{"id":2452,"date":"2012-01-19T11:21:00","date_gmt":"2012-01-19T11:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/01\/why-liberals-shouldnt-dis-tim-tebow-or-jesus.html"},"modified":"2012-01-19T11:21:00","modified_gmt":"2012-01-19T11:21:00","slug":"why-liberals-shouldnt-dis-tim-tebow-or-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/01\/why-liberals-shouldnt-dis-tim-tebow-or-jesus.html","title":{"rendered":"Why Liberals Shouldn&#8217;t Dis Tim Tebow (or Jesus)"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>by Robert Wright<br>The Atlantic<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"background-color: white;font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 13px;line-height: 19px\">It took the final, climactic weekend of Tebow-mania to draw my attention to the weeks-old Saturday Night Live skit below. The skit ridicules Tim Tebow and\/or Jesus, depending on how you interpret it. Parts of it made me laugh, but I still think this kind of stuff probably hurts the cause of the secular liberals who typically create it. My two reasons for believing this can be found below\u00a0<\/span><br><span style=\"background-color: white;font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 13px;line-height: 19px\">1) Prominent among the political adversaries of secular liberals are religious conservatives, the more extreme of whom consider themselves to be at war with the prevailing culture. They may homeschool their kids (though not all homeschoolers share this attitude) or in other ways try to wall themselves off from this culture. When secular liberals who shape the culture fulfill the religious conservatives\u2019 stereotype of them as threatening\u2013by, say, seeming to ridicule Jesus, or seeming to ridicule Tebow\u2019s faith\u2013conservatives will be more inclined to stay within their walls, avoiding engagement with the secular world. So they\u2019ll find it easier to reject the entire liberal agenda, ranging from gay rights to uncensored science education in the public schools. (Don\u2019t get me started on the damage that I fear Richard Dawkins is doing to science education in the heartland by embodying a false equation between Darwinism and a militant, contemptuous atheism.) In short, when liberals are seen as ridiculing Christianity, they\u2019re energizing their adversaries and making it harder to turn adversaries into allies, or at least neutral parties, on particular issues.<\/span> <br><span style=\"background-color: white;font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 13px;line-height: 19px\">Read the rest <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2012\/01\/why-liberals-shouldnt-dis-tim-tebow-or-jesus\/251492\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Robert WrightThe Atlantic It took the final, climactic weekend of Tebow-mania to draw my attention to the weeks-old Saturday Night Live skit below. The skit ridicules Tim Tebow and\/or Jesus, depending on how you interpret it. Parts of it made me laugh, but I still think this kind of stuff probably hurts the cause [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Liberals Shouldn&#039;t Dis Tim Tebow (or Jesus)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Robert WrightThe AtlanticIt took the final, climactic weekend of Tebow-mania to draw my attention to the weeks-old Saturday Night Live skit below. The\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/01\/why-liberals-shouldnt-dis-tim-tebow-or-jesus.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Liberals Shouldn&#039;t Dis Tim Tebow (or Jesus)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Robert WrightThe AtlanticIt took the final, climactic weekend of Tebow-mania to draw my attention to the weeks-old Saturday Night Live skit below. The\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/01\/why-liberals-shouldnt-dis-tim-tebow-or-jesus.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-01-19T11:21:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andre E. Johnson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/01\/why-liberals-shouldnt-dis-tim-tebow-or-jesus.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/01\/why-liberals-shouldnt-dis-tim-tebow-or-jesus.html\",\"name\":\"Why Liberals Shouldn't Dis Tim Tebow (or Jesus)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-19T11:21:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-01-19T11:21:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc\"},\"description\":\"by Robert WrightThe AtlanticIt took the final, climactic weekend of Tebow-mania to draw my attention to the weeks-old Saturday Night Live skit below. The\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/01\/why-liberals-shouldnt-dis-tim-tebow-or-jesus.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/01\/why-liberals-shouldnt-dis-tim-tebow-or-jesus.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/01\/why-liberals-shouldnt-dis-tim-tebow-or-jesus.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why Liberals Shouldn&#8217;t Dis Tim Tebow (or Jesus)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/\",\"name\":\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc\",\"name\":\"Andre E. Johnson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Andre E. Johnson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/ajohnson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Liberals Shouldn't Dis Tim Tebow (or Jesus)","description":"by Robert WrightThe AtlanticIt took the final, climactic weekend of Tebow-mania to draw my attention to the weeks-old Saturday Night Live skit below. The","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/01\/why-liberals-shouldnt-dis-tim-tebow-or-jesus.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Liberals Shouldn't Dis Tim Tebow (or Jesus)","og_description":"by Robert WrightThe AtlanticIt took the final, climactic weekend of Tebow-mania to draw my attention to the weeks-old Saturday Night Live skit below. The","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/01\/why-liberals-shouldnt-dis-tim-tebow-or-jesus.html","og_site_name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","article_published_time":"2012-01-19T11:21:00+00:00","author":"Andre E. Johnson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Andre E. Johnson","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/01\/why-liberals-shouldnt-dis-tim-tebow-or-jesus.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/01\/why-liberals-shouldnt-dis-tim-tebow-or-jesus.html","name":"Why Liberals Shouldn't Dis Tim Tebow (or Jesus)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-01-19T11:21:00+00:00","dateModified":"2012-01-19T11:21:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc"},"description":"by Robert WrightThe AtlanticIt took the final, climactic weekend of Tebow-mania to draw my attention to the weeks-old Saturday Night Live skit below. The","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/01\/why-liberals-shouldnt-dis-tim-tebow-or-jesus.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/01\/why-liberals-shouldnt-dis-tim-tebow-or-jesus.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/01\/why-liberals-shouldnt-dis-tim-tebow-or-jesus.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why Liberals Shouldn&#8217;t Dis Tim Tebow (or Jesus)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/","name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc","name":"Andre E. Johnson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Andre E. Johnson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/ajohnson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2251"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}