Chris Broussard is paid by ESPN to give his opinion. They put him on Outside of the Lines and asked his opinion on Jason Collins coming out of the closet.
Here is what he had to say.
“I’m a Christian. I don’t agree with homosexuality. I think it’s a sin, as I think all sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman is. [ESPN’s] L.Z. [Granderson] knows that. He and I have played on basketball teams together for several years. We’ve gone out, had lunch together, we’ve had good conversations, good laughs together. He knows where I stand and I know where he stands. I don’t criticize him, he doesn’t criticize me, and call me a bigot, call me ignorant, call me intolerant.
“In talking to some people around the league, there’s a lot Christians in the NBA and just because they disagree with that lifestyle, they don’t want to be called bigoted and intolerant and things like that. That’s what LZ was getting at. Just like I may tolerate someone whose lifestyle I disagree with, he can tolerate my beliefs. He disagrees with my beliefs and my lifestyle but true tolerance and acceptance is being able to handle that as mature adults and not criticize each other and call each other names.
“… Personally, I don’t believe that you can live an openly homosexual lifestyle or an opnely premarital sex between heterosexuals, if you’re openly living that type of lifestyle, then the Bible says you know them by their fruits, it says that’s a sin. If you’re openly living in unrepentant sin, whatever it may be, not just homosexuality, adultery, fornication, premarital sex between heterosexuals, whatever it may be, I believe that’s walking in open rebellion to God and to Jesus Christ. I would not characterize that person as a Christian because I do not think the Bible would characterize them as a Christian.”
What’s the problem?
His job is to give his opinions, you don’t like his opinion, so what? No one forces you to watch ESPN. No one forces you to follow Broussard. No one is putting a gun to your head and saying you have to believe what he believes in.
Can you disagree?
Of course, I think he is 100% wrong, but am I am going to call him a name or attack him for his religious beliefs? That would make me a hypocrite and I don’t believe in hypocrisy. I want people to respect my beliefs and opinions, because I surely have a lot of them, so in turn I have to respect others.
Especially ones that I have no factual of way of proving wrong. I can call Tebow, but I don’t have a direct line to Jesus, God, Joseph or Mary. All I have is my personal faith and belief, everyone can do whatever the hell they want to do with their lives, because that has nothing to do with me.
So before you go after Broussard, remember when it comes to religious beliefs there are millions in the world, but only one can be right and by the time you find out which one, it is too late, because you are dead.
Put down the pitchfork, people are entitled to their beliefs without being lynched by the mob.
Broussard released a statement.
Today on OTL, as part of a larger, wide-ranging discussion on today’s news, I offered my personal opinion as it relates to Christianity, a point of view that I have expressed publicly before. I realize that some people disagree with my opinion and I accept and respect that. As has been the case in the past, my beliefs have not and will not impact my ability to report on the NBA. I believe Jason Collins displayed bravery with his announcement today and I have no objection to him or anyone else playing in the NBA.