Hamilton won a gold medal at the 1984 Olympics and it was a big thing as always is for Americans when one of us wins gold for the USA.

I didn’t know Hamilton’s back story at the time, but it’s included in a Beliefnet’s “10 Most Inspiring Olympians.”

Check it out for yourself here: Beliefnet.com’s “10 Most Inspiring Olympians”

By the way, there are 17 more days until the opening ceremonies for the 2012 Olympics in London. 

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

The Dalai Lama has said he will stop talking to Chinese leaders about allowing autonomy in Tibet.

The Religion News Service recently reported that the exiled Tibetan leader made the statement from his home in Dharamsala, India.

“As far as I’m concerned I have given up,” the Dalai Lama, 73, told The Associated Press.

He said a new advocacy plan must now be created by Tibetans. For years, the Buddhist leader has urged China to create a ” diplomatic approach,” under which Tibet is ruled by China but has space to continue its ancient Buddhist culture, the RNS reports.

“There hasn’t been any positive response from the Chinese side,” the Dalai Lama said, according to the AP.

Meanwhile, several news outlets have reported that Tibetan-Chinese talks are planned in the near future. Tibetan Buddhists’ efforts to gain religious freedom under Chinese rule was highlighted during the the summer Olympics in China when several peaceful protests — some sparked online — occurred around the world.

According to the U.S. State Department, religious freedom in Tibet has been sharply curtailed since Communist Chinese forces invaded the country in 1950.

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

I remember archery lessons in my freshman PE class in high school.

I really recall how bad I was at it and how grateful I was that I never had to do it again.

The sport is on my mind today after I read a recent story in the New York Times about U.S. Olympic archery coach Kisik Lee (pictured at right) stirring the waters, so to speak, at the games in Beijing.

It seems that Lee is a Christian and has baptized several people, including several of his archers, prior to the games in Beijing.

According to the Times, the United States Olympics Committee is concerned that Lee may have imposed his faith values on the U.S. archers who competed in Beijing.  At least one archer’s parent, according to the story, was not happy with Lee on this issue, but was afraid that her child might draw some sort of retaliation if she spoke out. 

Here’s what Lee had to say, responding to charges that he tried to impose his faith on his team. His comment was the Religion News Service’s Quote of the Day on Wednesday.

Read the Times story by clicking here: “For Coach, God and Archery are a Package Deal.”

What do you think? Did Lee go too far?

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

AP PHOTO/Gerald Herbert  Accompanied by Pastor Jian-An, President Bushmakes remarks after attending church at the Beijing Kuanjie Protestant Christian Church during his visit to the 2008 Summer Olympic games in Beijing, China on Aug. 10.

I saw Pres. Bush’s interview Sunday with Bob Costas, NBC Olympics commentator, in Beijing.

The  president said he had attended a state-sanctioned church during his visit to China. My ears perked up when he said he has suggested that Chinese officials  register underground house churches like they do state-sanctioned churches.

Bush’s comments to Costas more than hinted around religion — they really seemed to center around that theme.

In last week’s interview about the Voice of the Martyrs’ China prayer bracelets,  Todd Nettleton, Voice of the Martyrs director of media development, said state-sanctioned Christian churches are those that the Chinese government allows to operate, thus the government has final say about who can preach there and what they can and cannot preach about.

The house churches that are not sanctioned in this way are called “underground” because they are not registered.

Nettleton said Voice of the Martyrs, based in Bartlesville, thinks that about 20 percent of Christians in China attend the state-sanctioned churches, while the majority attend underground churches because they feel more free to worship there.

“Obviously a lot of Christians say ‘Hey, we believe Christ is the head of the church not the Communist government’,” Nettleton said. “That’s why they refuse to come under those government controls.”

Will Chinese leaders take Bush’s suggestion seriously?

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor      

Voice of the Martyrs’ Olympics prayer bands

With the Olympics to begin with Friday’s Opening Ceremonies, about half a million people around the world will be displaying gray prayer bracelets from Bartlesville-based Voice of the Marytrs.

There’s even a possibility that the big guy from the White House, Pres. Bush, will wear one, Todd Nettleton, Voice of the Martyrs’ director of media development, said this week.

Actually, Nettleton said all he can safely say is that Bob Fu, president of the China Aid Association presented Bush with three of the China prayer bracelets during a meeting last week at the White House.

Nettleton said the free bracelets have been offered via the Web site of Voice of the Martyrs, www.persecution.com, and the Web sites of partnering agencies like the China Aid Association.

“We wanted to turn it into a reminder for people to pray for China and we’ve been flabbergasted by the response,” he said of the bracelet offer.

Nettleton said Voice of the Martyrs wants people to be aware that beyond the festivities of the Olympics are some very real concerns about religious liberty in Communist China.

“We believe people will get snowed in, that they’ll see the bright lights and the big buildings and they will think that persecution has gone away and it has not.”

Look here on the Religion and Values blog for more on the same subject and similar issues as the Olympics begin in earnest. Also check out a related Webcast on the Voice of the Martyrs Web site listed above.

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor

With the Olympics on my mind (is everybody else counting down as well?), I was delighted to get an interesting report about Christian athletes competing in the Summer Olympics set to begin Friday in Beijing, China.

 The Fellowship of Christian Athletes sent out  “The Heart And Soul in Sports” report today, which lists some of those athletes and their comments about their faith.

Included in the FCA report is NBA star Michael Redd.  The Milwaukee Bucks guard said: “Since I’ve had the Lord Jesus Christ in my life, miraculous things have happened to me. I just thank God every day for Him blessing me and showing me favor when I’m not worthy of any of that. I keep Him first and I’m diligent in keeping Him first.”

Incidentally, Redd was already on my mind because we just found out today that the Bucks will play the new Oklahoma City NBA team in the latter’s season opener in October at the Ford Center.

Meanwhile diver Laura Wilkinson of Houston is also among the Christian athletes listed. She said: “I know that I don’t need a gold medal or a certain score on the scoreboard to know that I’m special, that I matter and that God has a plan for me. We each matter because God made us each unique and special. No collection of titles, medals, degrees or money can give you that. We can put our hope in Jeremiah 29:11 when God says that He has plans for us, not to harm us, but to give us hope and a future.”

Men’s marathon runner, Ryan Hall, had this to say about his faith: “Being free to run means not carrying the burdens of this world. It’s the freedom to not have to achieve something to be able to just go out and do it for the love of doing it.”

For more about the Olympics and the Christian athletes who have competed in the games, visit FCA.org.

Carla Hinton

Religion Editor