December 19th / 21st, 2008
"Misplaced Invocations Mock God"
‘Tis the holiday season when many of us celebrate and reflect upon our
spirituality and religious beliefs. Some folks believe that God is responsible
for everything man does, and for every event that occurs. I do not.
Instead, I believe as did Thomas Jefferson with his Deist bent, that God gives man
the capacity to make his own successes and messes. But regardless of your
interpretation, most of us agree that prayer to God is being cheapened these
days due to frequently misplaced invocations of His name.
As a nation we ask God to protect our currency, while Congress calls on Him
to guide them through each legislative session. But does that mean God is
responsible for our bad economy, or for the corruption and stupidity running
rampant in politics?
Our government asks God to be on our side when we go to war, and our
athletes ask him to favor them when they suit up for an important game. But does
this mean God planned to invade the wrong country, and murder over a half
million people in the process? Does it mean that He wants half of the sports
teams in the country to lose each week?
And some of our preachers ask God to punish folks who are different from the
majority of us white bread, straight Americans. Does this mean He condoned
slavery, and that He hates gays?
Clearly, at times, politicians, athletes, and preachers all seem to invoke
God’s name inappropriately, and they do so unashamedly. Let’s start with
sports.
The concept of mixing religion and athletics has always seemed to be the
purview of Christians, even as those of other faiths rejected the practice.
According to religionlink.org, ancient Jews, for example, shied away from
making sports a faith-based activity because they wanted to separate themselves
from the polytheistic cultures of the Greeks and Romans who invoked the
support of a bevy of Gods to guide their athletic endeavors.
By the 1800’s, the marriage between sports and religion became more
organized during the so called “muscular Christianity” movement, and it grew more
popular throughout the next century, especially in America.
Today, it is commonplace for a college football team to pray to God for a
victory.
Notre Dame even has a monument named “Touchdown Jesus”. But holy
invocations are not limited to students who attend religious institutions. Last
year’s Heisman winner Tim Tebow of the University of Florida, begins each post
game interview by attributing his accomplishments to “My Lord Jesus Christ”.
And, football isn’t the only sport where God is called on to save the day.
Baseball players routinely genuflect before stepping into the batter’s box,
and point to Heaven following a home run blast.
NASCAR events are started with a prayer, which asks God to grant the drivers
a safe race. The irony there is that many NASCAR fans show up just to see
if any of those drivers will crash.
And then there are the comments made by golfer Zach Johnson following his
2007 victory at the Masters. Johnson gave God the credit for his win, and
added, “Regardless of what happened today, my responsibility was to glorify God”.
Come on Zach, you were hitting a little white ball around, not doing
missionary work in Darfur.
These athletes seem to think that God has willed them to victory, and that
He is responsible for their success. Such invocations cheapen the Almighty,
and make it difficult to understand why He can’t deliver every time. For
example, where was God when Dale Earnhardt crashed into a wall, or when Roberto
Clemente died while delivering relief aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua?
Where was God when Pete Rose gambled on his team, or when Roger Clemens
injected illegal steroids? And, is God also responsible for a record number of
sports-related injuries and deaths this year? Athletes who use prayer for
their own personal gain, therefore, put God in an untenable position.
So too, do Christian politicians and world leaders, who have justified their
actions by hiding behind the Almighty. The great Crusades, for example,
were nothing more than booty plundering of Islamic nations by Christians, all
in the name of God. Similarly, over 700 years later, following the World
Trade Center attack, President Bush invoked God’s name repeatedly in an effort
to gain support to invade an Islamic nation which had nothing to do with those
attacks. On September 20, 2001, Bush told a joint session of Congress “God
is not neutral”.
His position was buoyed by pals like John Ashcroft and Pat Robertson, the
latter who said that “Islam is not a peaceful religion”. Yet, ironically, it
is so-called Christian leaders who have been responsible for escalating
violence by carrying a Bible in one hand, and a gun in the other.
And while invoking God’s name to win a football game or a war is wrong on so
many levels, I am almost equally offended by those who pretend to speak for
God in matters of social conscience.
OsDir.com quotes Rev. Robertson as having said that the “widespread practice
of homosexuality will bring about terrorist bombs, earthquakes, tornados,
and, possibly, a meteor”. It is that kind of sick rhetoric that continues to
divide our nation, and fuel prejudice. It’s no wonder that perpetrators of
hate crimes often believe they are doing God’s work against people who don’t
look or act like the “rest of us”.
For awhile it looked like American Christians were making progress in the
tolerance department. Early colonists had routinely burned witches, but
following our victory in the war against Great Britain, their descendants affected
a decline in prosecutions of citizens for violations of purely moral
character (worldsocialist.org). But thanks to men like Pat Robertson, our country
is moving backwards on a number of cultural issues, and dangerously close to
a return to witch burnings of a different kind.
For Christians, this is a time to celebrate the birth of a peaceful,
compassionate, and tolerant man. A man who never invoked his spiritual Father’s
name for trivial pursuits, or to justify violence, or to condone prejudice.
And just for the record, Jesus also never profited from invoking God’s name.
That practice was started in earnest by the Roman Catholic Church who
frightened their followers into tithing or else face the prospect of not entering
heaven. And that pay for pray practice continues today with televangelists and
motivational religious speakers who collect millions of dollars by promising
their donors a better life, and even increased wealth.
Prayer can be a wonderful thing, especially selfless prayers of intercession
for others. In fact, nothing could be more privately noble than calling
upon God to help those less fortunate. But misplaced prayer and inappropriate
use of God’s name is far from noble.
So, perhaps, then, an appropriate News Year’s resolution would be for all of
us to be more judicious with our divine invocations, and to reject the influences
of those who aren’t. It is a bold wish to be sure, but one which I hope is
not made in vain.
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