February 01, 2008 Metropolitan Gerasimos Addresses Recent Statements by ESPN Anchor
January 31, 2008
XSaints Cyrus and John the Unmercenaries
To the Reverend Clergy and Orthodox Faithful,
I greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and I do so purposefully — because today the name of Jesus Christ is blasphemed in our society without material consequence, and it is our responsibility to raise voices of protest and reverse this sad state of affairs in our country. As you may know, ESPN anchorwoman Dana Jacobson recently appeared at a public event in which she derided the rival of her collegiate alma mater, and in doing so, cursed the name of Our Lord. (I will not repeat her words here or anywhere; it is sufficient to note that the University of Notre Dame has a sports tradition known as “Touchdown Jesus,” and Ms. Jacobson is a University of Michigan alumna.) Whether she intended her offense or committed a rhetorical stumble is irrelevant.
We realize that we are blessed to be Americans first and foremost, with the liberty to speak our minds, follow our hearts, and worship God as we will. We must, therefore, meet the exercise of free expression for the cause of blasphemy with a more powerful exercise of free expression for the cause of Christ and His Church. We have no interest in harassing Ms. Jacobson or subjecting her to calumny. Indeed, the faithful are called to treat her as Christ would have us — with love, and with a consciousness of our own fallibility before Him.
Yet the faithful must also be aware that Christian love is not passive. It is a force that reaches out into the world, engages it, and changes it. With this in mind, it is our right, and our duty, to let the corporate sponsors of Ms. Jacobson know our feelings on her actions. We must give them pause, and cause them to think about their role in promoting her to the position she holds, from which she may do so much damage. If an appeal to their conscience is insufficient, then an appeal to their commercial interest should be included: the faithful must let them know that their products will not sell if they abet behavior like Ms. Jacobson’s.
I therefore call upon the faithful of this Metropolis to contact ESPN/ABC Sports, and the Walt Disney Company, to express their displeasure with Dana Jacobson’s profanation of the name of Christ.
Yeah, I heard heard the comments. I can't believe this lady was soooo stupid. I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. What was worse for me was that all the guys where I work thought it was great. A couple of them hate the concept of God and Christians in particular.
I hope his eminence will speak out as strongly against those in his fold that support abortion rights and even fund canidates that firmly believe a woman has the God given right to kill their fetus (latin word for young).
At first I thought about sending the form letters. Then a new thought struck me: write instead to the Muslim Mullas and Sayyids and tell them how this woman has defiled the name of one of their holy prophets. Can you imagine the response to that? But after having a good laugh over that idea, I finally settled on just letting her exercise her own free will to reject God. After all, is it not true that the Father calls whom He wills? Obviously, either He has not called her, or else she has ignored the call. Let God judge her! (On a lighter note, if you really want to bother those media people, write them to say how much you are praying for them; that just drives them right up the wall!)
I would like to know exactly what the woman said. It's so easy to get worked up over something without knowing the facts of the matter. The name of our Lord Jesus Christ is blasphemed daily--and even by Orthodox Christians. Of course, this should not be the case. But if I keep myself from blasphemy and teach my children as well, it will go a lot farther than writing a letter. Today, all over the world, there are horrible acts of blasphemy and sacrilege going on and no one pays any notice. Indeed, if we were to address them all, we would lose ourselves in the battle. When innocent people are massacred in churches and when impurity and godlessness is institutionalized everywhere, are we really going take such great offense at an idiotic comment in the context of a sports rivalry?
How refreshing to hear an Orthodox hierarch speak out on this or any other modern issue. We must fully support his request. It is our spiritual obligation to protect the name of our Lord & Savior. To do any less inadvertively sends the wrong message to all of the media and the general public. These types of comments are becoming increasingly commonplace in the media becuase we are allowing it to happen, by our silence. More importantly, if we cannot take the time to peacefully and effectively express our protest against this blasphemy, then how can we expect our children to defend and continue carrying the faith after us. Everything we say about the Lord means nothing, if we can't set the example that he is worthy of every sacrifice. Remember, the youth watch our actions more than hear our words.
We should listen to this godly hierarch and stand up for what is right. ESPN will get the message if enough of us stand for the Truth and say how displeased we are with what happened. It's easy enough to print out the letter, sign it, and send it in. ESPN is motivated by this consumer culture and if they know that many of their consumers are displeased with what happened, they WILL take notice.
I concur with His Eminence that we Orthodox Christians must not be passive when Our Lord and Savior is profaned.
ESPN did suspend Dana Jacobson for seven days as punishment for her remarks.
Of course, ESPN out and out fired Rush Limbaugh several years ago when Limbaugh suggested on air (with ESPN) that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was receiving preferential treatment from national sports media because the media were advancing an agenda that a black quarterback succeed in the NFL.
In the insanity of so-called Political Correctness, Christians and cigarette smokers are the only remaining penalty-free objects of bigotry.
January 31, 2008 XSaints Cyrus and John the UnmercenariesTo the Reverend Clergy and Orthodox Faithful,I greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior...
