Keller @ Large: Tim Tebow Is Doing Everything Right
BOSTON (CBS) - There's an old saying: "Never discuss religion or politics."
I make my living discussing the latter, and have grown used to the heat that comes with it, but I fear I'm going overboard by devoting this space to a religious topic for the second day in a row.
Listen to Jon's commentary:
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After all, as Dave Barry once said: "The problem with writing about religion is that you run the risk of offending sincerely religious people, and then they come after you with machetes."
But I'm going to take that risk, because this Sunday the Patriots are in Denver to play the Broncos and their sensational young quarterback, Tim Tebow, and for reasons that I think defy rational explanation, many people appear to be in an angry panic about it.
Not the game, but the fast-growing fame and popularity of Tebow, who has committed the apparently-cardinal sin of being very open about the fact that he is a devout Christian.
Tebow's brief moments of giving public thanks to God during games have become flashpoints for controversy.
As a college football star he wrote Biblical verse references into his glare-cutting eye black, a practice the authorities quickly banned.
He even taped a TV ad for an anti-abortion group along with his mother.
And according to sportswriter Ron Borges, during a conference call with the Boston press the other day, Tebow committed the unpardonable crime of saying that it's more important to him to "be a great role model for the next generation" than to score touchdowns.
Oh, the horror!
The city of Boston's chaplain, Grand Rabbi Y.A. Korff, is quoted in the paper saying of Tebow's moments of public prayer that "I don't like to see it so visible and overwhelming, because then it becomes an act for the act's sake, rather than for the underlying faith and belief, and that, then, becomes a concern, particularly for those that have faiths that are in the minority in this country."
What?
This is ridiculous.
If you don't like how Tim Tebow handles himself, by all means, look away. But don't tell me he's doing anything wrong.
Because it looks to me like he's doing everything right.
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
