MSNBC Panel: If Tebow Had A Scandal, Would It ‘Validate The Stereotypes’ Surrounding Evangelicals
A panel discussion on MSNBC’s Now With Alex Wagner tackled what some view as the politicization of sports figures, particularly former Denver Broncos Quarterback, Tim Tebow, who on Sunday delivered an Easter sermon at a Texas church. The panel also examined the victory by Florida native Bubba Watson in the Masters golf tournament and wonders if ‘New Yorkers’ can relate to both an openly religious and a Southern sports figures. While the panel appeared even-handed in their commentary on Tebow and Watson, Wagner could not seem to contain her resentment.
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Alex Wagner asked Democratic strategist Alicia Menendez if she believed that Tebow’s unapologetic and outspoken religiosity “energizes a section of the American electorate or young people in a way that – and draws them towards a Christian message?”
“This is something the Christian ministry has always been really good about doing,” Menendez responded. “You go to most college campuses; they have this type of youth ministry and they have the coolest, best looking, athletic kids really preaching the gospel. So, to me, this is just that on steroids.”
“The question is whether New Yorkers will take it,” said Wagner.
NBC News reporter Luke Russert responded that he believed that, as professional athletes go, Tebow is a relatively decent role model for children. “hey, a lot of parents out there – they look at athletes who they want their kids to grow up to be like – Tim Tebow has got to be pretty high up on that list,” said Russert.
“He’s going to prisons. It’s not just the mega churches – he’s preaching a, sort of, more community-oriented message as well,” Wagner added.
Menendez warned that there is danger in celebrities espousing such an evangelical message. She said that a similar faith-based message voiced by Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears backfired when it was revealed that they were less observant of biblical teachings in their personal lives.
“If there was a Tiger Woods scandal about Tim Tebow, I think that would really destroy just the mentality of so many people in the country,” Russert opined.
“And also validate the stereotypes some folks have about, you know, evangelicals and folks who live absolute lives,” interjected Wagner.
The panel also weighed in on the tearful victory of golfer Bubba Watson at the Masters, which Russert called “the biggest victory for red state America since Bush got reelected.”
Wagner clarified that she is “all for men showing their emotions.” She did, however, feel that it would have been more “validating if he had been crying over Augusta’s policy to not let them [women] in.”
Wagner’s panel took a mild and even handed approach to the subject of Tebow and Watson’s heritage and background. Mild, at least, in comparison to Wagner’s naked pining for some scandal to erupt to take these arrest the national reverence for these two figures. One has to wonder what it is about Tim Tebow that makes media personalities and progressives so nervous.
Given how mild-mannered and apolitical Tebow has behaved since he burst onto the national scene, it is truly strange that he has become a political figure in the media. Perhaps his live-and-let-live style of evangelism threatens to tear an irreparable hole in the characterization of Evangelical Christianity as seeking to impose a lifestyle on non-practitioners that has become a political rallying cry on the left.
Watch the segment below via MSNBC:
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
