UPDATE: I appreciate the rec list. That was unexpected. I also apologize for not responding to more of the comments, but I have a number of family matters to attend to today, that must take priority. I'm also filling in for Marin Longman, the founder of Booman Tribune, while he recovers from a serious health crisis, so I have to spend a lot of time preparing material for his blog until he can resume blogging again. My main point, which I will reiterate, is that the referee knew or should have known this was a religious expression which is not prohibited by the NFL celebration rules. I'm glad the NFL League office acknowledged that the penalty for Mr. Abdullah's expression of his faith was wrong, considering the many Christian players in the league do the same thing every time they score, and many of their religious displays far exceed what Mr. Abdullah did. Whatever your opinion on the matter, please keep the discussion civil. Thank you.
I saw this story this morning, and said to myself, if this were Tim Tebow, the most famous Christian athlete in America (but a mediocre former pro football player), the NFL would never have done this to him:
When Kansas City Chiefs safety Husain Abdullah intercepted a Tom Brady pass and returned it for a touchdown Monday night, he did what so many other NFL players do to celebrate a big play: He paused to make a religious gesture of thanks.
But Abdullah, a devout Muslim, found that his religious display was met with less latitude than, say, Tim Tebow when he brought Tebowing into the NFL. Abdullah was penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct because he slid to the ground, then knelt in in the end zone.
Here's an image from twitter showing what Mr. Abdullah did to cost his team a penalty and what Tim Tebow did every time he scored a touchdown in the NFL or in College.
I guess it is unsportmanlike for Americans of other faiths to publicly pray to anyone at a sports event unless that prayer is to Jesus. What a country!