Do you know where sports heroes like Steph Curry stand on Christian issues?
As Christians, should we care where sports heroes — who are professing believers — stand on certain issues? Are we free to watch sports and admire these athletes regardless of how they express or conduct themselves, especially those with high levels of nationwide influence?
An example for me came from Major League Baseball. I grew up as an Oakland Athletics fan, and Mark McGwire became one of my sports heroes. But when I found out he had been cheating with the use of steroids (McGwire admitted it in 2010), it changed the way I looked at him. For as long as I can remember, I have believed playing by the rules makes the game.
The MLB steroid saga made me less of a baseball fan, and I haven’t fully recovered my past allegiances. The disconnect came from disillusionment more than anything else.
However, the idea behind this post isn’t to criticize anyone for the positions they take. The goal is to bring things to light. The thought process is: Since professing Christian sports figures gain their influence through the games we watch, pay for, and support, shouldn’t we be aware of how they use this influence?
Instead of trying to create a comprehensive list, I will use Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry as an example. He reportedly has over 75 million social media followers, which gives him great influence with many people. Curry recently announced a woman’s-choice stance, tying his new belief to an endorsement in the 2024 presidential campaign. (Previously, in a 2022 Rolling Stone interview, Curry said he didn't consider himself pro-life or pro-choice).
It’s interesting to note Steph Curry’s mother, Sonya, said she had an abortion before having Steph. And she said in her memoir she considered aborting the pregnancy with Steph.
Compare that situation to the mother of another famous athlete, Tim Tebow. She went against the advice of her physician in 1985. He advised her to abort the pregnancy with Tim because of complications from amoebic dysentery and the lack of advanced medical care in the remote village in the Philippines where Pam and her husband, Bob, served as missionaries.
Tebow grew up, became an NFL quarterback, and today has over seven million social-media followers and is a staunch pro-life proponent.
Whether you believe Curry or Tebow stands in the right place, you can find “answers” on the Internet to support either side. The Internet will tell you the Bible does not specifically address abortion. But that depends on the person’s view of the role God plays in human life. Some of the articles that say the Bible doesn’t talk about abortion will try to dispute Psalm 139:13-16 and Jeremiah 1:5. They will deny those verses by saying it’s figurative language and doesn’t mean what it says.
Here are the verses:
Psalm 139:13-16
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
Jeremiah 1:5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
It’s up to each person, Christian or non-Christian, to develop their beliefs about these passages.
But as Christians, it’s important to consider where the athletes we support stand on these issues. Is there a chance it could affect our allegiances to certain teams, players, or sports? Yes.
But this isn’t condemnation. It’s a matter of alignment.
For Christians, the understanding of life goes back to the garden. Do you believe the Bible’s account that God created Adam and Eve? If so, do you believe God creates all life? Or just Adam and Eve? That’s a foundational question for Christians.
And here are some questions for Curry:
If you believe God creates all life, how could it be OK to end it solely for the sake of personal decision or convenience?
If not, do you believe it’s just hit or miss as to whether a pregnancy occurs? If you believe that, when does God get involved? Not until birth and first breath?
If you believe God isn’t involved until birth, would it be OK to abort right until the end of the pregnancy? If there’s some week of pregnancy where abortion is no longer morally acceptable, is that when life begins and God’s laws go into effect?
Those aren’t questions for the government. They’re not meant to be political. They are only directed at professing Christians. Everybody has a right to believe what they want to believe, but Christians are held to the standard set forth by God’s word.
