“I would like her more if she were not so, so, so
into Jesus.”
By Mary Elizabeth Williams for Salon.com
Gabby
Douglas is now officially a star. When she won the individual gold
medal in women’s gymnastics in London Thursday, the breakout darling of
the 2012 games, she immediately found herself a celebrity worthy of
a cereal box. If her performance in the women’s individual all-around didn’t
blow your mind,
you cannot possibly have been paying attention. Yet after her victory,
one of the first responses that truly resonated for me was from a
colleague who noted, “I would like her more if she were not so, so, so
into Jesus.” Which raises the question – what is Jesus going to do now
for Gabby Douglas’ career?
Douglas isn’t exactly the only
outspoken Christian in America – or even the only high-profile Christian
athlete. So jam-packed is this year’s roster with them that Douglas
didn’t even make the cut for the Christian Post’s
“10 Christian Athletes to Watch.”
But her newly minted status as a champion and her unguarded
outspokenness about her faith are going to give her a new platform from
which to preach. After her win Thursday, Douglas said, “I give all the
glory to God. It’s kind of a win-win situation.
The glory goes up to him and the blessings fall down on me.”
She’s
a 16-year-old with both deep faith and profound gratitude, a girl who
yesterday tweeted from the Psalms to her followers, “Let all that I am
praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me” and
Friday sent out a retweet from the Faith in God feed. And that clearly
authentic image of a hardworking girl with strong values makes her a
natural icon to her fellow Christians, just as it makes the somewhat
less faithful uncomfortable.
We
are a nation that is lousy with Christians — a fair number of whom are
not nearly as nice as Gabby Douglas. A lot of them aren’t super-clear on
the whole “freedom of religion” thing and can get pretty gung-go about
trying to
shut down people with different beliefs.
A lot of them are insistent that everybody in the world should conform
to what they know for an absolute fact is the one and only truth. So
even when Douglas is merely expressing her personal philosophy, posting
#christmotivation quotes in
her Twitter feed
or talking about how she meditates daily on Scripture, there’s always
that lurking hint of proselytism. Dear Christians: It’s a fine line
between sharing your beliefs and selling them. And there’s something
else too.
As a Christian myself
(albeit one of those really freaky papist kinds), I’ve often wondered
what it is about Christians like Douglas that unnerves me so. The
closest I’ve been able to figure it is that Douglas and her ilk seem to
espouse a faith based on what is commonly referred to as “The God of
Parking Spaces.” It’s the deity that grants wishes to those who ask
nicely. Douglas is a girl who has described God as the figure who’s
“waking me up every morning and keeping me safe in the gym every day.”
She told People Thursday, “I was on the bus and it was raining and I
thought, ‘It’s going to be a great day.’ My mom used to tell me when I
was little, ‘When it rains, it’s God’s manifestation, a big day’s
waiting to happen.’ I texted my mom,
‘It’s raining. You know what that means.’” It means that Russian girl is going down, I guess.
Last week I had lunch with a friend who asked me how my own faith had played into
my struggles with cancer and my current recovery.
I told her I don’t believe in a God who punished me with disease any
more than I believe in one who rewarded me with health. I certainly
don’t believe in one who “keeps me safe.” I don’t think I got to live
while my friends Phoebe and Gigi died because I prayed better. I don’t
think the force that I, for want of a better word, call God rains down
sufferings or blessings based on individual piety. I believe in a grace
that gives me the strength to muscle through the sufferings, and the
gratitude to appreciate the blessings. That’s why the subtle
implication, when an athlete or an artist says that God was with them on
a winning day, seems so strange, and why, I imagine, it rings so hollow
for others. And though I am in awe of a young girl whose talent is damn
near miraculous, I likewise don’t believe in a God who made it rain for
her to win.
Mary Elizabeth Williams
is a staff writer for Salon and the author of "Gimme Shelter: My Three
Years Searching for the American Dream." Follow her on Twitter: @embeedub.
More Mary Elizabeth Williams.
Gabby, We Think That You Are Glorious Just The Way You Are.
1 comment:
Mo, I know you are a non-believer but respect our beliefs and have nothing but scorn for those who use their position to scoff at Christians. That being said, a couple of weekends ago our air conditioning stopped blowing cold air. It was over 100 F here in DFW and humid. My wife has a serious lung condition. On Saturday it stopped cooling but we were able to make it. On Sunday, she was ready to go to the ER but urged me to turn the AC back on. It started cooling. When the repairman came Monday it was still putting out cool air although he swore the motor was kaput. Miracle?
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