Athletics and Christian Community #3

Introduction

We have already noted that egalitarianism is a problem in conservative Christian circles, particularly when it comes to the realities of meritocracy that athletic competition forces us to deal with—especially if we are keeping objective stats. But we tend to think that we are not egalitarian at all because we compare ourselves to the demented forms of it out in the secular world. But this is the wrong comparison. How do we measure up against Scripture? That is the question, and not how we compare to those who “take it too far.”

But the deranged fact that biological men are competing in women’s sports doesn’t help us out. So they have Stage IV cancer? Does it follow that there is no such thing as Stage I?

And so we now come to the vexed question of sex roles and athletics.

The Text

“The glory of young men is their strength: And the beauty of old men is the gray head” (Proverbs 20:29).

“I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully” (1 Timothy 5:14).

Summary of the Texts

While gray heads are honored for their wisdom, Scripture tells us that the glory of young men is their strength. That glory is disciplined and refined and tested in athletic competition. But there is a certain telos to all of this. The Iroquois called lacrosse “little brother of war,” and athletics, particularly certain sports, are preparation for war—they are war games. This means that if we keep the prohibition of Deut. 22:5 in mind, this has direct application for women in such sports. “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God” (Deuteronomy 22:5). This text prohibits cross-dressing for men, but it also bans women from putting on “the gear of a warrior” (keli geber). If women shouldn’t be placed in combat roles, and they shouldn’t be, then they shouldn’t be in warlike training. College football would be out, for example.  

In contrast, Paul’s direct exhortation to young women is that they should marry and have kids and give themselves over to the domestic arts. Now there are certain lessons that girls can learn from athletics that can and do transfer straight across into their assigned realm. By this, I mean the need for endurance, perseverance, discipline, and continuing to go on when you don’t think your body can go on. There are plenty of opportunities in homemaking to apply all such lessons, straight across. “So why are you running track?” “When I have no energy left, I need to be able to chase toddlers . . .”

Some lessons from athletics are as valuable for women as they are for men. But not all.

On Not Flinching

“What do you want to do after you graduate?” That’s an ordinary question, but in our generation it has become something of a loaded catechism question. If a young woman were to say that she would really love to get married and start a family, and if the people around her treat that as a cringe response, this tells you everything you need to know about the prevailing zeitgeist. The Bible tells young women to aspire to something, but then if they do, Christians mock it.

While certain forms of athletic competition are both lawful and useful for girls, there is no reason to believe that it should occupy the same importance for girls as it does for boys. To assume that it should be “equally important” to both sexes is to demonstrate that you have internalized the rancid egalitarianism of our day, and have prayed to receive Title IX into your heart.

Recovering a Sense of the Grotesque

Because we live in demented times, Christians will sometimes react with horror when some trans MMA fighter goes up against a woman opponent and simply pummels her. We recoil and say how awful it is. But it should be every bit as awful to see two women fighting each other. That kind of thing simply shouldn’t be happening at all.

Going into any given sport, the fundamental question that males and females should be respectively asking is this one. “Will this training and competition help me to become more masculine/feminine?” Will it equip me to develop the characteristics that Scripture says I should be cultivating in my life? If you can’t answer that question, you shouldn’t be doing it.

And if you are thinking about pursuing a sport that is dominated by lesbians, then perhaps it would be wise to pause and reflect for a moment. Ask yourself why that sport is dominated by lesbians, and is that something I want to cultivate as well?    

Three Categories

So there are three categories of sports to consider here. The first would those that are simply excluded for women. Take the example of MMA fighting and women. It should go without saying here that women should never compete against men in any kind of contact sport. Don’t even think about it. Co-ed bowling would be fine.

At the other end would be sports that are just fine as is—cross country, say.

In the complicated middle would be sports that could be fine, depending on how they are coached and played. Another contributing factor would be the culture that has grown up around the players, inside the player community, how they celebrate and so on. I recall one time seeing girls on the court swaggering around, slapping each other on the rear end, and so on. They weren’t chewing tobacco, but they might as well have been. How do the players encourage and police one another, in other words? If an exhortation “remember to be feminine”—from the coach or from a teammate—makes everybody laugh, then something is wrong.  

An example here would be women’s basketball. That can be played in a way that is consistent with femininity, but the opposite is also true. Because of the recent controversies around Caitlyn Clark and Sophie Cunningham, I have seen more clips of WNBA play in the last few months than I had ever seen in my life before. Talk about jungle ball, and few things are uglier than women fighting.   

And Another Thing

Because the world has only one thing it cares about in athletic competition, that being efficiency and winning, other virtues, like modesty, go by the wayside. But some of the outfits that women athletes are called upon to wear are simply outrageous—divers, swimmers, gymnasts, etc. Don’t sacrifice modesty on the altar of efficiency, in other words.

Christ the Restoration of Humanity

We are taught in Scripture that Christ was given to us as a last Adam, as the one sent by God to restore humanity. We were created in the image of God. But as a result of our rebellion in the Garden, that image was damaged and shattered. Human history is the debris field of that Fall. Now Christ was sent to restore and recreate humanity, shaping us back into true humans. The raw material He is using to build out these new true humans is wreckage of human.

But because the image of God is carried by “male and female” (Gen. 1:27), a big part of our sanctification—growing up into the new man—consists of maturing in our masculinity and in our femininity respectively. Athletics should be a tool you use in the pursuit of that, and not an obstacle that you invite the devil to throw in your path.