Just Kick the Ball, Bro! Harrison Butker, Cancel Culture, and the Gospel

Harrison Butker is the kicker for the Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs. Until recently, most of the world had never heard of him.

They have now.

He gave a twenty-minute commencement speech at Benedictine College, covering such topics as the government's mishandling of COVID-19, the evil of abortion, and the false pride of the LGBT.

Speaking to a largely Catholic audience, he declared, "We need to stop pretending that the 'church of nice' is a winning proposition."

He argued that the world wants a version of Christianity that is "private, hidden, and harmless" and called "homemaker" the most important title any woman could have.

Having successfully kicked (pun intended) every hornet's nest in sight, he dropped the mic and walked off the stage.

Needless to say, the internet lost its collective mind. Every talking head chimed in with predictable outrage. Over 200,000 people (and counting) signed a petition calling for him to be fired, and the NFL released a statement distancing itself from him.

I'm not shocked. It seems when asked, “Which controversial topic would you like to cover?”, he answered, "Yes.”

It's tempting to just chuckle and move on – much ado about nothing, right? However, if the goal of Provoke and Inspire is to faithfully follow Jesus in a post-Christian world, then there is definitely something to learn from this situation.

The bulk of the criticism was predictable because biblical views are an anathema to most nonbelievers. The 'religion' of today is secular humanism, which says, “I am at the center. I define reality and truth. No one can tell me how to live except me.”

The core tenets of this paradigm are secularism, relativism, and tolerance.

Secularism is the idea that religion no longer occupies a central role in public life. It's not been eliminated completely; it's just privatized and marginalized. You can have your religion, just don't impose it on others.

A commitment to relativism reduces truth, especially moral truths, to preference. It's fine to have your opinion, just don't tell me how to live.

Tolerance is the logical, yet somehow confused, offspring of relativism. Our culture demands that all views, beliefs, and ideas are accepted by everyone. Apparently the absolute nature of this injunction escapes the scrutiny of our aforementioned commitment to relativism.

In light of these commitments, it's no wonder Harrison's defense of Christian values was met with horror and outrage. He didn't just go against the grain - he set the whole log on fire.

Part of me is impressed by his courage. Still, I hesitate to celebrate. If calling the world evil and watching it squirm was the goal, then I guess that's a job well done. But is that the job?

Our goal is to love people as Jesus did. This includes telling them the truth, of course, but our underlying motivations are crucial.

The Apostle Paul warns us, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal." (1 Corinthians 13:1)

As my dad says, "If we call out sin, it needs to be with tears in our eyes."

I commend Harrison Butker's willingness to defend the truth, but did he share Jesus' motivation, or was he a clanging gong?

I can't help but feel hostility in the tone of Harrison's speech. His motivation didn’t feel loving. The goal is not to win arguments or "do battle" against sinful people. If we don't care about them, we have no business opening our mouths.

Our job is not to make dumb people smart or take dirty people and make them clean.

‍Our goal is that people meet Jesus.

‍Why would His commandments make any sense to a world that doesn't know Him?

Consider the fact that sinners loved Jesus; religious people hated Him. Why was that? Jesus' popularity among non-church people shouldn't be a surprise at all. For one, He shared his life with them. Jesus hung out, ate, and talked to the non-religious.

He did this so much that He was accused of being a sinner Himself. But He didn’t care - these people were the reason He came. When Jesus was with people, He met their needs. He fed the hungry and healed the sick. He cared for people that society despised and ignored. Jesus was famously merciful. He went after people’s hearts first before addressing their sins.

So, what did Butker’s speech accomplish? From what I can tell, he added gas to the already raging culture war inferno. His content was more quantity than quality. He lacked nuance and grace.

For example, telling a crowd composed of at least 50% women that, despite having just completed a four-year degree, costing tens of thousands of dollars, they were better off having never bothered in the first place isn’t likely to be effective.

Most importantly, did people see Jesus in Harrison’s speech? Because frankly, I didn’t.