{"id":113732,"date":"2025-11-23T18:06:41","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T01:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=113732"},"modified":"2025-11-24T11:11:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T18:11:20","slug":"bigots-in-the-bleachers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/11\/bigots-in-the-bleachers.html","title":{"rendered":"Bigots in the Bleachers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Definitely very well played! \u00a0And may we continue to play it so.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Well, BYU won its tenth football game of the season last night (as compared to one loss), defeating the University of Cincinnati at Nippert Field in Ohio.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t typically comment about BYU athletics here, or about sports in general. \u00a0And this comment won\u2019t really be about football, either. \u00a0I want, though, to call attention to something that\u2019s connected<\/em> with last night\u2019s contest:<\/p>\n

For years now, prior to road games, BYU has sponsored tailgate parties<\/a> that focus on generating contributions to local charities. \u00a0(If I\u2019m not mistaken, during the lead-up to yesterday\u2019s BYU\/Cincinnati game there was a coat drive to support the Cincinnati NAACP and to provide local children with winter coats.) \u00a0Moreover, ahead of last night\u2019s game the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> sent a 27,000 pound food donation<\/a> for Cincinnati\u2019s on-campus Bearcats Pantry to support students who might be facing food insecurity. It\u2019s the largest single donation in the Pantry\u2019s history. \u00a0(See \u201c\u2018Moved beyond words\u2019: University of Cincinnati officials grateful for Latter-day Saint food donation to Bearcat students in need:\u00a0Ahead of BYU\u2019s football game with Cincinnati, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donated 27,000 pounds of food to Cincinnati\u2019s on-campus food pantry.\u201d<\/a>) \u00a0For home games, on the other hand (and as is becoming well known), BYU fans seek out fans of the visiting team in the stands and give them free ice cream<\/a>. \u00a0Here, though, are two reports from Nippert Field last night:<\/p>\n

\u201cCincinnati fans engaged in offensive chants directed toward BYU during football game against Cougars:\u00a0At one point in the contest, Cincinnati\u2019s public address announcer encouraged fans to stop any \u2018derogatory\u2019 chants\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cCincinnati Students Disrespect BYU With Explicit Anti-Mormon Chant Despite Charitable Gestures\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll happily take the contrast. \u00a0(I confess to being just slightly surprised that the bigoted chants that began at other campuses quite a while ago have continued unabated and unashamed right on through and beyond the lethal religiously-motivated attack on a Latter-day Saint sacrament service that occurred in Grand Blanc, Michigan, on 28 September of this year, not quite two months ago.) \u00a0There is, though, biblical counsel for such matters, and I\u2019m very pleased that Brigham Young University and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seem to be following it \u2014 here and in other, analogous, cases<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.\u201d (Romans 12:21)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or, if that seems a bit too sweetly idealistic, how about this?<\/p>\n

If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: <\/span>For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord<\/span> shall reward thee. (Proverbs 25:21-22)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or, even, Romans 12:21 in its full context, with the verses that precede it:<\/p>\n

Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. \u00a0<\/span>If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. \u00a0<\/span>Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.<\/span><\/p>\n

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:17-21)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I could not possibly be more gratified by the way that BYU football and its fans are presenting themselves in this regard. \u00a0And, oh yes: While we\u2019re still on the topic of the game last night between Cincinnati and BYU, did I mention that we won?<\/p>\n

\"Fall<\/a>
My wife snapped this photo in Kennebunkport, Maine, a few years ago. We walked by the tree, and she couldn\u2019t resist.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rainer Maria Rilke\u2019s \u201cHerbsttag\u201d ranks among my very favorite poems, and it\u2019s time to share it here once again. \u00a0It\u2019s a kind of prayer, as befits the Thanksgiving season:<\/p>\n

Herr: es ist Zeit. Der Sommer war sehr gro\u00df.
\nLeg deinen Schatten auf die Sonnenuhren,
\nund auf den Fluren la\u00df die Winde los.<\/p>\n

Befiel den letzten Fr\u00fcchten voll zu sein;
\ngib ihnen noch zwei s\u00fcdlichere Tage,
\ndr\u00e4nge sie zur Vollendung hin und jage
\ndie letzte S\u00fc\u00dfe in den schweren Wein.<\/p>\n

Wer jetzt kein Haus hat, baut sich keines mehr.
\nWer jetzt allein ist, wird es lange bleiben,
\nwird wachen, lesen, lange Briefe schreiben
\nund wird in den Alleen hin und her
\nunruhig wandern, wenn die Bl\u00e4tter treiben.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And here it is in a translation (\u201cAutumn Day\u201d) by J. Mullen:<\/p>\n

Lord: it is time. The summer was great.
\nLay your shadows onto the sundials
\nand let loose the winds upon the fields.<\/p>\n

Command the last fruits to be full,
\ngive them yet two more southern days,
\nurge them to perfection, and chase
\nthe last sweetness into the heavy wine.<\/p>\n

Who now has no house, builds no more.
\nWho is now alone, will long remain so,
\nwill stay awake, read, write long letters
\nand will wander restlessly here and there
\nin the avenues, when the leaves drift.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>
It happened in the Orem Costco (public domain image from Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A week or two ago, I came across the assured declaration online that there is absolutely no rational, reasonable, objective evidence to suggest a life after death. \u00a0The person issuing the declaration is of no particular intellectual distinction or scholarly authority, but I was struck \u2014 and, truth be told, somewhat amused \u2014 by the complete confidence with which he issued it. \u00a0I can only conclude that he doesn\u2019t get out much or read very extensively. \u00a0I understand people who remain unconvinced<\/em> of the claim of an afterlife, but I\u2019ll admit to having little regard for anybody who flatly declares that there simply isn\u2019t<\/em> any evidence for the postmortem survival of human personality. \u00a0Thousands of accounts of near-death and related experiences are now on record, from all around the world. \u00a0These certainly<\/em> suggest, if indeed they don\u2019t do more than that, the continuation of consciousness beyond death. \u00a0And I\u2019m now coming to appreciate the phenomenon of terminal lucidity as representing yet another line of argument in the same direction. \u00a0(And those are just two chains of reasoning that I find interesting and, yes, persuasive.)<\/p>\n

In this context, I share something that a few here might enjoy: \u00a0I just got off the telephone a few minutes ago with a retired BYU professor whom I\u2019ve known well for decades. \u00a0He thought, he said, that I might be interested in hearing about something that had recently happened to him. \u00a0My ears perked up when he opened his story by explaining that he had died earlier this month. \u00a0He told of watching himself being revived, from a position above and behind his body. \u00a0He himself is astonished at what happened. \u00a0It\u2019s a simple out-of-body experience, far and away not the most elaborate or complex that I\u2019ve encountered. \u00a0But if even one such account is true, physicalism and the reduction of mind to brain appear to be false, and a life after death becomes exponentially more probable. \u00a0 I\u2019ve asked him to write the experience up for me.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Well, BYU won its tenth football game of the season last night (as compared to one loss), defeating the University of Cincinnati at Nippert Field in Ohio. I don\u2019t typically comment about BYU athletics here, or about sports in general. \u00a0And this comment won\u2019t really be about football, either. \u00a0I want, though, to call […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":96928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1149,39425,5367,2905,788,39428],"class_list":["post-113732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-byu","tag-cincinnati","tag-football","tag-latter-day-saint","tag-mormon","tag-nippert-field"],"yoast_head":"\nBigots in the Bleachers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"  Well, BYU won its tenth football game of the season last night (as compared to one loss), defeating the University of Cincinnati at Nippert Field\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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