Tim Tebow is not ashamed to be a Christian. He’s not ashamed to admit he’s a virgin, and he’s not ashamed that God just might be a Broncos fan. And boy, does he like people to know it.
Tebow has been called courageous for his candor, unafraid to wear his heart on his sleeve. He advocates traditional Christian values in a world that is supposedly against them. But really, he’s preaching to a choir of more than 225 million, as 76 percent of Americans identify themselves as Christian.
I don’t think he is the “Christian hero” everyone thinks he is. It’s an unpopular position, because on the surface there is little to dislike. Tebow’s kind, generous, devout and above all, genuine. But my beef is about how what he believes is affecting the entire country.
The media love him. He’s the kind of person that every guy wants to be and every girl wants to marry. This, combined with a few overtime victories, has made him into a media sensation. But he’s used this attention as a pulpit to spout Christian principles, and even star in a few commercials. And frankly, it’s obnoxious.
Proponents for Tebow’s outspokenness say that he is simply exercising his freedoms of speech and religion. But there is a very distinct line between believing in a religion and forcing your beliefs on everyone else. He is more than a simple Christian athlete; he’s the ultimate door-to-door evangelical.
Tebow is more than entitled to hold his beliefs off the field and continue the good he’s doing because of them. But on the field, he should keep God a side note to his comments, not the focus of them.
But that’s not even my main problem with Tebow. My problem is that he wields incredible power as a professional athlete, and he’s using it in all the wrong ways.
Take for instance his idea that God is actually helping the Broncos win. A poll conducted by PollPosition.com earlier this year found that out of 756 Americans polled, more than 43 percent replied that they believed God himself was responsible for the Broncos’ success. I hope that we can all agree that this seems unlikely.
But Tebow’s assertion that God is helping him win isn’t just ridiculous — it’s narcissistic. Why would He show himself through an NFL game while turning a blind eye to the rest of the world? There are billions of suffering human beings all over the world, whom God is making no effort to help. Instead, God is busy helping 50 or so millionaires get to the endzone.
Pastor Wayne Hansen, who runs a church in Colorado that Tebow’s father often speaks at, is one of many who spread the idea. He told TMZ that “Luck isn’t winning 6 games in a row. It’s favor. God’s favor.”
And then there’s his alliance with Focus on the Family.
Focus on the Family is an evangelical Christian non-profit organization, one notorious for violently conservative values, and one that Tebow has allied himself many times.
Tebow has been featured in two commercials sponsored by Focus on the Family - the first during the 2010 Super Bowl and the second in the middle of the Patriots-Broncos game earlier in the season.
The commercial’s themselves aren’t particularly troubling, but Tebow’s participation in the commercial is a clear endorsement of the organization, an organization known for bigotry, deception and political manipulation.
Focus on the Family is in favor of the death penalty, intellectual design and prayer in public schools. It is vocally against legalized gambling, pornography and any sexual activity outside of marriage.
The group has also been prominent in political movements against gay rights. It have been caught misrepresenting research on multiple occasions, most notably when it testified that children have been shown to do better in homes with a mother and a father. However, the study it cited showed differences between two-parent homes and single-parent homes, research that is not even related to gay marriage.
We can do better than Tim Tebow. Let’s find an athlete who can do good without shoving his beliefs down our throats, who associates himself with non-hate groups and who has enough respect for other human beings that he doesn’t think he is the center of God’s attention.
Because for me, that’s a real hero.