I have to admit, I am the last person that really cares about football. However, when every blog, tweet, and Facebook post I read are stating that God is back and He has chosen Tim Tebow as his chosen vessel, I take notice.
For those who may not know, Tim Tebow is the quarterback of the Denver Broncos. Before, he was the starting quarterback for the University of Florida and was the first sophomore to ever win the Heisman Trophy (the MVP award for college football). In recent weeks Tim Tebow has led his team to countless victories against innumerable odds while making sure to “Tebow” after every achievement.
“Tebowing” is an action that consists of Tim crouching on one knee, putting his fist to his forehead, and closing his eyes in prayer while he thanks God for everything he has been given. His constant annunciations of his Evangelical faith in the end zone, has created the an orotund image in vast media and religious outlets that Tim Tebow is “The Chosen One,” born of a woman of pure faith and conviction because she chose the “right” path when she decided to give Tim life whether than exercising her right to a legal abortion.
“Tebowing” is not Tim’s first encounter with the public regarding his Evangelical faith. In 2010 Focus on the Family, a conservative Evangelical group with ties to anti-gay and anti-femininst campaigns, bought air time to show a controversial and much anticipated commercial where Tim Tebow’s mother talked about why he was her “miracle baby” and why that was a direct result of her choosing life.
The actual language of the commercial reads:
PAM TEBOW: I call him my miracle baby. He almost didn’t make it into this world. I remember so many times when I almost lost him. It was so hard. Well he’s all grown up now, and I still worry about his health. Everybody treats him like he’s different, but to me, he’s just my baby. He’s my Timmy, and I love him
The slogan for Focus on the Family is “Celebrate Family. Celebrate Life.” The language of both the commercial as well as the actual organization promotes a negative image to women who chose to have an abortion. Furthermore, the emphasis on life and its “amazing” possibilities, place women in precarious situations. If women choose the “right” path, as Focus on the Family would have you believe, the possibilities for women (read: mothers) are endless! Their tag line should read as: “Don’t Abort! You too could have a Heisman Trophy winning, All-American, quarterback son if you choose life!” However, if women do not buy into this idea and choose to exercise their constitutional right to abortion then they will just end up sad, alone, and without the perfect son.
Focus on the Family even stresses the importance of the gender of the child. Women are supposed to have SONS who will go on to do great things, unlike daughters who will, like their mothers have, produce and care for more children and families. Focus on the Family would not have paid the 1-2 million dollars that advertising space costs during the Super Bowl is Pam Tebow would have had a daughter who was an All-American Volleyball player who now played for the women’s national team resulting in a gold Olympic Games medal.
Focus on the Family creates a negative image for women who are contemplating abortion. In an attempt to undermine a woman’s personal agency, Focus on the Family would rather cloud a woman’s judgment into believing that they too could have the next “Tim Tebow.”
Although the commercial did not live up the media firestorm that preceded it, Tim Tebow’s recent resurgence into American popular culture as God’s “Chosen One,” ultimately reemphasizes the fact that women should choose life no matter what circumstances might be facing them. Whether or not a woman is choosing to carry a child to full term or exercising her constitutional right to have an abortion, Focus on the Family uses Pam Tebow and her son Tim as tools to drive their message into the hearts and homes of women and families everywhere.
However, the only question they are not asking is: “What happens when your son does not end up like Tim Tebow?”
John Erickson is a doctoral student in Women’s Studies in Religion at Claremont Graduate University. His research interests involve an interdisciplinary approach and are influenced by his time as the director of a women’s center and active member in the GLBTQ and women’s rights movements. His work is inspired by the intersectionality of the feminism, queer identity, and religious political and cultural rhetoric. He is the author of the blog, From Wisconsin, with Love and can be followed on Twitter at@jerickson85.
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Yikes, that makes me happy I live in Greece! Never even heard of him.
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Carol – a funny thing – I live here and I hadn’t heard of him either! (till yesterday when I saw what this blog was about and then I went and looked him up).
John, so is it really public knowledge that Tim Tebow’s mom considered having an abortion? I wasn’t quite sure how you made the connection between Pam Tebow’s pro-Tim commercial and Focus on the Family’s anti-abortion stance. Maybe I missed something?
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Xochitl,
Basically when Tim became a famous football star at the University of Florida, the local newspaper did a story on him after catching wind about his mother referring to him as his “miracle baby.” The story goes:
“According to Pam’s account in the Gainesville Sun, she contracted amoebic dysentery and went in a coma shortly before the pregnancy. To facilitate her recovery, she was given heavy-duty drugs. Afterward, doctors told her the fetus was damaged. They diagnosed her with placental abruption, a premature separation of the placenta from the uterine wall. They predicted a stillbirth and recommended abortion.”
Obviously there is more to the story (Google her name and you will find NUMEROUS website that gives multiple accounts, they are gripping reads actually) but Cynthie’s clarification is right.
Focus on the Family used the Tebow’s for their message and regardless of the “actual” story, they capitalized on Tim’s success and the “possibility” of his mother’s story to promote the glorified image that “women who choose life are rewarded with noble sons.”
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Carol, you are very lucky in deed! EVERY Sunday at the end of the night the headlines read: “TEBOW DOES IT AGAIN! MIRACLE OR JUST NATURAL TALENT!”
It is quite scary.
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Coming from a strong football family, Tebow and “Tebowing” as a verb are everywhere. I’m waiting for the Saturday Night Live version of this young man (24) and his prayerful stance after a game victory.
Focus on the Family is based outside of Colorado Springs, Colorado–Tebow plays for the Denver Broncos, you do the math. Not sure the abortion part is public knowledge, but leave it to Focus to exploit it.
John, I’m also wondering if Tebow were African American or, God forbid, Muslim, would there be such a “blitz” of media attention, I mean positive media attention. Highly doubtful.
This media sensation reminds me of Pat Tillman, a star NFL player who left his career to serve with the Army Rangers, and whose story verges on hagiography, which is what Focus on the Family is doing with Tebow and his mother. But for Tillman, the story ended in 2003 when he was killed in Afghanistan, which created a hugh media crafting of this God-fearing-man protecting the US from Muslims. The reality is Tillman was not killed under enemy fire but was instead killed by his own U.S. troops, considered “friendly fire.”
I believe the point John is making is the ability of an ubber right-wing group of xenophobes/sexist white Come-to-Jesus-and-be-saved organization are using the same ancient tools of hagiography to convince (especially during this election time for the GOP) that American values such as an anti-abortion stance are amplified in the likes of Tebow and his mother and are rewarded, maybe even by a high paying contract.
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Cynthie,
re: I’m also wondering if Tebow were African American or, God forbid, Muslim, would there be such a “blitz” of media attention, I mean positive media attention. Highly doubtful.
This is a great question. We can obviously just watch the recaps each week to see that African American football players, if they score a touchdown, might lift up their hands to thank God or take a moment of silence. Tim Tebow makes it his DUTY, almost like he actually believes that he is the Chosen One, to “Tewbow.” We can also see that when he does it, the fans in the stadium take part in doing it as well. I have even seen ads on websites that have asked the question: “Have you Tebowed today?”
I believe that his actions are directly tied to his and his mother’s pasts while he was at the University of Florida. After college, he was drafted by the Denver Broncos and never saw any playing time until the last couple of months, when the coach made a split second decision to put Tebow in and he led them to numerous victories ever since.
Tebow was “waiting in the wings,” so to speak and in getting his time in the limelight again, it was only an inevitable amount of time until someone would starting making references to his strong Evangelical faith again and its role in football, both past and present.
On a side note, I am terrified of what would happen if he actually led his team to win the SuperBowl.
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Aw, yes, I follow you now. And Focus on the Family is something I am (sadly) familiar with! the damage they do…agh!
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Never heard of the guy, hate football.
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Well said John.
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Thanks Sherry!
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http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jesus-politely-requests-tim-tebow-take-it-down-a-notch-on-snl/
For those of us who do not watch SNL, the link above highlights tonights funny clip in which Jesus tells Tim Tebow to “take it down a notch!”
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This brings to mind recent discussions we had at my school surrounding the sex abuse scandal with the assistant coach at penn state and how they are similar to the abuse scandals within the catholic church. In America, football is sort of like God, worshiped and incapable of sin. And of course our most popular sport is also the most violent. I’m sure focus on the family wouldn’t pay that money for a golfer.
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Sarah,
You are right. Football in America is a divine entity. Focus on the Family wouldn’t pay that type of money for a volleyball player or a golfer.
That was also the main reason why I stated that they would never have used a mother who had a girl that became a Pro Women’s Basketball player, tennis player, etc. They had to use the Tebow’s because of their position within the “Godly sport” of American football and their own position within the Evangelical circles.
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Also, I would just like to add that I have been following the Tebow story for quite some time.
He lost this past Sunday, which brought into question if he really is the ‘chosen one.’ However, Tom Brady, the quarterback for the New England Patriots beat Tim Tebow’s Denver Broncos and now HE is being called the ‘Chosen One.” It never ends.
Also, one more quick thing. The It Gets Better Project requested the Tim Tebow and his team make an It Gets Better video. Their response, just goes to show how tied to Focus on the Family, he and the team appear to be. (Also, it doesn’t help that Colorado is the state in which the Promise Keepers, the all male spiritual revival movement is located at.)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/20/denver-broncos-tim-tebow-it-gets-better-video_n_1159101.html
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And in case you were sick of Tim Tebow, Pat Robertson has chimed in as well:
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/pat-robertson-slams-snl-tebow-skit-fueled-by-anti-christian-bigotry/
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And Piers Morgan too, saying this is just the kind of hero America needs now…
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The story keeps on going Carol!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/21/ed-schultz-slams-pat-robertson-saturday-night-live-tim-tebow_n_1163583.html
“The kind of hero!” The problems with that statement are endless!
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It keeps getting worse and worse, he won again and this time he passed for 316 yards. People are quoting John 3:16 like it is going out of style!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/08/tim-tebow-broncos-steelers-overtime-demaryius-thomas_n_1192962.html
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Reblogged this on The Rough Reader .
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