God and Country

In the near-tradition of Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis, and, yes, even Betty White, a member of the military has taken to YouTube to invite Tim Tebow to her first Military Ball.

On Feb. 5, Senior Airman Jamie Walden enlisted the help of friends and co-workers at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., to make a video to convince the Denver Broncos quarterback to come with her to a military ball Read more…

David Silverman is president of American Atheists — the same group behind the mocking atheist tag-along to the Travis AFB holiday displays.  He recently told CBS that Denver Broncos’ quarterback Tim Tebow was “full of crap” for the public displays of his faith — most notably, Tebowing, which Jason Torpy seemed to think violated regulations when performed by members of the military.

one atheist group believes he’s doing it all for personal gain…

Silverman believes that Tebow is “full of crap” when he publically displays his Christianity on the football field and said his prayers are for publicity.

“It’s not that Tebow prays, it’s that he waits for the cameras to be on him to do it,” Silverman says. “He’s totally faking.”  Read more…

Craig Baxam reportedly converted to Islam just prior to leaving the US Army in July.  By December, he had been arrested in Kenya:

Baxam…told investigators he wanted to live in an area governed by the strict edicts of Islamic Sharia law, such as those imposed by Al Shabaab, and defend them to the death if necessary.

He is apparently claiming the “bumbling” defense, sort of: 

[He] told FBI agents that he had no contacts with al-Shabab and only a haphazard plan to connect with the group

This is only the latest development undermining Michael Weinstein’s conspiracy theories.

At this point, at least, it seems Baxam was content to wage his holy war Read more…

Jason Torpy of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers picked up last month’s post on Tebowing, even plagiarizing text from ChristianFighterPilot.com in the process.  He reached a different conclusion, however:

Tebowing with Afghan kids is clearly an evangelical activity that must be pulled from the site with reprimands for the troop involved.  The NFL game is misappropriation of government resources — and any Marine will tell you his body is a government resource. 

First of all, Tebowing.com a private website, so there is no governmental Read more…

As noted previously, Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow has an enormous platform for Jesus Christ — one he maintains with a humble yet strong spirit.

That platform has resulted in (literal) worldwide attention. “Tebowing” even made Time Magazines Top 10 Memes, one of its 54 “Top Ten” lists for 2011.

What does Tebow think of the meme? The quarterback has said he is pleased that the internet fad, however fleeting, is encouraging people to pray.

How’s your Christian witness?

Via the ChristianPost.

Fresh off accusations the US military forces its young, impressionable troops to pray in formation, an entire formation of US Marines did so in front of nearly 75,000 football fans.

Marines perform their version of ‘Tebowing’ before the Broncos-Jets game on Nov. 17. (AP Photo/Barry Gutierrez)

Actually, they’re Tebowing.  Then again, Tebowing is praying, by definition.  And they’re in uniform.  These Marines must be Read more…

The RecordOnline reports on the many faithful members of the US Military Academy’s football team:

They sprint onto Blaik Field and head directly to the north end zone. About 20 or so Army teammates take a knee and pray individually.

Some prayers last a few seconds. Others are deeper. They ask for both teams to be safe. They express how thankful they are for Read more…

If being a Heisman Trophy winner wasn’t enough to give former University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow a life-long Biblical legacy, a new statue might do it.

Tebow is now immortalized along with two other alumni Heisman winners in a 17,000 pound bronze statue.  The life-size statue is an “accurate” depiction of the new NFL player — including the sometimes-controversial “John 3:16″ on his eye blacks.  The Christian Post reports the University of Florida has indicated support for the statues has been “overwhelmingly positive.”

In the pattern of Tim Tebow, a local article documents the faith of Andy Dalton, the long-running quarterback of the TCU Horned Frogs.  After an already championship season (including a handy defeat of Air Force), Dalton’s finale was leading TCU to win the Rose Bowl on New Years Day — but, Dalton’s “legacy” is more than football.

But Dalton will not only leave a massive football legacy behind at TCU, he’ll leave a spiritual mark as well.  Read more…

Though he was not the only player to do so, former Florida Gator Tim Tebow made famous the practice of using his eyeblacks for communicating a message.  The NCAA football rules committee has now decided to ban the practice, leading some to dub it the “Tebow Rule.”

Under some interpretations, the practice of putting such text anywhere on the sports uniform was already prohibited, and the rules committee “clarified” that prohibition to include the players’ eyeblacks.

The National Prayer Breakfast was already a controversial event this year, as at least one group had urged President Obama to skip the annual event attended by sitting Presidents for the past few decades.

He chose to attend, but he did not avoid controversy.  He addressed the concerns of those who did not want him to attend by specifically speaking against a law about homosexuals in Uganda.  The normally smooth orator also managed to mispronounce a military rank, calling a Navy medic a “corpse-man” rather than a “corpsman” (properly pronounced “core-man”) (not once, but three times), and he expressed the thought that non-theists Read more…

In several articles on this site, the premise has been repeated that true religious freedom is not the suppression of differing ideas, but the encouragement of them.  Sometimes this is a cautionary tale to Christians who feel that other religions should not have the same freedoms as Christians.  More often, however, it is a rebuttal to those who would silence or restrict Christians in order to avoid offense or exposure to a differing moral stance.

Hugh Hewitt has a similar explanation on his site, in his criticisms of those who criticized CBS for allowing Tim Tebow and his mother to air a “Celebrate Life” ad during the SuperBowl:

Most people of faith are strong proponents of religious liberty because they are very acquainted with the stories of religious persecution in almost every other part of the globe.  The answer to religious intolerance Read more…

This site has previously documented the public faith of Tim Tebow, the unquestionably talented Florida quarterback who led his team to championships and wore his faith on his life, as well as his eye blacks.  He has been lauded for publicly living out his faith in his “profession.”

The Baptist Press documents another “stand-out linebacker” who “serves Christ,” this time as a military Midshipman at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. 

Ross Pospisil is the Navy football defensive team captain, helping lead a team Read more…

A recent set of articles bemoaned the lack of a “separation of church and sports” in the United States, an idea espoused by those who are tired of players “mixing” their faith and their athletics (see Tim Tebow, Fisher Deberry, Tony Dungy, Chad Hennings, etc.)

Time magazine recently covered the subject from a different perspective.  In “God and Football” they cover the various roles of Chaplains in the NFL.  Some of the comments are oddly similar to those faced by Chaplains and religious adherents in the military.  Read more…

Tim Tebow has been a frequent subject of this site.  He is an outspoken Christian in a public position who has utilized his platform to further the cause of Christ.

He has been used as an example for those who feel they need to get out of the military and become preachers or missionaries in order to serve Christ.  Tebow, like R.G. LeTourneau, accurately points out that men and women should serve God where He has placed them, and they should use the talents that He has given them.

His life ministry–that is, his conscious desire to be known as someone who is genuine and cares–has been used as an example of the power of living evangelism, or Truth with Feet.

Now, Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, highlights a “new agenda” Read more…