By Brad Locke
April 15, 2005

(AgapePress) - We have our keepers of morality, and we have our uninhibited anarchists. We have our cultists, and we have our universalists. We have our polarizing figures, and we have our unifying figures.

But if you want to find the median of the world's morality, you don't really have to look any further than a soccer stadium. Even given its bloody history, international soccer's current troubles are unsettling at the least, spiritually disturbing at the worst. It seems Satan takes a particular joy in the sport's endemic tragedies.

Just in the past week, soccer fans have shown an exceptional capacity for boorishness. In Scotland, fans booed during a moment of silence for the late Pope John Paul II. Fans at a Champions League match hurled flares and fireworks onto the pitch after a call went against the home team. One of the flares struck and injured AC Milan goalie Dida, and officials were forced to call the game prematurely. The Italian government has threatened drastic measures -- such as shutting down certain stadiums -- to stem the recent tide of fan violence that has flooded the country.

(For an insightful commentary on Italy's problem, I suggest you read Roberto Gotta's take on Soccernet.com.)

As I cruise the Associated Press photo wire every week, rarely do I type in "soccer" and not see pictures of fans fighting or throwing objects onto the field. There is a culture of madness permeating the masses, and the scary thing is, these folks are your average Joes. Most of them are no different from you or me. They have jobs, families, and maybe even attend church. But when soccer is involved, these normal people become unabashed hoodlums.

I admit I don't understand how deeply soccer is rooted in European -- and parts of South American -- culture. Even the most insufferable fans in America are saints compared to their foreign counterparts. We have our share of William Ligues, but there exists no collective fanaticism that drives Americans to mobbish criminality.

This means, I hope, that this country's Christian heritage hasn't been completely eradicated. There is a sense of civility even among Red Sox and Yankees fans (compared to, say, Liverpool and Juventus fans). It's quite ironic, in fact, that those countries who call America "unenlightened" are the same ones whose citizens engage in psychotic behavior at a sporting event. Is it any coincidence that those who abhor moral moorings are the same ones who become uncontrollably violent over the silliest of things?

Man's fight to free himself from the bonds of moral law has not led to the Utopian setting he so desperately desires. Quite the opposite. Men once governed by their own consciences now must be governed by exhaustive laws, some of which are now necessary (laws against gay marriage) and some that aren't (hate crime laws). The obviousness of certain evils can no longer be assumed, nor is evil defined the way it once was.

Soccer fans have an uncanny ability to reveal man's raw sinfulness. When we place things in the wrong perspective -- be it a game, our possessions, our personal autonomy -- then any irritation of those sensitivities results in a rash of unmitigated fury toward the irritant, be it an incompetent referee or a longstanding law of the land.

It's no surprise that the moral relativism sweeping across the globe has begotten outrageous behavior. The "enlightened" among us would purport to be the most civilized, when they really are nothing more than obstinate children. Anti-Semitism has resurfaced in the most liberal of countries, and that's because the liberal thought process can easily lead one in that direction. Watching a soccer fan effusively fling rocks and bottles at innocent players reminds me of cold-blooded abortionists and activist federal judges hurling stones at the preciousness of life. Excessive freedom for one means oppression for another.

It's frightening, but look closely next time you see footage of soccer fans gone wild. You'll be staring into the innermost depths of the world's soul.