Let’s Do the Wave for Our Own Church

Most North Americans are fans. Virtually everyone has a favorite hockey, basketball, baseball or football team. Our support of a particular team, moreover, is often independent of our hometown, personal history or experience. We may have no connection to a particular city or its professional athletes, yet we are not hesitant to focus our enthusiastic loyalty in their direction.

We cheer for our teams. We wear our team’s colors. We buy their merchandise and decorate our possessions (especially our cars) with their logos. Such pride and allegiance are perfectly acceptable--it is part of a sane, normal and healthy North American lifestyle. In fact, if you are one of those rare Americans who is not a fan of some team, your co-workers and neighbors may view you with suspicion.

Lifelong devotion to a sports team is considered a sign of stability. Even if you move from Denver to Dallas you still root for the Broncos. Those who change team loyalties with each new circumstance or geographical adjustment are viewed by true fans as opportunists. Loyalty to the team through thick or thin, whether winning or losing, through championships and humiliations, earns the respect even of rival fans.

While good-natured jesting in sports bars sometimes turns ugly and a riot usually breaks out in Detroit if one of its teams wins anything, in the vast majority of instances we are all allowed to cheer loudly and sincerely for our particular heroes. A fan’s enthusiasm for a team is not taken as an insult to everyone else in the sport. By identifying yourself as a fan of the Lakers you are not implying that Michael Jordan cannot play basketball or that the Bulls are not really a team. You support your team for your reasons--end of story.

It is a great anomaly that on a continent filled with sports fans we are almost painfully hesitant to be “fans” in our expression of faith. While we may feel a great deal of personal loyalty and even godly pride in our church, there is a tacit understanding in our society that we should keep it all to ourselves. A generic Christian symbol discreetly placed on a bumper or a tasteful, unobtrusive piece of nonsectarian jewelry is tolerated. “Fans of the faith” are expected to be nonspecific, quiet and undistinctive about their loyalty.

The sheer number of committed Christians has made some enthusiasm about our religion tolerable in recent years. This toleration, however, extends only to very general displays of support. It is all right to be a Christian as long as you do not push a particular type of Christianity. A fish symbol is OK. A denominational logo, on the other hand, is considered odd, pushy or affected.

If this logic were carried into the world of athletic fans, it would be socially acceptable to support basketball as a sport but unacceptable to be so specific in loyalty as to cheer for a particular team.

The same people who have no difficulty loudly proclaiming the superiority of their baseball teams over all rivals think it is divisive or rude to support a specific church.

While it is possible to be a Mighty Ducks fan without casting aspersions on the talent of Wayne Gretzky, such license is not allowed for church fans. Those who express enthusiasm toward a particular church are accused of implicitly throwing indictments at everyone outside that church. Showing support for your church is considered a silent condemnation of the faith, sincerity and devotion of others.

Cheering for your “team” is construed as jeering at everyone else’s expression of faith. Sticking with a “team” through changing coaches, bad seasons and trades does not make you a loyal fan; it means you have lost your reason. If you admire a “coach,” it means you are part of a cult.

A trio of drunken men stripped to the waist and painted blue and red catches the affectionate gaze of the cameras, followed by a roaring acclamation from the crowd when their pudgy, colorful images appear on the Teletron screen in Anaheim stadium. I once suggested that we print bumper stickers reading “Thank God I’m an Anglican” and was told that we would be accused of bigotry. But paint yourself blue, and 25,000 people scream their support. Display a modicum of loyalty and affection toward your spiritual home and you are a bigot. This is puzzling.

Imagine someone saying: “The particular church does not matter; just support the religion.” Now imagine someone saying: “The teams do not matter; just support the sport.”

No one supports a sport generically. Our enthusiasm for the game is expressed as fans of a particular team. It is inconceivable to have it any other way.

Why are we denied “team loyalty” in matters of the soul? Our support of the “home team” is not a tacit or backhanded indictment of other Christians. We recognize that not every Gretzky has played under our banner. We value the contributions to the faith by other “teams.” This recognition should not, however, dampen our enthusiasm as fans of the Christian faith. Loyalty should be expressed. Surely the “team” that is preparing us for eternity deserves as much enthusiastic support as those that score goals on the field.

On Faith is a forum for Orange County clergy and others to offer their views on religious topics of general interest. Submissions, which will be published at the discretion of The Times and are subject to editing, should be delivered to Orange County religion page editor Jack Robinson.