tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811877771723427192.post1528621261555499125..comments2023-08-15T10:58:36.414-05:00Comments on lc blogs: dear brian phillips.lchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08293968160209501745noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811877771723427192.post-82870660743860822952011-10-26T11:25:52.138-05:002011-10-26T11:25:52.138-05:00Hi Lauren,
Thanks for this thoughtful response to...Hi Lauren,<br /><br />Thanks for this thoughtful response to my piece. I'm not religious, but if I were, I would like to think that I'd see things pretty much as you do here. Yes, of course, if the Bible is true, God doesn't care about touchdowns, Tim Tebow is no more important in the divine plan than the safety who intercepted him, and believers have thousands of reasons to like or not like Tim Tebow that don't involve his faith. Actually, that last part is true regardless of the Bible.<br /><br />Where we seem to be running into trouble is, I think, that you have taken my piece in a much more serious spirit than the one in which it was written. I don't usually like to explain stuff after I write it, because it feels like cheating --- the piece should explain itself. But I appreciate what you've written here, so for what it's worth, let me try to shed some light on where I was trying to go with this.<br /><br />I was thinking about the way people talk about Tim Tebow and football and religion, and it seemed to me that a lot of the discourse, if I can use that word, was pretty funny once you started spelling out the unspoken assumptions behind it. That is, it's totally reasonable to say that Tim Tebow has cultural significance as a high-profile representative of evangelical Christianity. It's completely ridiculous (as you point out!) to say that Tim Tebow's football career is a referendum on Christianity. But that's how a lot of people, on both sides of the issue, seem to act. As I wrote in the piece, I noticed myself feeling that way without ever really thinking about it.<br /><br />So I thought it would be useful --- and kind of fun --- to take off from the premise that Tebow's quarterback rating could settle the whole question of theism, and then just let the idea tie itself into knots. I wasn't thinking of the bulk of the piece as a sincere expression of my position, but as an example of how crazy this whole line of thinking can get once you actually start pursuing it. I might not have done this as well as I could have, but I was hoping that it would lead to the conclusion from the last line of the piece---that it's probably better if we don't pile religion and politics too heavily onto sports.<br /><br />I hope that makes it clear that I don't in any way believe that Tim Tebow's football career is a referendum on the Book of Deuteronomy, or that a 15-yard out pattern can tell us anything about God, or that the first three quarters of the Dolphins-Broncos game should have been worrisome to the Living Water Bible Church (which I made up, although having grown up in small-town Oklahoma I might very well have seen the name someplace). On those points, we are in total agreement. I'm sorry that those lines didn't land better as jokes while you were reading them. As for whether my religious friends' prayers can make me a better sports fan...I'm probably a lost soul in that regard, but I'm sure they'll do their best.<br /><br />In any case, thanks again for the reply, and all the best,<br /><br />BrianBrian Phillipshttp://www.runofplay.com/noreply@blogger.com