Do you believe that God created the universe? (God as Creator.) Do you believe that, before he/she/it did so, God knew everything that would happen at every point in the history of that universe? (God is omniscient.) Do you believe that God loves all his creations and made the universe that was the best of all possible universes? (The alternative would seem to be that God plays favourites and to deny that God is all-loving.) If the answer to all is "yes", then you're saying that God made something in its entirety with full knowledge of everything that would ever happen in it. So in what sense is he not responsible for everything that happens? And if you would be worse off (overall, including in your eternal life) in this universe than in an alternative one, in what sense does God love you (equally with others for whom this is not true)? See, you're making the following common religious assumptions: that your version of the religion (a) makes sense (b) is the only version of that religion that does (c) is one that everybody else really knows makes sense, and is just being willfully contrary if they ever act as if it doesn't. I dispute all three.
So, presumably you have to respect suicide bombers even more. After all, they're giving up their lives for what they believe is right, not just possible endorsements.
Your avatar lacks crucial clothing. Neither does your chosen religion, quite frankly.. And maybe I worship my junk as a diety. It would make just as much sense as every other religion. But on topic, sure I roll my eyes when a player thanks God after a win, and sure it sucks when your team is called the Jailblazers, but for the most part team success is all I really care about. However, I draw the line right around Michael Vick. Animal and child abuse are two things (not the only things) I can't tolerate, and I'd never want people representing my team or city who do things like that.
No, because they're killing people. Tim Tebow, and all these other athletes (or most people) who mention God, isn't killing people. God is very much against murder so it would not be for God at all, but rather some distorted vision that they're preaching.
A thread gone haywire. If the players bring the same game on the court and one praises God for his talent and the other is a miscreant, I'll take the Godly player. If for no other reason, there is a tendency to be better grounded.
I prefer the fallen from grace "I'll ask for forgiveness in the morning" type religious players. I want my sports idols to be human and utterly fallible -- and total hypocrites
both types often have a watershed moment when the whole world realizes that they're human then again there are plenty of examples of athletes who run the gamut from extremely religious to apparently atheists types of who seem to get along just fine in life. Go figure... STOMP
Line from LAUGHING WILD by Christopher Durang: "But I remember when everybody won Tonys for Dreamgirls, and they all got up there thanking God for letting them win this award, and I was thinking to myself: God is silent on the holocaust, but he involves himself in the Tony Awards? It doesn't seem very likely."
I had never seen this. Personally, I don't care much for Griffin's brand of comedy. Say, wasn't she banned from CNN for saying the f-word live? [video=youtube;re-8MeEBUJ8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re-8MeEBUJ8[/video]
just for perspective on her comments it probably warrants pointing out that Kathy Griffin is Jewish. I don't find her particularly funny fully with you so far him doing an anti-abortion ad is anything but a show of guts. What is he risking? Dude is thought of as a marginal prospect in the pros... 2nd-4th rounder. Sure it will turn off a percentage of NFL fans, but much more importantly endear himself to a vocal subset of fans from the religious right. If anything it's a good career move as he's likely nearing the end of his time on the star stage. Next year he'll be on somebody's special teams unit maybe trying to learn a new position and the spotlight will be largely gone. This commercial is a good career move for him as he seems to be angling to follow in his dad's footsteps post football STOMP
In general I enjoy and give thanks for religious screwups, for the entertainment value. Thankfully, American society has no shortage of those hypocritical fools. As a teammate, I'd prefer not to be subjected to other people shoving their religious junk in my face. As a fan though, it is much easier to put up with the players who think God chose them above all others in a game of basketball (while simultaneously, for example, crushing tens of thousands of Haitians in an eartquake), than to put up with the media feeding frenzy when some idiot athlete cheats on his wife or doesn't pay his hooker or drives his car too fast or forgets to take his gun out of his 'man purse.' I guess it mostly depends on the level of idiocy/criminality by each party.
I'd rather have a religious screw-up. Someone who wants to convert us all to Jesusism while consistently getting busted for cocaine and carrying guns into inappropriate venues. And if he also scored 30 PPG, averaged 10 assists per game and played some defense, he'd be my perfect player.
Agree. Show of guts? He's just been backed by a $150-million organization! Real guts? Incidentally, abortion was and is illegal in the Phillipines, so the veracity of the story has been questioned. CBS, incidentally, showed "guts" by refusing a Super Bowl ad by the United Church of Christ because they said they welcome everyone, and among others depicted a same sex couple holding hands. They rejected an ad by moveon.org because they don't accept advocacy ads - unless they "advocate" for forcing women to have children against our will! They this year rejected a humorous ad for a gay dating site (two men at a party have their hands brush in a bowl of potato chips!) because it is "too controversial". But gay hating organizations are not too controversial. A man saying women must be forced to have children against our will and using his platform as an athlete to promote this bigotry is not showing guts, he's a bully.
