Christianity and violence in sports

Violence in sports can be brought on for several reasons. The obvious reason is competition. In certain cases human nature can override a person’s consciousness, which could escalate into many problems (one being violent behavior). The theme of this weeks class was an interplay between sports, religion and violence. In Holy Acceptable Violence? Tracy Trothen discussed the unnecessary nature of violence in Canadian professional hockey. This violence is relative to the violence portrayed in Jesus’ crucifixion. The issue that occurs is the acceptance of violence as a normative behavior. As a result it is difficult and unclear what constitutes as morally acceptable versus morally wrong behaviors. The question of banning fighting in hockey has been a heated debate over the years as the violence escalates and the competition heats up. As a casual hockey fan I cannot provide an adequate answer for that debate. In any sport- football, boxing, basketball, hockey, soccer or baseball- athletes can lose their tempers in the heat of the game and turn to violence. Why then did Trothen decide to focus on hockey instead of sports based on fighting and violence such as mixed martial arts(MMA)?

UFC and MMA comprise a profitable mainstream business of entertainment of violence.. but what exactly are individuals paying to see? MMA and UFC offer a simple formula- two people are put into an enclosed space (usually an octagon cage) and fight until one of them is deemed unfit (too injured to continue) by the referee or the athlete ‘taps out’ which mean they can no longer fight or take being beaten. Protective gear worn by the fighters usually consists of a mouth guard and padded gloves (their heads are exposed and an easy target). It is hard to imagine there is a sport whose sole purpose is to beat another person till their breaking point, creating a bloodbath in the rink. What is the link to Christianity for such a violent sport. Where would UFC and MMA fit in the realm of unacceptable violence within the bible?

The Ultimate Fighting Champion Jon “Bones” Jones credits Jesus for his wins in the cage (a victory he couldn’t see possible without the help of Christ). On his twitter he posted: “God if it’s your will then it’s already done and I thank you for giving me the victory.” And followed the tweet with biblical passages (2 Timothy 1:7). Gaining strength from the gospel is nothing new for Jones- a fighter who on different occasions drawn inspiration from his faith (beginning with his first UFC fight in 2008).

In reference to Trothen’s argument- this association (religion and MMA) reinforces the idea that violence has become normative. Violence is accepted in many aspects of sports as it is seen as part of the competitive nature of the sport. In this sense violence is accepted in MMA as it defines the sport, it is the key nature of the sport and without it this sport simply would not exist.