THEISTWATCH FOR AUGUST 19, 1995 Contents: United States - ONWARD CHRISTIAN (AND MUSLIM) AT

THEISTWATCH FOR AUGUST 19, 1995

Contents:

United States--ONWARD CHRISTIAN (AND MUSLIM) ATHLETES
United States--WAR AGAINST ABORTION MARCHES ON IN CONGRESS
United States--BIBLE BOOK BUSINESS BOOMS; EVEN ATHEISTS
TAKE PART

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ONWARD CHRISTIAN (AND MUSLIM) ATHLETES

by Conrad Goeringer


   My guess is that readers of this column, like me, place
too much value on $39.95. That's the going pay-per-view
price tag for Saturday's "Return of Mike Tyson," which
pits the former heavyweight champ against a relatively
unknown operator named Pete McNeeley. Sign up for the live
broadcast from the Vegas MGM Grand and you'll probably get
an earful of commercial promos, laudatory exculpations
about "Iron Mike," maybe a few rounds. Don King, the
promoter with the funny hair who is making famous the word
"trickeration," will get rich, and you'll be out a couple
of Andrew Jacksons, with a dull nickle (and maybe some
even duller memories) to show for it all.

   Sports has always been a theatrical stage where more
than just the touchdowns, home runs, long shots and KO's
mattered.

   Years ago, a dyed-in-the-wool Boston academic --who
also happened to be a zealous Celtics fan coined the term
"Sportworld" to describe that complex matrix of
sociological, theatrical, and psychological reasons why
Americans especially play and watch "the game." Sports is
the grand stage where some people get to act out that
drama between good and evil. The underdog gets a shot at
the odds-on favorite. There's "the agony of defeat," the
"joy of victory," the drama of the game. There's shouting,
cheering, weeping. It's more than somebody hitting a ball
around, or running up and down a field of grass.

   Which may explain why, over the past twenty years,
stadiums and arenas have been packed with fans doing The
Wave, dressing in bizarre costumes, holding tailgate
parties and nearly running out onto the field or court and
playing the game themselves. This may be catharsis for
post-modern homo sapiens, and maybe some people are
creating their own "gods" and super-heroes such as Magic
and Michael Jordan. We look up to them both literally and
figuratively, and we spend big money to imitate even their
Nike shoes and boxer shorts.

   How far does this analogy go? Sonny Liston was painted
as the bad-assed ex-con with a punch which would KO the
"respectable negro," Floyd Patterson. Floyd had done in
the "Great White Hope" Johannsen. Later, Casius Clay
changed his name to Mohammed Ali and went on the road for
The Honorable Elija Mohammed. But he still stayed friends
with the late Howard Cosell.  Some of these sports
celebrities are selling more than cars, soft-drinks and
underwear. Christian "athleticism" has always occupied an
important niche in the evangelical history of the United
States. Those "clean cut," mostly White college jocks were
a selling point in the outreach of groups such as Bill
Bright's Campus Crusade for Christ. You could love both
the coach and Jesus Christ.

   Mike Tyson didn't find Jesus during his three-year
prison stint for rape. He did keep punching the bag and
pumping the iron, and in between work-outs converted to
Islam. He now wears a small, white Islamic headpiece, and
greeted a recent pre-fight publicity conference with a
Muslim salutation. He insists that "Nothing has changed
about me," but that his study of Islam has made him "more
conscious of life."

   The fact remains that Tyson is "hot property." He's
worth about $50 million more after Saturday night, even if
Peter McNeeley's 77-inch arm reach connects and decks Iron
Mike. That's probably wishful thinking. Mike Tyson returns
to boxing as an unstoppable money machine, and it will be
interesting to see how King, and the other interests
around Tyson, direct and use that capability. I'm also
curious to see if Tyson becomes a mouthpiece for his new-
found religion. Is his brand of Islam compatible with
Louis Farrakhan's? Will Mike Tyson end up pushing the
Koran like "Air" Jordan sells Ball Park Franks? We'll just
have to wait and see. All the world IS indeed a stage, and
a lot of it is devoted to farcical comedy. Especially the
Saturday night presentation.




WAR AGAINST ABORTION MARCHES ON IN CONGRESS

by Conrad Goeringer

   The knock-outs aren't just in the boxing ring. Abortion
rights took some hits during the THEISTWATCH break, so
here's the bad news. The House of Representatives defunded
the Title 10 family planning program. That affected some
4,000 clinics which provide counseling and referral for
abortions. The House
Appropriations Committee also voted 29-23 to allow
individual states to establish their own guidelines on the
use of Medicaid funds for abortions. That opens the door
for religious conservatives to ban such funding,
particularly in states where they have the political clout
to do so. Rich women will still be able to travel to
states permitting abortion; poorer women, however, will be
penalized simply because they got pregnant.

   The Committee also voted 30-23 to prohibit funding of
experimentation on living human embryos. This threatens
important fetal tissue research which may hold clues in
reversing degenerative diseases, including Parkinsons.  
These and other votes lead James A. Smith, head of the
Southern Baptist Convention's "Christian Life Commission"
to declare that "It's definitely a new day in Congress for
pro-life Americans." The legislative director of the
National Right to Life Committee added that this was "the
beginning of a strong congressional response to the
Clinton administration's pro-abortion extremism."

   And you thought that just because abortion was "legal"
really meant something?



BIBLE BOOK BUSINESS BOOMS; EVEN ATHEISTS TAKE PART

by Conrad Goeringer

   Even though the United States is "saturated" with
copies of the Bible, most individuals who consider
themselves Christians have never read it and really know
little about its contents, according to religious leaders
and members of the American Bible Society. The group's
vice president, Maria Martinez, recently told a meeting of
the Women's Missionary Union that "The Bible has become a
multi-billion dollar industry. . . . Yet some Christians
who are in church on Easter Sunday don't know what they
are commemorating."

   Martinez claimed that "Approximately 95 percent of all
homes in the U.S. have more than one bible. Yet most
Bibles that are sold are given as gifts, and people tend
to use the Bible as a good-luck charm." She also quoted a
research study which revealed that while 80 percent of
Americans consider themselves Christians, half do not know
the Biblical tale about Jesus delivering the Sermon on the
Mount. Many others could not list the Ten Commandments. 
"This erosion of biblical knowledge among Christians
results in the loss of personal witness," claimed Baptist
Press in reporting Martinez's talk.

   But an unlikely group is also doing a thriving trade in
Bible-related literature. American Atheists, a nationwide
organization based in Austin, Texas, sells a number of
tracts and books which fall under the heading of "Bible
criticism." According to the organization's executive
secretary Robin Murray O'Hair, its latest offering titled
"All The Obscenities In The Bible" is finding a home on
the bookshelves of many members and the just plain
curious. Murray-O'Hair said that the 488-page book focuses
on "incest, cannibalism, cruelty to children, misogyny,
reproduction, marriage, circumcision, scatology, nudity,
homosexuality, eunuchs, male virility, prostitution, sex
in the New Testament, murder, hatred, suicide and human
sacrifice." That, apparently, is just for starters.

   The organization also sells Martin L. Bard's "The Peril
of Faith" which includes a section on "the contradictions
and ethical ugliness of the Bible."

   But if you find the 175 pages of this book too daunting
for an evening's quick read, there is a little tract
called "The Spiritual Guide To Gracious Living." Miss
Murray-O'Hair said that it's one of the most-asked-for
items, and has to be re-printed on a regular basis.
Included are headings on topics like hygiene, slapstick
comedy, burlesque, and self-improvement. To give you some
idea of the contents: under "Grand Opera," biblical
literalists may read Isaiah 16:11, "Wherefore my bowels
shall sound like a harp for Moab, and mine inward parts
for kirharesh."

   American Atheists offers other Bible-criticism texts,
including "The X-Rated Bible" (the title pretty well
describes the contents!). Murray-O'Hair also noted that
the American Atheist Bulletin Board has a heavy traffic
from users interested in Bible verse. "People who call or
write us want material that will help them win arguments
with religionists," she said, adding that the group's FTP
site likewise did a brisk trade in terms of "hits" for
Bible verse.

   (You can order a catalogue of American Atheists Bible-
buffoonery goodies by writing to PO Box 140195, Austin, TX
78714. The bulletin board is a good resource, too, for
learning about "Grand Opera" and other subjects. Call
512-302-0223.)

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