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by Rudy Ch. Garcia

Tim Tebow wears his religion on his sleeve, obviously. And now there's a craze, since his come-from-behind victories this season, so far. It got me to thinking.

Before there was American football, religion used to be "the opium of the people," although among our gente here and in Latin America, the Catholic Church still serves that function. If Spanish conquistadores or mexicano ricos or American corporations exploited you and your country, you had the Church to assuage your sufferings. The 99% could pray for deliverance from the 1%, which included the Catholic Church prior to the 1910 Mexican Revolution.

Things were so oppressive that the authors of the 1917 Mexican Constitution that arose out of the Revolution reduced the Catholic Church’s influence in Mexico's affairs. It enforced secular education in schools, outlawed monastic vows and orders, curtailed public worship outside Church buildings, denied religious institutions the right to acquire, hold or administer property, declared national property any real estate held by religious institutions through third parties like hospitals and schools, and took away from Church officials any voting or commenting on public affairs. These provisions still stand as one of the most encompassing rebellions against too much religion where it shouldn't be.

"Wearing your heart on your sleeve," like Tebow does, is a phrase attributed to author William Shakespeare from his play Othello, in a line spoken by Iago: "I will wear my heart upon my sleeve" [1.1.65]. Although, people forget that these words weren't about declaring your religious views, because Iago was attempting to deceive Othello. Shakespeare probably took the phrase from the Middle Ages, where a knight dedicated his performance to a woman in the court by wearing her colors or kerchief tied around his arm to show he represented her. In Tebow's case, maybe he's trying to indicate he represents something higher up, but without any deception, maybe.

Now that American football is the opium at least of the American people, it's assumed the role that another author, Karl Marx, described: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions." [Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right.]

As a Denver resident, I'm a de facto Broncos fan. No, I don't go around saying "our" team or "us" in referring to the 1% NFL team, but I do root for them, now. So, I'm not some "Raider-hater" when I say that when Tebow tebows, it's cute, but it's also historical illusion, and seems to imply an inherent arrogance.

The conquistadores and colonists brought over that arrogance in religious forms, from Puritanism to Catholicism, and the indigenous Americans lost their world and were forced to adopt that European opium. Whether it was De Soto or Cortez or Puritans and Pilgrims, the indigenes would learn that the invaders' tebowing was a sign of