As I outlined in my last blog post concerned Robert Griffin III and Christian persecution, it is a false narrative. The myth of Christian persecution was again proved as Kansas City Chiefs safety Husain Abdullah caught and intercepted Tom Brady‘s pass on Monday Night Football.
In celebration of Abdullah’s play, he went down to pray. Abdullah, a Muslim, was penalized and his team incurred a 15-yard penalty on the next kick off.
Chiefs’ Husain Abdullah penalized for post-touchdown prayer http://t.co/pxVl6oVzg2 pic.twitter.com/dwNjwg5ztg
— FOX Sports Live (@FOXSportsLive) September 30, 2014
In response, this tweet was posted on Twitter:
Husain Abdullah was penalized for praying after a pick6…. Smh pic.twitter.com/G2j7plEawE
— NBA RETWEET (@RTNBA) September 30, 2014
If anything pro-Christian favoritism could be argued here. Fortunately, the NFL responded that Abdullah should have not been penalized. The decision for the penalty during the game was:
The prayer drew a 15-yard penalty flag for unsportsmanlike conduct, for “going to the ground” while celebrating after a score. There are exceptions made for religious prayer in the rule…
At the least we have learned two things:
- The media look for any angle to make a story run
- It’s easy to selectively prove (falsely) that Christian persecution exists.
Beware of the danger of the single story.
