Plans for Tebow Pro-Life Super Bowl Ad May Irk QB’s Critics

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With his unconventional pass delivery and a physical style that seems just as comfortable running the ball anyway, some wonder if University of Florida star quarterback Tim Tebow will achieve NFL glory. But football fans just may get to see the story of the Heisman Trophy winner and unapologetic Christian impact the pro sport's biggest game of the year.

Colorado-based conservative group Focus on the Family reportedly may buy a Super Bowl spot for an ad about how Tebow’s mother carried him to term despite a difficult and dangerous pregnancy.

If true, it would be just another example of Tebow annoying the secular left. The quarterback is as famous for wearing Bible passage citations on his game-day eye black as for winning an NCAA championship. As NewsBusters has detailed, that practice – and the faith it symbolizes – is irksome to some commentators.

Almost a year ago, CBSSports.com columnist Gregg Doyel wrote, “Tebow’s religion is seen as good because it is the religion of the majority. But it’s not the religion of everybody. It’s exclusionary, and just because you share Tebow’s faith, that doesn’t mean you're right.”

This past October, Sam Cook of the Fort Myers [Fla.] News-Press, picked up from USA Today’s Tom Krattenmaker and slammed the “far-right theology” of Tebow’s evangelical Christian father.

As recently as mid-December, Mark Axelrod, a blogger at the liberal Huffington Post sneered, “So, am I to believe that Florida beat Oklahoma because Tim Tebow had John 3:16 painted beneath his eyes?” Axelrod certainly knows that nobody is suggesting God takes sides in football games, and at the end of his piece he got to his real objections:

What I find rather disturbing is that he has to bring that religious faith onto the playing field as a way of testifying to it, as a way of letting people know just how deeply religious he is. The irony of making faith a kind of religious highlight reel is that belief in God isn't a spectator sport nor is a football field a venue for religious politicking.

The elite liberals at the Huffington Post and elsewhere in the media are embarrassed that Tebow insists on publicly testifying to his faith and using his high profile to exercise his Christian duty to evangelize.

Focus on the Family has refused to confirm whether it has purchased the space or produced the ad. Given the estimated $4 million price tag of a 30-second spot and NBC’s rejection of a pro-life ad for its Super Bowl Broadcast last year, an ad featuring the football player’s mother is no sure thing.

Given his character, courage and the consternation he whips up on the left, we hope the odds for Tebow’s professional career are better.