I love football, but I love my Christian convictions even more. As much as I have always enjoyed watching the Super Bowl, I seem to have lost any interest in watching the next one. The same thing happened to me regarding my interest in certain movies. I enjoy movies, but because of the off screen behavior of certain actors, I simply can’t enjoy anything they act in. Movies or TV shows which star people like Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Shirley McClain or Charlie Sheen simply don’t appeal to me. I just can’t make myself enjoy any of their onscreen roles because they have so offended my moral sensibilities on a personal level. Well, the National Football League has just done the same thing. Here is what went down.
Recently the Arizona legislature passed legislation designed to protect religious freedom. Because of events which have happened over the last couple of years in different parts of the country, Arizona legislators tried to get ahead of the curve to prevent religious business people from finding themselves oppressed because of their faith. There are actual situations, in several states, where Christian owned businesses have been fined or, literally, run out of business because of their religious convictions. This has happened because homosexual activists brought forward cases to try and force them to act contrary to their religious beliefs. They were essentially told, “Support our homosexual lifestyle with your businesses or else!”
After this bill was passed in the Arizona legislature, Gov. Jan Brewer began receiving pressure from gay activist groups and their sympathizers. They were pushing her to veto the bill. These activists totally ignored the religious freedom implications and began making the ridiculously false charge that this law was designed to discriminate against homosexuals.
Enter the NFL. As a part of this pressure on the governor, the NFL threatened to not award Arizona a Super Bowl if she signed the bill. In spite of the fact that the things being said about the legislation were simply a lie, she caved.
The truth is, opposition to this bill was not about discrimination against homosexuals. It was about preventing the criminalization of people’s religious beliefs. But for the militant homosexual lobby and their sympathizers, this would not do. Conscience protection legislation would interfere with their goal of forcing everyone to not only affirm but to celebrate the homosexual lifestyle and gay marriage. In other words, their desire to be affirmed in the public square now takes precedence over freedom of religion. And, of course, it will be Bible believing Christians who will face the brunt of this attack. These homosexual activists and their supporters are determined to force Christians to participate in and celebrate immoral behavior and destroy those who refuse.
The truth is, the gay lobby and their supporters are the ones who are bigoted and intolerant. And they have become powerful enough in the culture to cause those Christians who want to stand on biblical principle to pay a price. I don’t know about you, but I will not be bullied into supporting immorality, no matter the cost. We already see Christians being fined and forced out of business for their faith. I don’t think it will be long before we see the next step where Christians will be put in jail for these same “offenses.”
The NFL has no business stepping into the middle of the culture war to support causes which violate the conscience rights of American citizens. As it is, they are coming down on the side of those who want to trample religious freedom. It will be a sacrifice for me to not watch the crowning event of the NFL season because I love football. But I will not watch them any more until the NFL reverses its position. When they go out of their way to attack my personal religious beliefs, they have made themselves an enemy of freedom, an enemy of Christians and an enemy of mine.