Machen wrote a letter to a notable politician on April 20, 1933. Just as he saw what was coming with fascism in the 1930s in Europe, so Machen saw the encroaching menace of the National Football League, which held its first championship game (later to become the Super Bowl) eight months later.
Interestingly, Machen argued against “commercialized” Sunday sport not from the First Table, but from a sort of natural law/common good perspective. But the governor was apparently “ready for some football”—he signed the bill and opened the gates that many churches had already ceased to defend. The churches had lost the battle for the Lord’s Day already, demographically and doctrinally, and this particular prince could not (or would not) lead where the mostly Christian populace did not want to go. Read more»
Brad Isbell | “Machen Thought Sundays Were Super” | Feb 7, 2025
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Brad Isbell
Brad Isbell is a ruling elder at Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Oak Ridge, TN, board member of More In The PCA, co-host of the Presbycast podcast, editorial member of Presbyterian Polity, and treasurer of the Heidelberg Reformation Association.
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Machen, near the end of his letter, does state that as a Christian he has a much higher reasons for opposing commercialized sport on Sunday. In Britain, Ashley Cooper (later, the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury) had managed to have the Sunday post stopped for a short time in November of 1849. His thought was to benefit the postal workers with a day of rest. Before his measure was overturned, he found himself called a ‘bigot, fool, fanatic, Puritan’ and much worse.
Yes, but he was careful not to ask the state to impose his religion.