SOME WITH MANY DEEP ROOTS AND LOVE OF GOD, JESUS AND THE SCRIPTURES, THE 10 COMMANDS, THE FLAG THEY REVERE, THE CONSTITUTION WHICH IS NOW BEING DISRESPECT BY THE LEADER OF AMERICA,
BYE
this question has already been asked, but Bee’s responses have prompted me to revisit it.
@ilovebeeswarzone:
Ding, cuckoo, ding, cuckoo, ding, cuckoo
Liberalmann
yes that’s what you are.
@ C. Andrew Scott #40: A buddy of mine on FB posted the same article on my wall – I’ll give you the same response I gave him:
Very good article, although it leaves some important questions unanswered. 1) Who are all of these “Muslim leaders who have supported Tebow’s display of Christian faith”? 2) What was Akeem Olajuwan’s reacton to Abdul-Rauf’s sitting down? And 3) What is the main difference in the actions each are taking? I still agree it’s a good article but comes off like a lefty saying, “Please pardon our hate.”
@ Everyone Posting: I’ve been away a while so pardon me if someone already suggested this, but can we start ignoring the trolls? Specifically I’m calling out “liberalman” and “liberal (objectivity)”. These guys are just trolls do some quick obnoxious drive-bys so they can get a rise out of us and get us to waste time responding.
If you want a lefty to argue with at least turn to the commenters who actually put some thought into their responses and respond to comments directed at them, a la C. Andrew Scott or openid.aol.com/runswim. We may not agree with them but at least they’re trying to have a conversation with us.
Brother Bob
hi,
your last line; at least they’re trying to have a conversation with us,
remind me of the movie, THE ALIENS,
BYE
@Brother Bob: thanks, Bob.
@Brother Bob:
Early this month a big billboard went up asking, “Now do you believe?”
The men who paid for that sign in Denver were three Muslim brothers who are just big fans of Tebow and the Broncos.
Mohammad Suleiman, Tariq Suleiman and Ali Suleiman.
They all sell wholesale goods at their father’s store which is next to the billboard.
@Brother Bob: .
i can’t speak for the author, but personally, i have been asking juggling the question “what if Tebow were Muslim?”
by that, i mean, i wonder if a Muslim QB posting gaudy individual stats were to lead his team to an unlikely winning streak, would he still be receiving the same criticism and support? i hear alot of people on the right pointing fingers at the “leftist” media, as if their own faith is under attack. (i’ve read alot of anti-Islamic rhetoric here, which, TO ME, contradicts the 1st Amendment of Freedom of Religion.)
but i also think that some of the hype was created BECAUSE of his faith. i’m not denying that the young man is disciplined and determined, and that his faith may have an influence on this. my argument has always been that Tebow is not a good “quarterback”, not that he’s not a good “leader”. but to put so much weight on his faith vs. his ability, is often what stirs the controversial conversation.
a recent poll shows that 43% of respondents think “divine intervention” plays some role Tebow’s success. that’s not (just) the Left talking either.
when i read that Tebow’s pastor in Colorado, Wayne Hansen, say the Broncos’ wouldn’t have experienced their mid-season winning streak if God hadn’t decided to reward Tebow’s religious beliefs, i had to shake my head. “It’s not luck. It’s favor. God’s favor.” it seemed if anyone questioned that, they were suddenly thrown under the bus for “attacking” Tebow.
at the same time, i don’t agree with the morons who think that they can “counter-act” him with “magic”.
here’s a good read written by another pastor (from California). what i like is his comment that “those who try to look religious but have lives completely inconsistent with what their purported faith stands for.”
so…if Tebow were a devout Muslim, would the same people who defend his Christian faith be standing by to support him?
@C Andrew Scott:
Maybe you don’t remember the midnight to 4 AM practice times of the football teams in Michigan.
During Ramadan.
Out of respect for the Muslim players on the teams, all the other players practiced in the middle of the night.
OK, it was only high school.
No ACLU challenged those teams practices.
Not even when the Muslim players, in uniform, prayed in Arabic before the game.
On video.
As to this:
Expressing an opinion about a religion, mocking it, putting it’s images in urine, or carving them out of dung is NOT contradictory to the 1st Amendment.
What IS contradictory to the 1st Amendment is officially censoring others because some one MIGHT be offended.
You need to think real hard about the difference between those two things.
@Nan G:no offense intended, but you need to think real hard about the argument i’m actually making.
do you believe that all Americans have the same religious freedoms?
do you believe that Tebow’s “success” is based upon “divine intervention”?
would you, yourself, defend Tebow if he were Muslim and was under “attack” from the public and media?
i’m starting to believe that the radical Right is what is keeping Tebow’s name in the news. to put a spin on Bob’s title…If Tim Tebow Did Not Exist, the RIGHT Would Have to Create Him.
@C Andrew Scott:
I think you look under your bed every night for boogey men, CAS.
You pretend to be talking about REAL instances where people are prevented from exercising their religious freedoms.
But you cite no instance at all.
43% of all sports players polled believe that divine intervention is involved in their success in some way.
I gave you a set of examples from last Ramadan where a lot of football teams practiced in the dead of night just because of the Muslims on their teams.
The Muslims were also allowed to pray in Arabic in uniform during that midnight-to-4AM period.
No public or media attacked them at all.
So, where are your examples?