Iran's disturbing participation in football's World Cup

A group of French and Belgian academics and intellectuals contests Iran's participation in the football World Cup in Germany, asserting that "the Iranian theocracy is a tyranny that has no place in an athletic competition at the heart of democratic Europe." They are worried about "a retreat of a universal culture to the benefit of a populist football pseudo-culture. Isn't football a propitious vehicle for all sorts of hysterical religious outpourings given its own status as the tribal religion of postmodern times? ... Might not an Islamicism that is gaining strength throughout the world find in football a pulpit for imposing its propaganda on hundreds of millions of TV viewers? Will football be used to promote a Coran as seen through the eyes of antidemocratic and antisemitic proselytizers? Will Germany allow crazed hordes of fans to bay for the blood of the 'ungodly' or 'apostate' opponent?"

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