PDP: Public Displays of Piety

In India one can more often than not identify another's religion by their dress.  Sikh males wear turbans, well-kept beards and silver bracelets.  Muslim women wear head coverings for varying degrees of modesty, depending on local traditions of orthodoxy, from simple scarves to full body "burkas" with only a slit out of which to see.  Hindus, male and female, will often wear makeup on the forehead to identify their sect.  Certain members of the Jain religion and some Hindu hermits called "Sadhus" will wear nothing at all.

In North American Jewish communities Hassidic males can identify their degree of orthodoxy by the manner in which they manage their haircut and beard and by the type of hat they wear.  Amish communities wear distinctive handmade clothing.  Black Muslim members of the Nation of Islam can be identified by their bow ties for men or a sash worn by women.

Public displays of piety are more common place than we might think.  Consider the crucifix or Star of David necklace, the singing of God Bless America at the seventh inning stretch of a professional baseball game, our currency's "In God We Trust" or the Pledge of Allegiance phrase "...one nation under God..." added in the 1950's. 

Yet the media is having a field day with Tim Tebow's public displays of piety.

The Denver Broncos’ young quarterback has made national news with his amazing, 'last minute' football miracles; winning 6 games in a row during the regular season after the team got off to a terrible start; beating the Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime in the Broncos’ first playoff win since 2005.  Denver's loss against the heavily favored New England Patriots will only dim "Tebowmania" for a while.

Tim Tebow's public displays of piety have been a major interest in the media since he was a successful football player at the University of Florida.  Throughout games, especially after a touchdown, he unashamedly bends down on one knee, places his forehead on his fist and thanks Jesus.  At press conferences he is quite natural and sincere about the role of faith in his life.  He doesn't appear to be a phony which is driving the mass media wild with speculation, parody and criticism.

Tim Tebow

The cynical are using Tebowmania to recite the litany of the all-too-many religious hypocrites whose public displays of piety did not match their immoral and/or criminal behavior as if the pundits are just waiting for this young man to stumble and fall.

In an increasingly secular North America Tebow's public display of piety is perceived as an irritant by some and offensive to others.   Reminiscent of the French controversy banning the Muslim head-covering "hijab" or scarf for girls in public school, a secular majority wants religious minorities to keep their religion to themselves. 

When was the last time we heard a word in the Mass Media about the faith communities' response to Hurricane Katrina?  Millions of donated dollars and volunteer hours have been spent by communities of faith to aid in the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast in the last 6 years.  Such compassionate service continues in Haiti in response to the 2010 earthquake.  It happens in North America's urban core each and every day, where churches, synagogues and mosques feed, house and clothe the poor.

We might find a human interest story every now and then; the usual holiday articles around Thanksgiving and Christmas.  But no headlines, no in-depth analysis.  We won't find Saturday Night Live parodies of volunteers digging houses out of muck on YouTube.

Are such public displays of piety invisible to the editors of our society's media outlets?  But let a young football player bend to his knee in prayer and few can talk about anything else.

Religious identification by dress, custom, posture or slogan is superficial of course.  In the end the only real way we identify our core beliefs is by how we live our lives, which suggests that how we judge celebrity athletes' faith may say a lot more about us than it does about them.