Former college and pro football star Craig James is standing behind his comments that Satan is using the pressure to endorse same-sex marriage to silence and intimidate Christian believers from speaking out for their values.
James drew attention for his comments after his former NFL team, the New England Patriots, signed onto a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide. Speaking on the radio with Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, James said this rising tide of intolerance could make life very uncomfortable for Christian athletes.
“If I were a current player in that locker room and my livelihood depended on me being quiet or losing it because of my belief system, I worry, I wonder. So, that’s Satan working on us,” James said.
Asked exactly what he meant by that, James says the media frenzy occurred because his words were misunderstood.
“If the person had really listened to the interview, who started this controversy, you would hear in there that I was talking about believers and specifically about me as I get fear and there’s pause in my heart before I go out and speak and about my belief and believing in natural marriage. That’s Satan working on me, on us as believers when we get pause and concern in their heart. So very, very much misrepresented,” he said.
James, who was half of the famed Pony Express backfield at Southern Methodist University in the 1980s, says locker room cohesion is critical and to have a team publicly endorse a position contrary to a player’s beliefs makes for a difficult work environment.
“A locker room is made up of a lot of different belief systems. Some believe. Others don’t believe. Others are in the middle. Black, white brown, we’re all over the map. Yet we all come together under one cause. My concern is that these pro organizations are going to begin to sort of censor or restrict and limit and shut down the belief systems of their players,” said James.
This is not some theoretical issue to James. He says we already saw the intolerance playing out last spring during the NFL draft. That’s when Michael Sam became the first openly gay player to be drafted into the NFL. His public display of affection with his partner bothered a Miami Dolphins player.
“He was suspended and sent to counseling for how he should think and what he should say. That’s censorship and I’m totally against that,” said James.
So what does James want?
“Here’s what I really am fighting for: the freedom for me to continue to believe as I believe, for every player in that locker room who has a belief system to not fear for having that belief system and to feel like they’ve got to be quiet about it and sheltered,” he said.
Even before a possible Supreme Court decision to legalize gay marriage, James says there has been a dangerous erosion in the freedom to express one’s firmly-held beliefs.
“This two-way street that we’ve had forever of the first amendment, right now there’s a bulldozer over in the lane of religious freedom trying to shut us down. We cannot accept that. I’m not going to accept that. I’m not telling anyone else what they have to believe. Don’t tell me what I have to believe,” said James.
If the court rules against his position, James says the fight will still go on.
We’re going to fight this thing hard. I will not accept it. You cannot tell me that I have to accept something that is non-biblical. I’m not going to do it,” said James.
What he would most like to see now is for more believers to find the courage to speak up.
“I just don’t think there’s enough people standing up and being heard who really have thought through the ramifications of being silenced and the slippery slope that that’s on,” said James.
Like many traditional marriage advocates, James has received plenty of public scorn for his comments. He says being the target of such vitriol has actually been good for deepening his faith.
“Don’t miss an opportunity when God puts a storm in your life to grow closer to Him. I cherish the last 4-5 years of trials and tribulations in my life . I’ve taken the route that says I want to grow closer to God and what He wants from me in His Word. That’s stability. Me trying to please the world, I have found, is a reckless, tireless event,” he said.
