Friday, December 9, 2011

What If Tim Tebow Were Muslim?

For those of you not familiar with college football, Tim Tebow was possibly the greatest college football player in history. Nevertheless, college football skills don't necessarily translate into professional football skills, because the style of play can be quite different. Due to his oddities as a quarterback, practically everyone doubted Tebow's ability to succeed in the NFL. While he's been shocking his critics with his ability to win games this season, we'll have to wait and see whether he can continue his streak.

Tebow is most controversial for his outspoken (and undeniably genuine) Christian faith, along with his apparently impenetrable moral fiber. (Click here for his website.) Not surprisingly, many people ridicule Tebow for his devotion. Tebow has never complained about the taunts, and the general consensus among sports commentators (whether Christian or not) is: "If Tebow's putting his faith out there so fervently, don't be upset when other players react."

The mocking will surely continue. However, a reporter recently asked a very interesting question. What if Tebow were a Muslim? Would the media be so forgiving of people ridiculing his prayers? Surely not. In the following video, Jennifer Floyd Engel suggests that the double standards are a result of Tebow making "a lot of us feel uncomfortable." (Hat tip to Dragostea for the video.)



Engel has raised an important question, but I think she's missed the real reason for the double standards. If Tebow were a Muslim, and his fellow NFL players were to mock his beliefs, groups like CAIR would be plastered across every major news network, lamenting the anti-Muslim bigotry, hate-mongering, racism, Islamophobia, etc. exhibited by all the evil, twisted, venom-spewing Americans who watch football. The NFL, the coaches, and the media would cave instantly to the complaints, players would be punished and forced to undergo "sensitivity training," and the gulf between Islam and all other religions would widen.

That's why things would be different if Tebow were a Muslim.

15 comments:

Deleting said...

Slightly (okay, really) off-topic but can David, Sam, Nakdimon, etc answer this???
The Koran identifies Jews, but does it recognize Jews as an ethnic race and not just a religion.
For example: I can convert to Judism (I'm not but lets say I did) but I can't change my anglo-saxon/Native American/Something something scottish and irish background.

Would love to know this answer.

GreekAsianPanda said...

Interesting question, indeed. Though we don't have a real Muslim football-player parallel, we can look for a different real-life situation from which we can draw conclusions. Consider Quran desecration versus Bible desecration, for example. Terry Jones burned a Quran, and there were Muslims protesting all over the world, and there were American politicians apologizing to Muslims. The United States military apparently has regulations about how to handle the Quran--treating it with respect, handling it delicately. Someone burned and mutilated a Bible on my older sister's friend's front porch a decade or so ago, and there wasn't a peep in all of Christendom. Iran confiscated religious material from it Christian citizens this past August and publically burned some Bibles, but no one but some Iranian Christian websites and a conservative political blog said anything. In 2008, the United States military, in order to prevent a soldier from illegally proselytizing, got rid of several Bibles not by sending them back to the church that sent them but by burning them. You complained on Youtube, some Christians angrily commented on your blog with the same sentiments, and some conservatives whined, but there was no global rage.

Maybe it's not wise of me to make inferences regarding whether the football situation would be different with an explicitly religious Muslim football-player based on one situation, but it's not implausible to think there would be outrage if hypothetical Muslim Tebow were ridiculed.

I would like to point something out, though. "The media" is not a unified entity; there are liberal (for example, New York Times, Huffington Post, MSNBC) and conservative (Fox News, Pajamas Media) commentators who would react oppositely from one another when commenting on Christian Tebow and hypothetical Muslim Tebow. Conservatives praise Christian Tebow for being so outward about his faith, liberals disapprove of him, and conservatives see the liberal disapproval as a "war on religion." Most probably, liberals would consider hypothetical Muslim Tebow completely acceptable and perhaps even hail him as the shining example of the "moderate Muslim," conservatives would question whether or not he is a closet extremist (or perhaps they would just ridicule him), and liberals would write editorials with titles like "American Muslims Are Increasingly Becoming the Victims of Bigotry and Public Hatred," citing the taunts of conservatives. And no doubt C.A.I.R. would rear its ugly head.

So I think things would basically be the same whether Tim Tebow were a Muslim or not; the ridicule and defense would just be coming from opposite sides of the political spectrum.

minoria said...

I have seen the Sami Zaatari video and in all honesty he lacks knowledge of the Christian argument.He is wrong in his assertion.

The video he made was this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wyb53NfsFgY&feature=channel_video_title

MY ANSWER

I had written an article in French about it all,you will see it has details Sami doesn't know:

http://www.avraidire.com/2011/09/le-pourquoi-dieu-avait-decide-lextermination-totale-des-cananeens/

You can translate it using GOOGLE TRANSLATE

http://translate.google.com/

THE ONLY DETAIL I MISSED

In his video saw is uzzled as to WHY the ANIMALS were to be killed.

The ANSWER is so the Jews would get NO MATERIAL BENEFITS at all,no BOOTY.

andy bell said...

If Tebow were a muslim, you would have the greatest football in the history of the game.

Tebow would have an explosive pack under his shoulder pads. And it would be set to go off when someone tried to tackle him.

Alllah whoooooo ackbar all the way to the endzone baby !!!!!!!!!!

andy bell said...

I suppose I should offer something substantive to this discussion.

If tebow were a muslim, he'd be given the mvp because nobody would dare criticize for his religion. Or his style of play.

But evidently Tim Tebow proves that there is a God. How else does a man play so poorly and still wind up winning.

(okay, semi-substantive ;})

hugh watt said...

GPA

"Though we don't have a real Muslim football-player parallel,.."

There are such parallels in soccer. Nicolas Anelka, Franck Ribery etc have prayed to Allah on the pitch with no negative reaction from the crowd or media.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vadimkretschmer/2587439123/

Christian's are told to turn the other cheek, not so Muslims. You can be prosecuted for wrong conduct inside of a soccer ground, even players who are caught making racist remarks to other players. It is part of soccer culture for players to say or do things to "put off" your opponents but I doubt anyone would insult Muhammad or Islam to rile the opposition.

Christianity is fair game when it comes to such matters. I've seen it in the workplace. Is it cowardly? I think so.

John Lollard said...

I think the reporter's comments are spot on. Invoking Jesus makes us uncomfortable, because He is the real God and we all know it.

Invoking Muhammad makes us smile at what a beautiful tapestry of cultures we have in America - it doesn't challenge anyone's spirit or convict anyone of their lifestyles.

And why should it?

In Christ,
JL

John 8:24 said...

If Tim Tebow were a Muslim he would have a hard time finding the ayahs (Quranic verses) for his eye black. He would be terrified at the prospect of anyone actually opening the Quran and reading the complete ayah or a few ayahs preceeding and following the ayah. And Allah forbid if someone by chance opened up an Islamic commentary such as Ibn Kathir and learned the context!!!

John 8:24 said...

A Muslim Tim Tebow might want to use 5:32 but would hope that people would only read the redacted ayah -

"if any one slew a person it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people"

and not the entire ayah -

"On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person -- unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land -- it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our apostles with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land."


or the next ayah 5:33 -

"The punishment of those who wage war against God and His Apostle, and strive with might and main for mischief through the landis: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter"

or open up a Tafsir and learn the context it is talking about killing a Muslim -

Sa’id bin Jubayr said, "He who allows himself to shed the blood of a Muslim, is like he who allows shedding the blood of all people. He who forbids shedding the blood of one Muslim, is like he who forbids shedding the blood of all people.'' In addition, Ibn Jurayj said that Al-A’raj said that Mujahid commented on the Ayah, (it would be as if he killed all mankind,) "He who kills a believing soul intentionally, Allah makes the Fire of Hell his abode, He will become angry with him, and curse him, and has prepared a tremendous punishment for him, equal to if he had killed all people, his punishment will still be the same.''

More: http://goo.gl/nvWdd

characterbuilder said...

Let's start a "thread" ...

If Tim Tebow were a football playing Muslim he would ____________ (Fill in the blank)

Dragostea said...

Tebow did it again...

goethechosemercy said...

The vanity of the players who would mock Tebow is just amazing.
They really have no idea that in the eyes of a Christian, they are dooming themselves.
Perhaps they live in a culture where EVERYTHING is vain, and tell themselves the pretty lie that there is no truth ultimately.
And if you tell youself there is no virtue or truth, then everything is excused.
What an ugly world that makes indeed.

John 8:24 said...

Tim Tebow's recent wins are so amazing that even atheists are quite perplexed! ;-)

http://goo.gl/YcmaO

I usually don't follow American football but I read this news today on Yahoo about the Bronco's recent miraculous and highly improbable win once again (now 4 times in a row) with Tim Tebow as the Quarterback.

I will say this, I see more of God's hand in the play of Tim Tebow than in the hand of these suicide bombers blowing themselves up and killing innocents in the name of their evil religion.

wheatington said...

Muslims brook no criticism from kafirs, or even from themselves. They rant and riot. That's why if Tebow who stupid enough to be a Muslim, the media would love him.

wheatington said...

I meant... if Tebow were stupid enough to be a Muslim...

Typos!