Idolatry or Solidarity? Christian athletes questioning Black Lives Matter show Americans' ideological divide
Kneeling for the national anthem has become a polarizing issue in American sports as the Black Lives Matter movement inspires ongoing protests and counter-protests across professional leagues.
A handful of Christian athletes, citing their faith or the Bible’s teachings, have declined to kneel with their teammates, some expressing solidarity with black lives but not the official Black Lives Matter movement. Their choices and critics reveal the country’s ideological and philosophical divisions over both religion and race. Sixty-three percent of Americans support the Black Lives Matter movement, but do not agree on policy decisions, according to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll.
To some, racial justice and unity is part of Christian teaching and part of the ongoing progress in Western Civilization. The failures of racism are due to not upholding values of equality under the rule of law and for Christians, not confessing sins in our own hearts and asking God to change us. For others, according to the Black Lives Matter movement’s website and leaders’ remarks, racial justice requires disrupting the nuclear family, organized religion and even capitalism, though the average protester may not share all of those values.
Religious athletes from various leagues and commentators of all camps have weighed in on the Black Lives Matter movement with little consensus.
Quarterback for the New Orlean Saints, Drew Brees, caught flack earlier this summer after expressing disapproval with athletes kneeling during the national anthem, a position he has maintained since 2016 when the gesture rose to prominence. His was one of the first instances of faith and modern racial justice protests butting heads.
“I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States or our country,” Brees said in early June during an interview with Yahoo Finance.
The Brees family has received negative media coverage, denouncements on social media and death threats since his interview first aired, and eventually the quarterback apologized for his previous position, saying, “In an attempt to talk about respect, unity, and solidarity centered around the American flag and the national anthem, I made comments that were insensitive and completely missed the mark on the issues we are facing right now as a country.”
Brees’s wife, Brittany, took to their foundation’s official Instagram account to share a public statement on her husband’s comments, kneeling in front of the flag, and the backlash Drew received after his interview. Her own apology took on a much more spiritual tone than her husband’s statement.
In her post, she included two quotes from Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and a quotation from the Bible, Micah 6:8, which reads, “The Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you.”
“WE ARE THE PROBLEM,” Brittany wrote on Instagram. “I have read these quotes and scripture 1000 times and every time I read it and the words sink into my heart.”
“Only until the last few days, until we experienced the death threats we experienced the hate… Did I realize that these words were speaking directly to us.”
Brittany claimed that the couple had misunderstood the protests, and had not been actively looking to see the racial prejudice around them, making them complicit in intolerance.
Brittany continued, “To say ‘I don’t agree with disrespecting the flag,’ I now understand was also saying I don’t understand what the problem really is, I don’t understand what you’re fighting for, and I’m not willing to hear you because of our preconceived notions of what that flag means to us."
Brittany promised her friends and anyone the Brees family has hurt with their comments that they will “do better” and make an effort to hear their voices.
The kneeling issue has begun to bleed further into pre-game rituals, with controversy no longer confined to perceived disrespect of the national anthem.
The San Francisco Giants’ season began July 23 with a home game against the Dodgers. Before the national anthem played, both teams took a knee on the in-field line for a moment of silence in support of Black Lives Matter.
Every player on both teams clutched a long, black ribbon in a show of solidarity while down on one knee. However, one player, San Francisco reliever Sam Coonrod, remained standing throughout the moment of silence.
“I’m a Christian,” Coonrod told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I can’t get on board on a couple of things I’ve read about Black Lives Matter, how they lean toward Marxism and said some negative things about the nuclear family.”
Coonrod’s decision faced immediate controversy as Christian commentators came down hard on both sides of the debate.
“Christianity and critical race theory, which is the core philosophy of BLM, are diametrically opposed, and rooted in utterly different views of the world and human nature. You can’t practice one and be part of the other without incoherence,” author Andrew Sullivan said Saturday on Twitter.
Sullivan, a practicing Roman Catholic and conservative emphasized that unlike previous movements under the banner of racial justice and civil rights -- which he claimed were often intrinsically linked to Christianity -- BLM and similar modern movements were explicitly opposed to the religion.
“The civil rights movement was for the most part explicitly Christian and dedicated to liberal democracy. BLM is explicitly atheist and opposed to liberal democracy as a mask for ‘white supremacy’. I don’t doubt people’s good intentions. But many are naïve.”
Jesse Spector, writer for the popular sports and popular culture outlet Deadspin, called Coonrod an “early favorite for MLB idiot of the year.”
Spector questioned the relevance of Coonrod’s Christian faith to his refusal to kneel, citing the many other openly Christian players in the MLB who participated without issue.
“There are still plenty of Christians like Coonrod in the majors, like Nationals outfielder Victor Robles, who took a knee with everyone else at the game in Washington,” Spector wrote. “Coonrod certainly could have taken a knee and engaged in some unrelated silent prayer. But he’s very clearly hiding behind his religion because this was about a lot more than God.”
Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright, another Major League Baseball player known for his open and proud Christian faith, was pressed for his opinion of kneeling in protest for the sake of racial justice.
"Let me first tell you I'm very secure in my faith,” Wainwright said to the Belleville News-Democrat. “When I, as I plan to do, kneel with my teammates before the anthem, I'll do so with a clear conscience. And I'll rise and put my hand over my heart like I always do and look up at that flag with the greatest reverence I could possibly have for it."
Wainwright was then asked for his opinion of Coonrod’s previous refusal to kneel in protest and what that meant in relation to the Christian faith.
“If anybody tells you how to protest or tells you that you need to protest a certain way, they're missing the point. I'm sure he stands up - as a Christian, there's no possible way that he can look at the black race and say that he doesn't feel support for them at all,” Wainwright continued. “He probably loves them, but he just doesn't feel that's his form of protest. So I have no problem with that."
Orlando Magic Forward Johnathan Isaac made headlines July 31 after similarly finding himself the lone dissident on his basketball team during a Black Lives Matter protest during the playing of the national anthem.
Every Magic player knelt for the duration of the national anthem, all sporting Black Lives Matter t-shirts and many raising their fists in a traditional hand gesture of racial solidarity.
Isaac, the only player to not kneel, stood with his head down and his arms folded behind his back. He did not wear a matching Black Lives Matter t-shirt and instead appeared in his Magic uniform.
"Kneeling, or wearing a Black Lives Matter t-shirt don't go hand in hand with supporting black lives," Isaac said in a post-game press conference. "I do believe that black lives matter, but I just felt like it was a decision I had to make. And I didn't feel like putting that shirt on and kneeling go hand in hand with supporting black lives.”
He continued, "For myself, my life has been supported through the gospel -- Jesus Christ."
Isaac’s social media presence has continued to cite scripture and spiritual teachings, a facet of his public image that has been consistent since before the controversy.
“‘This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.’I Timothy 1:15 NKJV,” Isaac wrote on Twitter the day after the game.
Isaac went on to injure his knee on Aug. 2 during a game with the Sacramento Kings, a coincidence to which some were quick to ascribe spiritual or karmic meaning.
Isaac tweeted once again Aug. 3, citing the Bible and thanking his supporters for their prayers.
“IT IS WELL!!! 2 Kings 4! Thank you for all of your prayers and concerns I’m encouraged. Remember our God is not just a God of the hills but a God of the valleys! (2 Corinthians ch 4 vs 9!) MY COMEBACK WILL BE GREATER THAN MY SETBACK!!!! I STILL STAND IN JESUS NAME!!!!” Isaac said.
Timothy Nerozzi is a reporter and editor from northeastern Pennsylvania. He covers religious issues with a focus on the Catholic Church and Japanese society and culture. He’s also a breaking news editor at The Daily Caller.