Today I made a mistake. I read the reader comments on a story on Fox News (I think..it was hours ago) about the Rams football players who made the “don’t shoot me” gesture in a demonstration about the shooting in Ferguson.
This is an actual quote from someone who identified himself as a Christian:
Every liberal defends freedom of speech and expression when it suits them. Boy it was not long ago when a player was dam near crucified over taking a knee and saying a small prayer on the field, or the team owner who was forced out because a comment he made. You fucking hypocrites can rot in fucking hell.
What sentiment is more Christian than wishing eternal damnation on someone?
What “ism” is more Christian than racism?
What did Jesus love even more than politics? Clearly football.
Way to keep it insane, folks.
Players have not been, as far as I can tell, crucified for praying on the field, except an occasional penalty for taunting if they make that praying/bowing gesture in a way the officials interpret as not prayer but taunting the opposing team. People did make fun of Tim Tebow for praying on the field. A lot. True enough. That is not the same as being crucified. He was showboating his faith. I’m not a Christian myself, but I do remember something from bible school about not showing off by praying in public:
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
–Matthew 6:6
There’s another one about how people who pray in public in order to be admired get all the admiration they are going to get here on Earth because God don’t play that. I am paraphrasing because I am too lazy to look it up. It was also in Matthew.
The funny thing is, the same people who are whining about the Rams players protesting with the “don’t shoot” gesture like to say it’s because the venue is not appropriate. Doesn’t seem like the temple of bone crunching that is football is a great place for prayer either. Be consistent.
Side note: a lot of the teams do have prayers on the sidelines before games. Or in the locker rooms. Even in the NFL. Crucifixion, clearly.
The team owner forced out in LA did some worse things than making a racist comment. He paid out something like $3 million to settle a few different charges of housing discrimination brought by the U.S. Department of Justice. That was years before his rant to his mistress about how he felt about black men last year. I don’t think I necessarily agree that you should be able to take someone’s business away for being a bigoted buffoon, but what he did was substantially worse than making a comment.
Freedom of speech does not mean no one can make fun of you for what you believe. It does not mean no one can criticize you or disagree with you. It doesn’t mean no one can point out flaws in your logic or even be mean to you.
And if you are a Christian who tells people they should rot in hell?
It is not violating your free speech if I point out how very un-Christian it is to say that.
Y’all go and check your New Testaments for examples of Jesus sending people off to rot in hell. I remember a lot of stuff about not judging lest you be judged, and nothing about Jesus telling people to fuck off to rot in Hell, but I could be wrong.
I will wait here…I’m finished with my rant now anyway.
PS
A lot, maybe most, Christians do not act like this. Neither do many, perhaps most, Muslims/Jews/Buddhists/Pagans/Atheists. I just hate to see someone being such a poor example of their own stated belief system!