The Lord's quarterback strikes fear into liberals

RELIGION on the football field is good news for Republicans.

Lobbecke cartoon

A FOOTBALLER who prays rather than strays has confounded American liberals.

With all eyes on the third Republican primary coming up in South Carolina this weekend, you would be forgiven for missing the other big news from the US. A footballer is making headlines all over the country. When that happens in Australia, it's usually a predictably messy story about a night out involving too much testosterone, alcohol, arrogance, a footballer or two or three, a girl and a camera. Not in America. At least not right now. Here it's all about Tebowmania, an inspiring story about humility, abstinence, and no drinking, not even cursing, about a home-schooled 24-year-old rookie quarterback who happens to be a good Christian and is not afraid of talking about God.

Millions of Americans have gone crazy about Tim Tebow. As the Denver Broncos' starting quarterback, the newcomer to America's National Football League has helped a team bumping along the bottom of the NFL score seven wins (to just one loss) with six final-quarter comebacks from behind. Then Tebow, a committed Christian, falls on one knee for a moment of on-field prayer and reflection.

So iconic is the image of Tebow kneeling on the turf, the verb "to Tebow" is now part of the American lexicon with copycat praying taking place all across the country (happily replacing the infantile practice of planking). Legions of loyal fans are reading Tebow's recent best-selling autobiography Through My Eyes, buying his No 15 Bronco jersey in record numbers and watching him -- 53.3 million people watched the 80-yard touchdown pass by the young Bronco quarterback in the last minutes of the wild-card game against six-time Super Bowl champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers. News reports reveal that the Broncos' victory that night attracted more tweets per second than news of Osama bin Laden's demise, the death of Apple guru Steve Jobs and the recent royal wedding.

The media is crazy about Tebow too. When the underdog Broncos faced off against the top-seeded New England Patriots last weekend, it was a case of "America's choir boy Tim Tebow faces Tom Brady, the playboy powerhouse". The Patriots thrashed the Broncos. But it didn't matter. While the ripped and chiselled Brady, married to a glamorous model, makes off the field headlines for his enchanted social life, Tebow talks to an even wider audience. "If you believe, unbelievable things can sometimes be possible," Tebow said after a come-from-behind win against the Chicago Bears. When asked, he revealed he's a virgin and is saving himself for marriage. The son of Baptist missionaries has written about his mother, who, against doctors' advice chose not to abort his birth. Tebow has appeared in a pro-life advertisement.

While playing for the University of Florida, the college champion footballer inscribed his on-field black face paint with Bible scripture, John 3.16. ("For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.") Google searches about the biblical passages soared sky high.

At a time when leadership is missing in action, be it from politics, pop culture or sport, Tebowmania is a nice break from the boozy parties and sleazy behaviour that sports fans have grown accustomed to from their star players. And at a time when religion is under assault, it is little wonder the public piety of this young quarterback has won the hearts of many Christians.

Others are crazy-mad about Tebow bringing God into the public square with such audacious enthusiasm. How irritating for critics that Tebow doesn't look or sound like some kooky Southern preacher. Comedians who poke fun at him and so-called intellectuals among left-liberals who do the same, express a particular kind of contempt for a clean-living, pro-life, evangelical Christian sportsman. It seems they are more comfortable with some schlock celebrity who wears no underwear, has had an abortion, chilled out in an addiction clinic, been arrested for shoplifting or otherwise challenged social mores than a committed Christian and his public display of piety.

Even on Fox News, a woman panellist described Tebow as "nuts" for linking his wins to prayer. (The same woman then admitted she is a "spiritualist" who likes talking to the dead.) Mocking Tebow and his Christianity has become a national pastime for many who would never mock other religions in this way. There is a TebowHaters.com website, radio hosts offer to bring to an end Tebow's virginity and there is a palpable sense of relief from critics when the Broncos lose. "Wow. Jesus just f---- #TimTebow bad! And on Xmas Eve!" tweeted late night TV host Bill Maher. Novelist and blogger Drew Magary announced "it's practically your duty as cynical Americans" to cheer a Broncos' loss.

Even in Australia you find smug secularists posturing against expressions of religious faith, at least when it's of the Christian kind. Writing about Tebowing last month, Fairfax's Peter FitzSimons wrote "the closest Australian word is probably 'public wankery' ". And that's from a bloke who wears a loud red bandana to make sure he's sufficiently noticed among the local leftist pundits.

One comedian was much closer to the mark when he described the looming presidential race as an Obama v Tebow contest. In a way it is. Tebowmania and the Republican primaries converge rather neatly, especially in South Carolina, a state where the evangelical vote carries a great deal of weight, just as it will in many American states come the November battle for the White House. With impeccable timing, those who mock Tebow for his public commitment to God unwittingly bolster the case made by Republican candidates that there is a war on religion in America.

During the recent Republican primaries, Newt Gingrich raised a number of questions arising from the state's increasing interference with religious freedom: "Should the Catholic Church be forced to close its adoption services in Massachusetts because it won't accept gay couples, which is exactly what the state has done? Should the Catholic Church be driven out of providing charitable services in the District of Columbia because it won't give in to secular bigotry? Should the Catholic Church find itself discriminated against by the Obama administration on key delivery of services because of the bias and the bigotry of the administration?"

Gingrich's campaign to win the Republican nomination may soon be over but other Republican candidates have voiced similar sentiments and expect to hear the Republican who challenges Obama for the presidency do the same. These questions resonate deeply with many Americans, not just evangelical Christians but anyone genuinely committed to the basic right of people to practise their religion. The gulf between those who admire Tebow and those who ridicule him is not really a religious v secularist contest. It's more a free v unfree fight. Fortunately, most Americans tend to take their freedom seriously.

But if you thought religion in schools causes freedom-cynics in fashionably progressive circles to arch up in disgust, you should see what happens when religion makes its way on to the football field. As one Tebow admirer put it recently, Tebowmania is the ninth circle of hell for American left-liberals; it doesn't get much worse than this. Just by being a nice, clean-living guy who walks the Christian talk with his missionary and charity work Tebow is one heck of a weapon against secularists who wouldn't dream of ridiculing any religion except Christianity.