For sports enthusiasts, this has been a beautiful summer: tennis championships, end-of-season tournaments, the European Football Championship and the Copa America – all within the run-up to essentially the most global event of all, the Olympic Games.

The Olympic Games began as a spiritual celebration in ancient Greece, with competitions in honor of their gods. But the Olympic Games lost importance when the Roman Empire replaced Greek power within the Mediterranean; the ultimate blow got here from the Christian Emperor Theodosius I.who viewed the games as a stage for paganism.

At the tip of the nineteenth century, the fashionable version of the games began – without religion. This time they were secular, and non secular worship was replaced by flags and patriotism.

But even today, religion is clearly visible on the Games, including directly on the bodies of the athletes.

Loads of skin is exposed, especially throughout the Summer Games, and lots of athletes use it as an emblem of their faith. For example, Anthony Davis – who normally plays for the Los Angeles Lakers within the NBA – has a cross and praying hands on his forearm. Fellow basketball player Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics has a set of non secular tattoos, including “God's Will” and “Proverbs 3:5-6” on his back.

As a spiritual scholar As a tattoo creator, I’m often asked if Christianity disapproves of tattoos, since in accordance with the Bible, God disapproves of them.

The answer just isn’t that easy.

Biblical prohibition?

The first problem in studying the history of tattoos, whether religious or not, is what to call them.

Before the voyages of European explorers to the Pacific within the 18th century – where they encountered the Maori facial tattoo often called “tattoo” – there was no specific word for tattoos in Western languages. Latin, Greek, and their derivatives used words that would have many meanings, similar to “sign” or “letter.” When the word “tattoo” appears in English versions of Jewish and Christian scriptures, it’s an interpretation fairly than an accurate translation.

Regardless of what one calls body modifications, the Hebrew Scriptures suggest that the people of Israel initially despised them, including tattoos and ear and nose piercings. In Leviticus 19:28God forbids mourners from performing funeral rituals that involve self-mutilation to honor the dead – that is the one explicit prohibition against tattoos within the Bible.

In a broader sense, this rule appears in an inventory of forbidden activities intended to differentiate Jews from other peoples and their gods. In some cultures of the traditional Near East Tattoos had a spiritual meaningsimilar to those utilized in fertility and burial rites. The creator of Leviticus appears to be saying: “If you want God's protection, do not cut your hair, shave or get a tattoo.”

Saved by the “X”

However, many other texts within the Bible have a more positive view of physical markings, including jewelry similar to earrings. In the book of EzekielFor example, God instructs the prophet to color an “X” on the foreheads of the pious people in Jerusalem in order that they might be protected against being killed by the unrighteous.

In one in all the visions of the prophet IsaiahHe prophesies throughout the Jewish exile in Babylon: “One will say, ‘I am the LORD’s,’ another will be called Jacob, and he will write on his hand, ‘The LORD’s,’ and will be called Israel.” This verse seems to seek advice from the Babylonian custom of tattooing servants. Similarly, Isaiah portrays Jews as faithful servants of the Lordwithout one other master.

Another text from the book of Isaiah describes God himself as tattooedout of affection for his people: “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.” God is faithful to Israel and has the partitions of Jerusalem tattooed on his hands – as a reminder of his constant love for the holy city.

The first Christians

Tattoos weren’t unusual within the early days of Christianity. The Roman Empire used it to brand some slaves and convicts, including persecuted Christians.

There is not any ban on tattoos within the New Testament. Around 50 AD. Saint Paul wrote“No one should trouble me, because I bear the marks of Jesus on my body.” While most Biblical scholars Some accept the text as a metaphor for Paul's suffering for Christ, others think it refers back to the tattooing of a cross. Paul reverses the ability of the tattoo: he transforms something humiliating into an indication of belonging and pride.

There are records of Christians Tattoos with symbols of their faithincluding the image of a fish, one in all the primary Christian symbols. Christians in Syria and Egypt, who began tattooing crosses throughout the Roman Empire, still accomplish that today. Some Eastern Orthodox churches, similar to the Egyptian Coptic and Ethiopian Christians, Cross tattoos integrated into baptism.

Constantine I, the primary Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, decreed in 316 that an individual sentenced to gladiator school or to work within the mines shouldn’t be tattooed on the facebut on the hands or calves. His decree reflected the Christian belief that the face reflects the image of God and must not be damaged. Apparently the issue was not the tattoo itself, but the situation.

Sacred Systems

Among the Olympic athletes – our gladiators of today – Tattoos still say somethingEach one is a sensible investment of skin, money and time. And they cover a component of their body: the tools athletes use in competition and the vehicles for his or her passion.

Skateboarder Nyjah Huston, for instance, sports greater than 130 tattoos. On one side of his left abdomen is written “Blessed” with praying hands; on his right index finger is a hamsa, a palm-shaped symbol popular in lots of Jewish and Muslim cultures.

Of course, many Olympic tattoos will not be religious in the normal sense. However, they represent what’s sacred or significant to those athletes. Their meaning depends upon each the design and the situation – for instance, whether or not they are easily seen by passersby or more private. The elaborate tattoo of an eagle on the left shoulder of swimmer Caleb Dressel – inspired by the book of Isaiah – is visible throughout the competition.

Not all tattoos have such meaning, but for a lot of, ink is a strategy to express what’s sacred to them – one other element to look out for when having fun with the Olympics.

After President Joe Biden’s disastrous performance at the talk on June 27, 2024, many Democrats have been raising the alarm, saying it’s time for him to step down and let another person take the reins within the hope of defeating Donald Trump in November.

In this sense, as political scientist With a side interest in sports, we share three moments in history when men and ladies faced the difficult decision to remain or go. We hope they assist enrich the present discussion.

We begin with two individuals who served in the very best levels of power within the United States:

President Lyndon Johnson, 1968

On the last night of March 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson, commonly referred to as “LBJ,” addressed the nation from the Oval Office and announced that the United States would unilaterally end its bombing of North Vietnam.

But at the tip of his speech he had something else to say:

He shocked his audience, LBJ added: “I will neither seek nor accept my party’s nomination for another term as your President.”

Johnson was 59 years old. Three and a half years earlier, he had won one in every of the most important landslide victories in American history: he won 61% of the vote and 44 states in Presidential elections 1964.

Few people have defined the term “political animal” as aptly as LBJ. He got here to Washington as a young man stuffed with ambition and was successful like few others.

In fact, since I became president after Assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963Johnson had brought through Congress a Avalanche of progressive lawsincluding the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. With the possible exception of Franklin D. Roosevelt, no other president had completed as much in the realm of ​​laws.

But on that March day in 1968, at a time of growing anti-war protests and the Increasing pull of opposing candidates When he sought the Democratic nomination, he knew he was now leading a rustic that was falling apart. Although he had announced his candidacy for re-election, running again could make things worse.

It was time for another person's turn.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 2013

One of us reports in his book: “A Supreme Court like no other: The gap between judges and other people is widening“ President Barack Obama invited Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to a non-public lunch on the White House in the summertime of 2013.

Obama desired to force Ginsburg into retirement. The 80-year-old judge had twice survived pancreatic cancer, one in every of the deadliest types of cancer. She had already been a Supreme Court justice for twenty years and had made a reputation for herself as a staunch liberal and advocate of equal rights for girls.

In addition, Obama was anxious in regards to the upcoming midterm elections. If the Democrats lost the Senate election, he wouldn’t give you the chance to switch her with a like-minded judge because a Republican-led Senate wouldn’t confirm such a nominee.

Ginsburg didn’t understand Obama’s hint.

Shortly after lunch she remarked: “I think you should stay as long as she can do the job.” She added shortly afterwards“After this one, there will be a new president and I am confident that this president will be a good president.”

The next president was Donald Trump.

Ginsburg died in mid-September 2020, just weeks before Joe Biden would oust Trump from the White House. But Trump had enough time to Fill Ginsburg’s seat with conservative Amy Coney Barrett.

In 2022, Barrett solid the fifth and deciding vote within the Dobbs decision. which repealed federal protection of abortion rights in Roe v. Wade.

The decision whether to step down or stay can have profound consequences within the political world.

The consequences are also serious in sport, but on a more personal level.

Philadelphia Eagle Jason Kelce, 2024

Skeptics said he was too small to play within the NFL's offensive line among the many giants. Not strong enough. Not tough enough. A former walk-on who Drafted within the sixth round in 2011.

But in a short while, Jason Kelce the position of the middle redefined and helped his team to its first Super Bowl victory.

In 2024, Kelce's team, the Philadelphia Eagles, was still top-of-the-line within the NFL. They had reached the Super Bowl only a 12 months earlier, and Kelce was still considered a player at the height of his profession.

But Kelce had had enough. It was time for him to finish his playing profession.

In front of a packed room stuffed with reporters and relations, the 36-year-old Kelce, bare-armed and stout-chested, set out To say goodbye.

But before he could even utter a single sentence, his emotions overwhelmed him and compelled him to pause for a couple of moments. He held his head in his hands, sobbed, sniffled, snorted and took deep breaths. Throughout the press conference, tears streamed down his face. Again and again he needed to stop and wipe them away with a washcloth that somebody threw to him.

As he struggled to utter his explanation, listeners could hear him repeatedly encouraging himself with the words, “Come on.”

The “courage to end it”

Kelce's retirement announcement is each difficult and extraordinarily compelling to look at. During those 40 minutes, he shows the courage it takes to quit when there's still something to be gained.

The picture showed a person accepting his fate, not due to injury or lack of ability, but because he believed that this step was obligatory before this stuff forced him to achieve this.

Are there times when we are able to judge others and it's time to step back? Absolutely. Hopefully we achieve this with compassion and gratitude, but there are simply times when our conscience demands an honest reckoning and unflinching truth-telling.

Among the numerous Allied military units Storming the coast of Normandy on June 6, 1944, was the sixteenth Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division. Its members faced a very daunting task: As a part of the primary wave of the most important amphibious assault in history, the regiment was tasked with clearing the Omaha Beach landing sectors, codenamed “Easy Red” and “Fox Green.”

This was no unusual attack. Omaha became the essentially the most dangerous of the five D-Day landing beacheswhen the US, Great Britain and their allies attacked Nazi-occupied France during World War II. The liberation of Europe was at stake.

As the members of the regiment sat together for a steak dinner the night before the invasion, they were little doubt reflecting on their unit's legacy. Military and oral historianI researched the service of this particular regiment in Vietnam and was also fascinated by its earlier history.

The sixteenth Infantry Regiment had fought within the Indian Warshunted the Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa, fought within the Battle of San Juan Hill This made Theodore Roosevelt a national hero, and greeted the commander of the War of Independence, Marquis de Lafayette at his grave in Paris when the USA entered World War I. By D-Day, the regiment had already participated in World War II Invasions in North Africa and Italy within the years 1942 and 1943.

The regiment was so popular with the American public that when writer F. Scott Fitzgerald created his infamous antihero Jay Gatsby in 1925’s The Great Gatsby, he portrayed the title character as Veteran of the sixteenth Infantry Regiment.

The steak dinner on the evening before D-Day, Charles Hangsterferthen captain within the sixteenth Regiment, was “just as they would a convicted murderer his last meal on the night of his execution.”

A dangerous attack

The invasion plan called for heavy bombardment by warships and aircraft to weaken the German defenses and to make use of amphibious tanks that would travel through shallow waters and on land to help the infantry in reaching the beaches.

But as dawn broke on June 6, 1944, bad weather intervened. Low clouds caused many of the bombing to miss its targets. Rough seas—swells between 3 and 6 feet and winds of 25 miles per hour—washed over many of the tanks.

The troops themselves were Seasickness resulting from pitching and rolling the small boats they used to achieve the beaches from larger ships off the coast, and upon landing they found that they arrived later than expected and were often removed from their planned destination.

Ted Lombarski, a sergeant in F Company of the sixteenth Regiment, recalled:

“We were the first wave to reach the beachCompanies E and F of the 16th Infantry Regiment. Almost all the tanks that had penetrated before us were sunk. The tank crews had a hard time, as did the Marine personnel who drove us in. … When we penetrated, we knew that the Luftwaffe had dropped its bombs too far inland and that the Marine artillery bombardment had done the same. The first wave of the attack went through hell that day.”

As they approached Omaha Beach, the lads of the sixteenth Infantry Regiment were hit by a wall of enemy fire. The bullets and shrapnel left the ocean appears to be boilingin keeping with an oral tradition of the regiment.

The landing craft didn’t get as far toward the coast because the soldiers had hoped, Captain Everett Booth recalled:

“They didn't get us very close to the beach, I can tell you that. … We ran into the water, which was about chest deep. We were met by machine gun bullets hitting the water everywhere. … The enemy riddled the beach with machine gun fire.”

And Lombarski reported:

“Being in the primary wave was the best way to commit suicide. If you place yourself at risk, you were dead.”

Laden with weapons, ammunition, equipment and heavy baggage, many soldiers were overwhelmed by the ocean and drowned. Those who made it to the beach faced the 352nd Infantry Division the Nazi Army, a unit with significant combat experience against the Soviets in Eastern Europe.

High losses

Despite heavy casualties and robust German defenses, because the day progressed it became clear that the sixteenth Infantry Regiment had gained a foothold on Omaha Beach. The soldiers fought their way through concrete and wood obstacles that the Nazis had erected on the beach, destroyed machine gun emplacements and step by step drove enemy troops from key positions.

There was no shortage of heroes that day—there have been almost too many to count. Two of the 4 Congressional Medals of Honor awarded for the exploits of June 6 went to men of the sixteenth Regiment. Earlier that morning 1st Lt. Jimmie Montieth He was exposed to enemy fire several times, including Leading tanks through a minefieldHe led his troops away from the beach and arranged the varied corporations to carry the enemy positions that the sixteenth had captured. Only just a few hours later he was killed in a German counterattack.

Technician fifth Class John Pinder Jr.Although wounded several times, he made several forays into the fire-soaked surf to retrieve communications equipment and helped establish radio contact along with his commanders offshore before succumbing to his injuries.

They were among the many almost 1,000 victims of the sixteenth Infantry Regiment were killed, wounded or missing on D-Day. Despite these heavy losses – a few third of the unit’s troops – the regiment’s relentless attack began break through the German defenseThis allowed the next troops to advance further inland. Victory was not guaranteed, nevertheless it was close by.

Their courage and sacrifice were honored in a ceremony on July 2, 1944, in a Castle 15 miles inland from the beach. The regiment had a Presidential Unit Quote for its role within the invasion. During the presentation, Allied commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower told the regiment:

“I is not going to give an extended speech, but this easy little ceremony gives me the chance to come back here and say thank you thru you. You are among the best regiments in our army“I have known your achievements since the day you landed in North Africa and over Sicily. I am beginning to believe that your regiment is a kind of Praetorian Guard that accompanies me and brings me luck.”