Jesus and Tebow, win or lose

January 13, 2012 By

Even though I’m a huge Broncos fan, I’m not exactly counting on us continuing in the post-season after tomorrow’s Patriots match-up. Don’t get me wrong, I’m hoping for the improbable, just not counting on it. Which means that if we want to talk media coverage of Broncos Quarterback Tim Tebow, our time is probably running out (this season).

One of the things I’ve noticed about the coverage of Tim Tebow is that it lacks some theological depth. Which, to be fair, is not something most articles could or should have. But sometimes we’re seeing some serious missed opportunities. Take coverage of a recent poll, such as this story from Denver’s CBS 4, headlined “Poll Finds 43 Percent Of People Believe God Helps Tebow Win“:

Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow is not the only one who thinks God helps him on the football field.

According to a national telephone survey conducted by Poll Position, 43 percent of people believe that “divine intervention” is responsible for his success compared to 42 percent of people surveyed who think that God has nothing to do with Tebow winning.

OK, then! That sounds interesting. And a great hook to discuss certain theological concepts. In fact, there are a bunch of different ways this could go. Just today my church body published an article about whether it’s true that we can definitively say God doesn’t care about football. Instead, the article just breaks down the demographic data on the question. Apparently Hispanic and Black Americans are more likely to answer the polling question in the affirmative. But there is precisely no insight added to the piece about what people meant when they answered the question. On that point, the question was a bit more precise than the CBS station wrote it up, for what it’s worth: Do believe that any of Tim Tebow’s success can be attributed to Divine Intervention?

Even the way the media outlet mischaracterized the question shows the difficulty we see in covering religious topics. I mean there is a distinction between believing that divine intervention is causing Tim Tebow to win certain games and believing that “any of Tim Tebow’s success” can be attributed to God.

I’m just as interested in the fact that people were basically divided down the middle on this question. I’d love to know more about why some people believe God is in no way repsonsible for any of Tim Tebow’s success. It’s not like Pittsburgh Steelers fans are that numerous, eh? Just kidding.

But there are some interesting theological approaches in the way people talk about Tebow and I haven’t really seen a good analysis of those outside of religious parts of the internet. (For example, The Internet Monk asks if God likes Tebow more than Tom Brady.) But these discussions are definitely happening. The Lutheran blogs are definitely all aflutter with Theology of Glory vs. Theology of the Cross debates on Tebow and I’m sure — what with his popularity — that theological debates are happening all across the spectrum. Even this video embedded above (found on a religion reporter’s Twitter feed) — of Jimmy Fallon merging Tim Tebow and David Bowie into Tebowie — makes all sorts of theological arguments, as have countless other pop culture treatments.

There are tremendous theological discussions going on — whether people realize they’re having them or not — all over our culture. But we’ve not really seen much coverage of these more interesting discussions and arguments, have we? Are they out there and I’ve missed them?

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Filed Under: Evangelicals, Journalism, Sports
  • sari

    “There are tremendous theological discussions going on — whether people realize they’re having them or not — all over our culture. But we’ve not really seen much coverage of these more interesting discussions and arguments, have we? Are they out there and I’ve missed them?”

    Wouldn’t you consider these discussions to sit outside the purview of the MSM? And given that many journalists are woefully ignorant of religion, even their own, how can we expect reasonably good coverage on what amount to opinions voiced by members of various faiths?

    Should the discussion shift from Tebow and his version of Christianity to some other faith, say the theological differences between Shia, Sunni, and Sufi Islam (leaving aside offshoots like the Druze), would you be as interested?

  • http://www.tmatt.net tmatt

    OK, I’m techno-dumb on this.

    Why is the video backwards? Is that a way to YouTube around the NBC rules or something?

  • Jerry

    I think it’s way past time for the media obsession with Tebow to end and for GR to focus on covering other aspects of religion. Obsessive coverage of a sports figure as a religious icon is a problem in my judgement. His beliefs are between him and God and we should not obsess about them.

  • http://www.getreligion.org Mollie

    Sari,
    I think the media are already covering the discussions and themes, they’re just not doing it very thoroughly. And I don’t think they should be outside the realm of coverage any more than any other religion story should be outside. They shouldn’t be arguing for or against a particular side, of course, but they should be reporting what people are saying. While reporters get that this is a big religion story, they’re kind of hitting it about an inch deep, it seems. Even though it’s a huge topic of conversation.

    And yes, if a Druze football player were having the success of a Tebow and provoking a reaction, I’d want whatever theological discussions at play covered well, too.

  • http://www.getreligion.org Mollie

    tmatt,

    It must be because I’m sick, but I didn’t even realize it was backwards! But I can’t find another suitable YouTube … I’ll keep looking.

  • http://cleansingfiredor.com/ Thinkiling

    A media/journalistic obsession with someone…anyone…are exactly the type of things which GR does well, and should do.

    Of course, arguing there shouldn’t be such obsession in the first place is very reasonable.

  • http://www.getreligion.org Mollie

    Jerry,

    Well, I have my own problems with the reaction to Tim Tebow but there’s no denying that it is a huge topic of discussion. When more people tweet a response to Tebow’s touchdown pass than tweeted a response to Osama bin Laden’s death, you know it’s a huge story. When he’s Americans’ new favorite athlete, as I mentioned in the previous post, it’s a huge story. Maybe not to you, but to many news consumers. I’d just like that coverage to be less silly, frankly.

  • http://presbyterianblues.wordpress.com/ “Michael Mann”

    It’s an unlikely source, but this article has its thoughtful moments: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7147740/tim-tebow-converter-passes

  • Matt

    I thought this article was quite good, apart from a drink-spewing reference to “Martin Luther, the Tim Tebow of his day”: Does God Care Whether Tim Tebow Wins on Saturday?, published in The Atlantic of all places, written by evangelical theologian Owen Strachan (who teaches at the college headed by Al Mohler).

  • Bern

    And here’s an NYTs article in the national section this am
    (I didn’t see the pic on my Kindle–quite a shot.)

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/14/sports/football/fascinated-by-tim-tebow-on-more-than-sundays.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

    IMHO the obsession says more about the American psyche in the second decade of the 21st century than it does or could say about theology. And the MSM just ain’t built for theology–it can hardly deal with simple denominational identifications.

  • http://jaydinitto.com Jay DiNitto

    When is gr.org registering GetTimTebow.org?

  • http://www.getreligion.org Mollie

    Jay,

    Great idea.

  • http://davidgriffey.blogspot.com/ Dave G.

    I see in Tim Tebow the same thing I saw in the days and weeks leading up to Gibson’s The Passion. At this point, the media is just covering what they’re seeing: one side that seems to hate him and what he stands for with the white-hot fury of a thousand suns, and the other that identifies with him and his values rallying around to defend and support him. For that matter, as I’ve said before, it’s not unlike the flury of controversy that young Muhammad Ali once stirred with his own opinions and beliefs. Whenever anyone pokes their finger in the values system of a nation, expect it to be a story – especially when he doesn’t do critics the courtesy of just sucking at the game the way he was supposed to. It’s a society thing.

    FWIW, I doubt the Broncos win either. And I’m sure no matter why they lose – assuming they do – it will all be about Tim Tebow, one way or another.

  • Matt B. in L.A.

    Chuck Klosterman had some good insights into “the Tebow issue” last month at Grantland.

    Also, a friend was recently saying to me that he thinks there’s a racial double standard in the Tebow coverage too. His question goes something like this: Do not black and Latino athletes routinely attribute their athletic successes to God? Do nonreligious, white media types object to that ever?

    My response was that one of the most common cliches among athletes — of any race — is that God helps them win or that they owe their successes in some way to God.

    I think the biggest thing that solidified people’s opinions and feelings about Tm Tebow is the anti-abortion advert. People simply don’t get all that exercised about religion in sports — it’s ubiquitous, after all. However, abortion in sports; that’s new — and polarizing!

  • Jeff

    If a black or latino athlete was in an anti-abortion advertisement, then the mainstream media would not say “boo” — unless of course he or she was a Republican, in which case he or she would be treated even worse than Tim Tebow has been. That’s not hyperbole or snark, it’s just the truth.

  • Jeff

    And I should add that if the anti-abortion black or latina Republican athlete in question was a she and not a he, then the mainstream media’s reaction would be even worse again than it would be if she were a he. Again, that’s not hyperbole or snark, it’s just the truth.

  • carl jacobs

    And so the Tim Tebow story reaches its merciful conclusion. The story at the last became a sort of parody of the battle between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. Except in this case, the prophets of Baal will claim victory. Such idiocy. It was never about an Anointed Football Player succeeding by divine intervention. It was simply a story about one marginally skilled QB who succeeded for a time despite his limitations. A Christian man who refused to submerge his faith. A good man who was made to play a role in a morality play that he never should have been made to play. He never really had control of this story, after all. He was simply carried by the currents like all the rest of us.

    It’s over now. It probably won’t be back.

    carl

  • Chris Bolinger

    I’m not a Rick Reilly fan, but I like this column.

  • SeekTruthFromFacts

    ‘The Atlantic’ article is great. It uses the media’s interest in Tebow to get people reading serious theology.

  • Talkisgood

    This article sheds some light on the theological side of the Tebow phenomenon:

    http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/culture/5565/missing_the_extra_point%3A_the_real_cause_of_tebow_fever/