c. 1999 Religion News Service

(Samuel K. Atchison is an ordained minister and has worked as a policy analyst and social worker to the homeless. He currently is a prison chaplain in Trenton, N.J.)

UNDATED _ One afternoon in the spring of 1990, I came home from work to find my wife and infant daughter sunning themselves in the courtyard of the apartment complex where we were then living. After greeting my wife and chatting with her for a few moments, I proceeded to take little Jael for a stroll.

As we giggled happily together, it occurred to me the joy and wonder I was experiencing as a first-time father was exactly the kind of euphoria God intended parents to enjoy. Jael had been conceived within a loving marital relationship and dedicated to the Lord from the time of her conception.

For perhaps the millionth time, I was thankful none of the wild oats I had sown in my youth with women for whom my attraction was fleeting had resulted in a child. Through no fault of her own, such a child would almost surely have been less loved, less desired, than she deserved.

I was reminded of these thoughts recently upon learning of basketball legend Julius Erving’s admission that he is the father of Wimbledon semi-finalist Alexandra Stevenson. Like the rest of the known world, I was stunned by the news.

Here was the great Dr. J, admired as much for his moral rectitude off the court as his athletic brilliance on it, admitting that yes, he too, had succumbed to the fleshly temptations of superstardom. If you listened closely to the background music, you could hear the rock group, Queen, singing”Another One Bites the Dust.” Yet, quite apart from the scandal itself and the spin Erving put on it (e.g., his wife has known about the relationship with Stevenson’s mother”from the beginning”and Alexandra has been provided for financially), many of us were more impressed by the deportment of young Alexandra herself.

Charming and attractive, with a poise beyond her 18 years, Alexandra proved as skillful at handling reporters’ questions as at returning the volleys of her on-court opponents. Interestingly, though her talent in dealing with reportorial repartee was obviously honed by her journalist mother, the dignified manner in which she conducted herself was reminiscent of her father.

The similarity is all the more amazing when one considers father and daughter have only met once _ when Alexandra was a toddler of 3. Indeed, that only underscores the tragedy of sin.

For, according to one of her opponents, Alexandra is”the nicest person.”In other words, she’s pretty, intelligent, gracious and friendly _ a daughter to make any father proud.

The only problem is, her father doesn’t know her. To the contrary, until he could get his ducks in a row behind a carefully crafted statement designed to limit further inquiry, Erving felt compelled to deny his paternity. That is, he was forced to deny fathering a child whose athletic ability, so clearly inherited from his gene pool, was making her an international sensation. Quite a coming-out party for his kid.

To be sure, Erving did not sire Alexandra without help. That Samantha Stevenson, Alexandra’s mother, was equally culpable in their affair is beyond doubt. It is also beside the point.

Nor is the purpose of this piece to scold Alexandra’s parents for violating biblical standards of morality. Such chastisement is, in this case, at least, 19 years too late.

Rather, the point is to recognize, anew and afresh, the consequences of sin. That Alexandra Stevenson is a budding star and, more important, a great kid, is without question. As Erving himself noted, her mother is to be commended for rearing such a fine child.

Yet, the reality is that, at least for now, Erving cannot share in the joy of his daughter’s achievements. Indeed, even if he and Alexandra were to establish a relationship, his parental pride would always be bounded by the circumstances of her birth and the feelings of those he betrayed in the process.

Thus, like millions of his admirers, Julius Erving is forced to look at the life of his child from the outside.

His daughter deserves better than that.

DEA END ATCHISON