The
phrase "wide right" is affiliated with the Buffalo Bills, not the
Kansas City Chiefs, though during the most recent NFL playoffs, "Wide
Right Part 2" happened while the Bills were playing Kansas City.
Still, the phrase might be considered an approporiate characterization of the
commencement speech Chiefs' kicker Harrison Butker gave to the Spring
2024 graduating class at Benedictine College. That speech espoused opinions
about, among other things, women, LGBTQ folks, diversity and inclusion
initiatives, and President Biden that fall significantly on the right of the
current U.S. political spectrum.
Butker
claimed his speech to be a reflection of his Catholic values, and he doubled
down on that with more
recent remarks in Nashville. As Butker stated in Nashville, "If it
wasn’t clear that the timeless Catholic values are hated by many, it is
now," referring to the criticisms his commencement speech has garnered
since he gave it. His phrasing in that statement reflects the broader theme he
invoked, suggesting that he has been subjected to, as he put it, "a
shocking level of hate." Comparing himself to Daniel from the Christian
Bible, he has depicted himself as a courageous martyr who, along with similarly
minded folks, is propelled by "our love for
Jesus and thus our desire to speak out."
I was raised Catholic, and I went to Catholic school from
Kindergarten through twelfth grade. I am no longer a practicing Catholic, as my
theological views, which I
have discussed to some degree on this blog, do not correspond with
what Christianity professes. However, I have read the Catholic Bible from cover
to cover twice, and I have read most sections of the Gospels in the New
Testament more than that. I still have what in many ways is a Catholic-informed
view of the world, and I find value in many of the ideas I attribute to Jesus
based on my readings of the Bible. From that perspective, I find Butker's views
inconsistent with his proclaimed "love for Jesus." Jesus, as I
understand him, encouraged the greater participation of women in public life,
embraced diversity, and promoted inclusion (and he
may even have been gay).
I used to get pretty angry when I would come into contact with folks such as Butker and the problematic ideas they espouse. That anger was rooted in my own experiences at the hands of similarly thinking Catholic folks in small-town Ohio, many of whom I sense would agree with a lot of what Butker has recently said. I still feel a little anger, though its more focused on how views like Butker's have been given prominent support and incubation in contemporary U.S. (and global, for that matter) society. More fully, though, I have replaced that anger with sadness. I feel sad for Harrison Butker and folks who identify with what he has said. For as much as they say they love Jesus, I sense that they haven't reflected effectively on what Jesus said and did, and that really is a disservice to their church and to the world.
