Cartoonist/blogger Jason Krumbine responds to readers who complain about Christians “imposing their views” on non-Christians:
How is that any different than you sharing with someone about how awesome your favorite sports team is? Are you forcing your sports tastes down other people’s throats? Of course you’re not.
This is so obvious, but for some reason I never thought about it that way. You see, I live in Indiana, where basketball, football, and racing are venerated. Yet, I am agnostic with regard to spectator sports. I don’t deny that great teams and great athletes exist, or that sports are generally harmless, but I have never personally experienced salvation by watching sports.
They are often beneficial for their followers and the society that allows and encourages them, and people who criticize sports for being a waste of time need to realize that much of what anyone does is a waste of time. Not only that, much of what any society supports is practically useless, including salaries that are many times beyond what anyone needs to live. Anyone who has any discretionary income beyond paying for food and shelter is receiving more benefit from society than they could possibly ever “earn” through the direct transactional value of their labor.
Nevertheless, I simply have no use for spectator sports. I am alternately amused and annoyed by all the painted and dressed-up wackos who come out on game day. They hoard all their little relics, they make their big pilgrimages, they rehearse their chants and rituals, they venerate their idols, they start stupid arguments with followers of rival teams, and I just shake my head and say, “What a bunch of idiots!”
So, here I am in the middle of this religion, the Church of the Holy Sport, that I don’t like and that I think is only for losers who have too much leisure time, too much money, and not enough brains. And these nutcases are constantly evangelizing to me and preaching to me and praising their idols for all these imaginary superlative qualities.
I’ll tell you what: I feel imposed upon. I feel like I am somehow immoral because I don’t care about their idols. Every time I see some ordinary sports fan wearing “the uniform,” I think that if someone wanted to do any crime or terrorism at all, they should dress like that, because no one would ever suspect them of doing anything antisocial. I guess this is what it’s like to be on the outside of a religious movement.
The funny thing is, that religion in the US doesn’t seem anything like sports. I know there are lots of religious performances and rallies and TV shows, but none of them are as commonplace, as widely venerated, or as heavily supported by local business and government as sports. Maybe it’s different in certain areas of the US or in other countries, but where I live, publicly supporting any sport is way more important than publicly supporting religion.
I am a Christian, but I don’t advertise it with stickers and fish magnets. I think I’ve only been “witnessed to” by a Christian stranger twice in my life. Both times they were very polite about it, and when I told them I agreed with them, they said goodbye. Maybe they just wanted an atheist to argue with, but on the other hand, only an argumentative atheist would have responded with a hostile attitude. So, I’ve always been pretty baffled by people who whine about having Christianity forced on them.
After considering the comparison to sports worship, I guess I’m willing to admit that some people may make themselves a big target with regard to non-sports religion. And if they already have some problems with society not affirming them enough or with society not looking enough like they do, they might get kind of resentful and start whining about persecution against atheists. But until their favorite atheist cartoon is pre-empted by a televangelism crusade, I just don’t think I’m going to feel sorry for them.
