{"id":2374,"date":"2012-08-06T19:53:57","date_gmt":"2012-08-06T23:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/philosophicalfragments\/?p=2374"},"modified":"2012-08-06T19:53:57","modified_gmt":"2012-08-06T23:53:57","slug":"gabby-douglas-jeremy-lin-and-the-god-of-parking-spots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/philosophicalfragments\/2012\/08\/06\/gabby-douglas-jeremy-lin-and-the-god-of-parking-spots\/","title":{"rendered":"Gabby Douglas, Jeremy Lin, and the God of Parking Spots"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

My friend David French posts<\/a> at\u00a0French Revolution\u00a0about journalistic snark directed toward Gabby Douglas and her professions of faith in the midst of her dazzling Olympic gold-medal-winning performance in the all-around at the London Games. \u00a0Mary Elizabeth Williams at Salon wrote:<\/p>\n

As a Christian myself<\/a>\u00a0(albeit one of those really freaky papist kinds), I\u2019ve often wondered what it is about Christians like Douglas that unnerves me so. The closest I\u2019ve been able to figure it is that Douglas and her ilk seem to espouse a faith based on what is commonly referred to as \u201cThe God of Parking Spaces.\u201d It\u2019s the deity that grants wishes to those who ask nicely. Douglas is a girl who has described God as the figure who\u2019s\u00a0\u201cwaking me up every morning and keeping me safe in the gym every day.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0She told People Thursday, \u201cI was on the bus and it was raining and I thought, \u2018It\u2019s going to be a great day.\u2019 My mom used to tell me when I was little, \u2018When it rains, it\u2019s God\u2019s manifestation, a big day\u2019s waiting to happen.\u2019 I texted my mom,\u00a0\u2018It\u2019s raining. You know what that means.\u2019\u201d<\/a>\u00a0It means that Russian girl is going down, I guess.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If Williams finds Douglas \u201cunnerving,\u201d it says more about Williams than it does about Douglas. \u00a0Some people are always looking for an opportunity to demean what looks like a simple or traditional version of Christian faith. \u00a0Douglas, she alleges (on the basis, it\u2019s worth noting, of very little evidence), casts her faith in a false deity, \u201cThe God of Parking Spaces,\u201d the idol to whom you pray when you\u2019re in a rush and you need that perfect parking space at the airport. \u00a0Since Gabby attributes her victory to divine blessing, it must follow, Williams assumes, that she would attribute failure to an absence of blessing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Gabrielle Douglas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since the Olympics are in London this year, let me just say that this is bollocks. \u00a0There were a few who sneered in the same way at Jeremy Lin \u2014 about whom I wrote a book<\/a> \u2014 since he sometimes attributed wins and hit shots to God. \u00a0The assumption is that these people (young, non-white evangelical Protestants) Christians view God as a cosmic Pez-dispenser. \u00a0Push the buttons just right and out pops whatever you desire. \u00a0If you do not get what you desire, then you must not have pushed the right button. \u00a0There is often (though I can\u2019t say about Williams\u2019 case) a demeaning of sports here as well, that comes from those with very few, or negative, experiences in sports. \u00a0Why in the world \u2014 they ask, salving their wounded egos, and assuring themselves that what they do is so much more important \u2014 would God care about sports? \u00a0And if God gave\u00a0them<\/em>\u00a0the victory, does that mean God took it away<\/em> from their competitors? \u00a0Surely Jeremy Lin and Gabby Douglas are too simple-minded to think through their faith.<\/p>\n

But no. \u00a0That is not<\/em> the answer. \u00a0This is not a simple faith, but one version of the Christian tradition that has developed over the course of centuries. \u00a0In this view of the world, all things are divinely superintended. \u00a0It\u2019s not merely that God gives Gabby Douglas the victory; it\u2019s that God gives Gabby Douglas life, the breath in her lungs, the lungs to breathe it with, the talent in her body and soul, the strength in her spirit, the family that supports and inspires her, the opportunity to compete on the highest level, and then (when God gives it) the victory. \u00a0When God gives you the parking spot, it\u2019s for his purposes, and not because you prayed in just the right way. \u00a0And when God does not give you the parking spot, that too is for his purposes.<\/p>\n

Williams goes on to write:<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think the force that I, for want of a better word, call God rains down sufferings or blessings based on individual piety. I believe in a grace that gives me the strength to muscle through the sufferings, and the gratitude to appreciate the blessings. That\u2019s why the subtle implication, when an athlete or an artist says that God was with them on a winning day, seems so strange, and why, I imagine, it rings so hollow for others. And though I am in awe of a young girl whose talent is damn near miraculous, I likewise don\u2019t believe in a God who made it rain for her to win.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Williams identifies as Catholic (and no, we Protestants do not find that \u201cfreaky\u201d), but her God sounds vaguely Deistic. \u00a0The thing is, Gabby Douglas never said that God \u201crains down sufferings or blessings based on individual piety.\u201d \u00a0In fact, she\u2019d probably tell you that \u2014 as the Old Testament tells us quite clearly \u2014 God makes his rain fall upon the righteous and the wicked alike. \u00a0She\u2019d probably also be the first person to testify that she did nothing to deserve the blessing God just gave her. \u00a0That\u2019s why it\u2019s called grace. \u00a0It\u2019s not a gift if you earned it. \u00a0Gabby probably believes in a God who gives her strength and gratitude, but who is also profoundly involved in the world, and in her own life, in mysterious and impossibly intimate ways. \u00a0She believes in a personal God, a God who joins us in the trenches, a God who is always giving himself to us, a God who catches our tears in a bottle, and a God who cares about sports because he cares about the people performing them.<\/p>\n

Gabby saw a sign of God\u2019s presence in the rain. \u00a0I see a sign of God\u2019s presence in the cross, in the icon on my wall, in the sculpture on my bookshelf, and in the scars across my arms. \u00a0I see signs of God\u2019s presence everywhere. \u00a0It may make Williams feel superior to put down Gabby Douglas\u2019 faith, but it actually makes her small. \u00a0And it makes her God small as well. \u00a0The God who is infinitely involved in all things, who is unchanging precisely because he is always and eternally complete and active love, is a great and majestic God. \u00a0He is the God of Parking Spaces, but only because he is also the God of All Things.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My friend David French posts at\u00a0French Revolution\u00a0about journalistic snark directed toward Gabby Douglas and her professions of faith in the midst of her dazzling Olympic gold-medal-winning performance in the all-around at the London Games. \u00a0Mary Elizabeth Williams at Salon wrote: As a Christian myself\u00a0(albeit one of those really freaky papist kinds), I\u2019ve often wondered what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":2375,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[913,728],"tags":[814,935,822,917,919,918],"class_list":["post-2374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gymnastics-2","category-sports","tag-faith-and-sports","tag-gabrielle-douglas","tag-gymnastics","tag-london-olympics","tag-olympic-games","tag-olympic-gymnastics"],"yoast_head":"\nGabby Douglas, Jeremy Lin, and the God of Parking Spots - 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