"When's Tim Tebow going to be made a saint?"
At the Gator Wesley Foundation's Bible Study on Wednesday, a student had asked the question as a joke, but it prompted a serious discussion.
"Well, first, he'd have to be Catholic," said the Rev. David Fuquay, Gator Wesley's executive director.
But some say Tebow's dedication to his faith is not a laughing matter. Gainesville Christian student ministries have been following his success with the Denver Broncos, and they're not the only ones.
Between a "Saturday Night Live" skit parodying Tebow and Jesus in the locker room and the rise of Tebowing, it seems like fans can't get enough of the Christian quarterback.
Some are even calling him the "Mile High Messiah."
Fuquay said this might not be a good thing.
"‘Fan' is short for ‘fanatic,' and I think we've gotten a little too fanatical," he said. "The people who project on him, calling him ‘Jesus' - which is ridiculous. It's bordering on idolatry."
The fans place unreasonable expectations on him, Fuquay said.
"I think Tebow's faith in God is so much who he is that it does affect what kind of player he is," Fuquay said. "But that's not the same as saying that God is intervening supernaturally in these games."
The media reads too much into Tebow's success, said vice president of UF's Campus Crusade Ryan Delk.
For example, NBC Sports reported a smoke cloud that formed a halo over Mile High Stadium on Sunday.
"Whenever you have a situation where a person is in the spotlight, there's going to be incentives for people to try to read into things that aren't there," Delk said.
Media outlets make a bigger deal of Tebow's religion than he does, said Eddie Gilley, director of UF Baptist Collegiate Ministries.
"Because he is a Christian who is a football player, not a football player who is a Christian, they're having trouble coming to grips with who he is on and off the field," Gilley said.
Gilley thinks Tebow would be bothered by people mocking his faith.
Fuquay agreed.
"When kneeling on your knee in prayer becomes being called ‘Tebowing' instead of praying, that's taking it the wrong way," he said.
