The N-Word

This week I stumbled across this video produced by ESPN show, Outside the Lines. The NFL has raised the possibility of introducing an on-field penalty (15 yards) for players heard using racial slurs, including the N-word. The proposal faces several difficulties, the least of which is determining an appropriate football penalty for a non-football violation.

The biggest issue is that while the vast majority of the population finds the N-word extremely offensive, within younger African-American culture the word is frequently used almost affectionately. It is interesting in the video below to see the disparate views between black and white Americans and also between younger and older African-Americans.  (This article provides a good overview of the issues.)

Why am I sharing this video? Because I believe conversations like this are a necessity to break down barriers between individuals and ethnic groups in our society. It's too easy to bury our heads in the sand and let other people sort it out.

This is only one segment of a longer show they committed to the topic. I encourage you to look around their site for associated videos.

There are several lessons Christians and churches can learn from conversations like this:

1. The meanings of words are fluid. What implications does this have for Bible translations?
2. Culture changes rapidly. Dictionary.com describes the N-word as "now probably the most offensive word in English" yet for some people and cultural groups the word is a term of endearment or brotherhood. 
3. The question that jumps off the screen at me is, "Why can ESPN and the NFL have this conversation, while churches have nothing to say?" How dangerous would it be for a church or group of churches to have assembled this forum? How much backlash and criticism would they have received...from their own members? 

Please leave respectful comments below.

Read a previous post on this issue HERE. 

Replacement Justice

So the NFL has replacement referees... and they're stinkin' it up!  The call at the end of the Green Bay v Seattle game was a shocker. Then the NFL comes out in a statement and admits the refs missed a pass interference call on the play, but supports the ref's on the contested possession call. The Packers player clearly had full control of the football. I understand the league wanting to support its refs since they might be on the job again next week, but this just makes them look silly. You can watch the video of the play HERE.

There are some some pretty funny videos about the replacement refs on YouTube.  Here's a couple of examples. Enjoy!

Whistle (parody)

 Call It Maybe (parody)

In my mind it just highlights how deeply ingrained the value of "justice" is within our society. Although this is only a football game, we react against injustice. We want competent referees. The more blatant the injustice the louder the outcry. I heard somewhere that the NFL received 70,000 voicemails on Tuesday after the Seattle win. That's a lot of upset fans.

Some people I know have protested that there's more uproar about replacement ref's and bad calls than there is about serious moral failures within our society. This doesn't upset me. We live in a society of knee jerk reactions and media sensationalism. This is just another example.

Yes, in many respects the quality (or lack thereof) of the replacement ref's is really a petty issue in the bigger picture of life. But the same sports media took a decisive and proactive course when the abuse of Jerry Sandusky became public. Sandusky's abuse of young boys was not worse than any other abusive situation, but because he was a public figure his case captured the headlines. Again people were crying out for justice.

Sadly, it is true that we're surrounded by abuse and injustice and in many instances we grow callous to its presence. But even a referee furor reminds us of the heart of God. In Amos 5 God rejects replacements for genuine worship and holiness. Instead he says, Let justice roll on like a river. That's a vision we can all agree to, not just in the NFL, but throughout our society.

To Save a Life

Not a long post today. I just want to point my readers to a friend's post about MLB umpire Jim Joyce. Jonathan discusses the two times this guy's made ESPN headlines in the past couple of years. Read his post HERE.

In 2010 Joyce botched a call that robbed Detroit pitcher Armando Galarraga of a historic perfect game. 

HERE's a longer ESPN interview and story written 6 months later. It's a fascinating read. I am particularly amazed at the messages the baggage handlers in Detroit wrote on his luggage tags!!

You can watch the call and hear Joyce's apology in the post match interviews. Joyce's honesty and willingness to answer this many questions is amazing!! (NOTE: the language is a little salty in spots.)

In 2012 Joyce turned up to umpire a game and ended up performing CPR and saving a woman's life. Read the details HERE.  There's no question which is the more significant action!