Just when we thought the Rev. Jerry Falwell was out of the limelight,
his name popped into the news again when the school he founded pushed the
National Collegiate Athletic Association to repentance.
The Lynchburg, Va., pastor-evangelist and his school, Liberty University,
drove the NCAA to its knees with a lawsuit.
Falwell's Liberty U. team -- nicknamed the Flames -- competes in the NCAA,
and just before its opening football game Liberty was informed by the NCAA
that players kneeling in the end zone after a touchdown would not be tolerated.
Kneeling to pray in the end zone was lumped with dancing, taunting or any
so-called ``look-at-me'' behavior.
This year the NCAA rules committee urged strict enforcement of the ban and
advised that end-zone prayer would be included. The penalty for such behavior
is fifteen yards on the ensuing kickoff. A second offense takes the player
out of the game.
In its suit, Liberty claimed four of its players would be ``immediately
and irreparably injured'' by the rule and asked a judge to block the NCAA
from enforcing it against the school's player-pray-ers.
Almost as fast as you can
say ``Moral Majority'' the NCAA backed off.
In a memo of clarification, Vince Dooley, former U. of Georgia head coach
who chairs the NCAA rules committee, wrote:
``Players may pray or cross themselves without drawing attention to themselves.
It is also permissible for them to kneel momentarily at the conclusion of
play if, in the judgment of the official, the act is spontaneous and not
in the nature of a pose.''
Well, I'm glad they settled it because this non-issue belongs neither in
court nor on the court or field.
I'm not satisfied to let the story end there, however. I think Liberty University
and the NCAA are doing some posturing of their own.
The Liberty players, coaches and founder saw the ban as religious discrimination.
The team's quarterback told the Associated Press he has a right ``to give
thanks to God,'' which he does. He elaborates his motive: ``I want the kids
in America to look at me and know that I have a higher power, and that's
God.''
The NCAA said the issue has nothing to do with spirituality. Kneeling to
pray is a private matter between the kneeler and God, its attorney acknowledged,
``But everyone is looking at him, and that is the point.''
Well, the NCAA has no business
making rules about praying, and Liberty University has no business going
to court over kneeling in the end zone.
I agree with the NCAA's motivation to put emphasis back on team play and
keep individual players from showboating. However, the responsibility for
such posing belongs to the coaching staff. Let coaches deal with showboats.
Punish coaches if teams misbehave.
The NCAA has more important matters such as drugs and graduation rates to
deal with, but it appears more interested in style than substance.
As to Liberty University, their posture is as old as American evangelicalism.
The stream of Protestantism in which Falwell's church and college are rooted
has always been concerned about ``witness.'' Football, to the Flames of
Liberty U., is an extension of Christian witness; in a word, football is
evangelism and may plant a seed for bringing a spectator or an opponent
to faith in Jesus Christ.
In many ways, the Liberty U. quarterback's motive is admirable. In an age
when athletes as role models are being decried and mocked because of their
seeming greedy flamboyance, it might be deemed refreshing to hear a young
athlete express concern for what the kids of America are spectators to.
A tiny flaw in the quarterback's
expression, however, is that the same Protestant tradition in which he is
steeped is almost militantly opposed to kneeling in public.
Protestant Fundamentalists and many Evangelicals view the religious ritual
of kneeling in public -- or in church -- as too Catholic or too Episcopalian.
You won't see Baptists genuflecting in church, and my guess is that a Liberty
University student who genuflected at a chapel service on the Lynchburg
campus would soon be spiritually chided by peers and mentors.
Genuflecting touchdown makers apparently are tolerated.
But even that liturgical point can be overlooked; it's the ``God's-on-our-side''
mentality that's truly offensive in these debates. Behind this issue is
a faulty theology that misunderstands or ignores that grace is God's.
When a quarterback says he wants spectators to know he has a higher power,
what's he saying about his opponents? What happens when Liberty U. plays
another Christian team? Who has the higher power to score touchdowns then?
The Christian attitude, as I read Scripture, is whether we score or not,
we do it by God's grace.
I'm not trying to make light of anyone's evangelistic zeal, but let's put
scoring touchdowns in proper perspective. I don't think God keeps stats
on our ability to move a pigskin into the end zone.
Joe Lapchick was a long-time
coach of the St. John's University basketball team in New York City. He
was not a theologian, as far as I know, but he had some theological insight.
St. John's is a Roman Catholic institution attracting many athletes given
to crossing themselves during athletic contests.
Lapchick, perhaps with the awareness that a good shooter makes about 80
percent of his free throws, urged his players to avoid crossing themselves
when they went to the free-throw line.
``Don't cross yourself,'' Lapchick advised, ``you might embarrass God.''
Incidentally, Liberty U. won its first game, 76-6.
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