The person in the post seems to be acting in direct contravention of this quote from Jesus:
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
I’d argue that by choosing to pray at centre ice you’re basically acting like the hypocrites by choosing to pray in the most prominent part of the sporting area and it’s basically a form of virtue signaling.
The argument from advocates of praying at center seems to be that the good deed is praying, but my understanding is the good deeds would be showing sportsmanship and fair play and being respectful to opponents and officials. Choosing to pray at the center of the field or playing field seems more like showboating. If it was a humble act of devotion, I’d think you’d be doing this on the sideline or in the dressing room.
I feel like this is the kind of statement where you can find support on either direction, and i suspect different Christian traditions have gone in different ways, and both sides can justify it.
Does that passage contradict the Romans passage? Not really.
In both passages, there is an issue of underlying intent of the person. You (Fish_Actuary) are right in calling to account what the motivation behind the specific-action of praying in a highly visible space. What isn’t clear to me from the post is exactly when the player is praying at center ice after a game. It’s possible that it’s well after the game when most of the audience has already departed. It’s also possible that he’s going out right after the final buzzer goes off and before players from each team greet each other. I would draw different conclusions about the player’s intent from each of these scenarios.
It is also unclear on why the GM told this player to stop such a practice. Is there some rule/by-law that expressly prohibits such public displays? Is there pushback from “fans” about such a display and it threatens revenues? Is the GM anti-Christian?
Bottom line: I support Fish_Actuary’s response to check the intent of the player using the verses that he cited. You can also cite Romans 13 (submission to [secular] authorities) as I would use that particular reference in this particular instance. Here, I’m assuming that the GM only said to not pray at center ice. If the GM said that the player is not to pray in a public space at all, that would be a very different response, IMO.
Its unclear to me why the GM was asking him to stop. I’d argue that the employer has a right to ask you not to evangelize on company time while wearing the team uniform which arguable the player was doing with their performative prayer.
I’d think it would be a harder to justify request if the player was discreetly choosing to pray elsewhere while wearing their uniform. Instead, the player is choosing to make a spectacle of praying by praying at center ice.
I do judge such folks as hypocrites as well.
I don’t think it is worthy of starting a FB fight over, though. Because FB sucks.
Not sure what this person has “learned” from the Bible, except that you can pick and choose which parts to follow.
Just as shitty a thing to do as the FUH-BAW players that do it as well and keep track of those who do not participate, because of course they do.
As bad as standing for the national Anthem. These “social conventions” are “social controls” that could, under this admin, turn into tests of one’s outward display of patriotism.
ITA. As I think more on it, I also question why the guy is posting his actions on FB (or other social media) . . . THAT action does warrant the verse you’re referencing, IMO.
WRT to “evangelizing” . . . I think it important that one respects others rights to a “hassle-free” work environment. I am not ashamed of the gospel, myself; however, I don’t go telling people that they need Jesus (although I believe that they do). However, if I’m asked a question to which the answer boils down to what I believe in (and my experiences as a Christian), I’ll say that. This latter can be viewed as a form of evangelizing to which I don’t think an employer has a right to curtail my answer to a question posed to me.
But I think the real spectacle here to call out isn’t necessarily the prayer at center ice so much as the posting on social media that the person is doing just that. Talking about the prayer at center ice necessarily involves understanding/knowing the player’s intent (which isn’t easy to ascertain). But the action of posting it is something more concrete to address and call out (to which, your verses are 100% applicable).
Hockey is ultimately a form or entertainment. Your employer should probably get a say in how you entertain.
It would not surprise me if the hockey player sees this through the lens of christian persecution. Like an ancient christian refusing to make a sacrifice to the emperor, he is refusing to stop his prayer. In his mind, then, it is probably not virtue signaling or even an attempt to convert others.
It is hard for many of us to see christian’s as a persecuted group in the US, to put it mildly. That may be where some of the disconnect comes in.
I’m unclear as to why he feels like it’s some sort of powerful act to demonstrate that he’s a Christian in a country that is majority Christian. Woohoo, you radical. You believe what the majority of people watching you already believe. That’s so brave.
Ironically, the verse the hockey player quotes is a verse related to evangelizing; namely, not being ashamed of a public profession of faith. However, it’s not exactly applicable to his situation in that the ask of him (as far as we can tell) isn’t to stop praying but to not do so within the boundaries of his employment (wearing team uniform, etc.).
And I don’t see anything in the post where he is being persecuted or claiming persecution explicitly. In fact, as I mentioned in a previous post, Romans 13 is also applicable to this situation; which the hockey player is completely ignoring–leading to the claims already posted in this thread about “picking and choosing” verses to support your position.
By why does he need to point out that he is not ashamed of his faith? That seems to imply somebody is shaming him for being a christian, at least as far as he is concerned.
Christian’s generally have a persecution complex. There doesn’t have to be any specific person speaking against them. Jesus said they would be persecuted, so they must be - all the time.
You are correct about the definition of course. My point was that it isn’t offensive to me unless it’s unprompted and aggressive. As a nonbeliever I can pretty much tune that stuff out and it doesn’t really bother me.
kicked.
