Good observation, Mark. I think additionally the question is how we can do this Christianly. Indeed, I think a lot of the "persecution" talk among upper/middle-class white evangelical Protestants is an attempt to do just what you're talking about. But other folks aren't buying it, and think that a lot of the cries of "foul" are closer to bearing false witness than they are to legitimate cries against injustice.

Many have also pointed out that this issue is key in the abortion wars. The American public sees a "foul" in the reasoning of Roe and in abortion on demand. But the public also tends to cry "foul" at many legislative attempts to restrict or outlaw abortion. As the courts and legislatures shift, so will the framing of this debate. Let's hope that the most flagrant foul -- the massacre of the innocents -- doesn't get lost amid the technicalities.

This is a very good idea and a terrific observation, but the power of "being fouled" is certainly not new. Dr. King embodied it; in non-Christian social witness, so did Gandhi. As a tactic of witness, it certainly stretches back to the Anabaptists, who staked their faith on its potency in Reformation Europe; to the early martyrs, who welcomed the Roman arena; to Peter's Rome (1 Pet 2.19-25; 4.12-19); and, of course, to the Lord's own teaching (Mt 5.10-11 and others) and sacrificial death. (An aside: I'm not wishing to extending a tactical metaphor like fouling to the point of subsuming the mystery of the cross to it.)

However, the critical element in all the examples above is the willingness to suffer. This is patently lacking in the American church, which is, as a whole, far more enamored with offensive spiritual warfare than it is with the being the more passive, preservative elements of salt and light. I think Ted Olsen's dead-on: American Protestants have actually made a practice of crying foul at every turn and following up with any lawsuit imaginable and prosecutable. Our problem is not that we are bad at drawing fouls, but that we're unwilling actually to get knocked down and hurt (as will unavoidably be the case, on occasion, when you're standing in the way of 300 pounds of mean). Non-Christians can see that our outrage usually bears all the marks of a well-acted, theatrical sports foul--lots of commotion but no real harm done.

That's the danger with the metaphor, I think: the sports foul is, as you say, based on "feign[ed] inappropriate contact." Unless we're willing to suffer--a phenomenon with which much of America (including myself) is radically unfamiliar--all of our protests will be immediately recognizable as just that: feigned.

Standing in the path of injustice is witness, so that the righteousness of God is remembered and the Father in heaven is glorified. So what kind of witness does a faked wrong give?