Students rights were ignored and I just wanted to know what some officials think about this. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/preps...ine-prep_x.htm

Life is not always equally fair.
Still, all it was was a high school basketball game.
In 20 years it'll merely be a bad memory, ...maybe.
mick

Someone has a decision.
 

Change religions or do not play sports. It is a simple problem to solve. If you believe in something and you think it conflicts with that, then you have a choice to make.

Peace

Do you really want to know what I think about people screaming discrimination when hundreds of people have to reschedule things so one person doesn't feel "discriminated" against?

Agree with you folks, but it looks pretty bad to tell this family to suck it up with regards to their religion after they changed an entire soccer event so one kid wouldn't miss a golf tournament.

Ours is not to question why...ours is just to ref the game or the rescheduled game!

Anyone ever see the movie, "Chariots of Fire?"
 

The GHSA upheld a protest in a football game this fall. The officials misapplied a rule and the GHSA, in their infinite wisdom, upheld the school's protest and ordered the game replayed from the point of the misapplication. What they did in reality is open the world's largest can of worms. Now, anytime a school protests a rule misapplication, they set a precedent to replay the game from the point of the error, even though the NFHS does not recognize protests.

I post this as it would seem that the good folks in Maine have done the same thing. They've set a precedent for moving events that interfere with a participant's religous beliefs. There mistake was not in ignoring this student's rights. Playing sports is not a right, it's a privilege. Their mistake was moving the first event because of a student's religious belief.

Rutledge said it, sometimes you have to make a choice.

[Edited by BktBallRef on Dec 7th, 2003 at 10:38 PM]

I'm not going to take a side in this issue, but I would like it to just be noted that the reason games aren't traditionally played on Sunday has to do with religion. Why respect some people's religion and not others? If there were several folks in this denomination, would that make a difference? If this guy were the star player on the team expected to win the tournament, would that make a difference? It's a tough call, and not at all clear cut.

And the part about the golf match really bugs me. "We can make adjustments for some people, and not for others." Hmmm...

Thanks, Juulie!!!!

My point exactly.

Everyone does not follow to the letter.
 

Well Juulie, I do not think that is a good argument. If you adjust everything for one person or things that might affect a very small percentage, then you will never stop doing it. In the area I live, there are many communities that many are Jewish. So those communities, because of the population celebrates Yom Kuppur, they do not have school during days that other that particular Jewish Holiday. And because it is during the Football Season, those schools move their games on Thursday to accomidate the holiday. I have done a varsity game on Thursday (before Yom Kuppur) the last two years. But only those schools that have a very large Jewish communities take days off from school. Every other school district, does not close school to do this. Those kids that are Jewish in those other communities, have to just skip school if they do not live in one of those Jewish communities. The entire state does not take off, because some folks have a religious reason to take off.

And Juulie, they still play games on Sunday. Maybe school districts do not at the HS level, but they do in the NCAA and many other sporting events. And if Sunday is a "Holy Day," many Christians still participate on that day, despite what religious attitudes might be out there. This is why it comes down to choices. You either get in line, or you stay away. I do not think anyone religion is the issue here. It comes down to what you believe or if your if what you believe is really conflicted by playing a game. It is afterall a game. And if you feel like playing a game affects your religious practices, then maybe that game is not for you.

Just an opinion.

Peace

In our area we also recognize Wednesday night as a church day. Our local school district allows us to play as long as finished by 5:30 which gives those that want to go, time to get there. As for making exceptions for one student, I don't think it is wrong to ask; and, if it doesn't cause conflict try to accomadate. But, I do think it's wrong to sue over something like this.


JR said:
This is why it comes down to choices. You either get in line, or you stay away. I do not think anyone religion is the issue here. It comes down to what you believe or if your if what you believe is really conflicted by playing a game. It is afterall a game. And if you feel like playing a game affects your religious practices, then maybe that game is not for you.

On the other hand if the game affects your religious beliefs, then by all means go with what your heart tells you to do.

Barry

And what's interesting is, while our high school avoids Sundays like the plague (I had to get approval from the administration for a Sunday practice, it has to be optional, and between 1 and 5!) pick any Sunday in the spring, and you'll find thousands of AAU teams playing basketball games.

Sandy Kofax never pitched on Saturday, including the first game of the World Series. His stand was rightly viewed as righteous by virtually everbody. Sure, the rules are different for businesses than for public institutions like schools, but I for one, can't figure out people who join organizations or activities, knowing what the rules are, then go to court to get the rules changed. It's like buying a house under the flight path near an airport, then suing because the planes are so loud.

I think you make some good points, CYO, and I really like your tag line, which makes me respect your thinking. I'm not saying that I agree with what these people did, just that I don't think they should be brushed off. Our constitutional rights are supposed to give us freedom from discrimination based on religion, as well as race, gender and so on. In this case, is there discrimination? I'm not sure there's a legal case, but it does bear serious examination.

In today's society most of the majority's rights are being pushed aside in order to please the minorities. It sickens be to think you can flaunt a religious belief and expect hundreds of people to have to pick up the slack from one person. I praise the principal for standing his ground, and thinking about the majority of the students.

Politics, Religion and Basketball - It doesn't get better than this !
 

I believe the key to what has made our country such a great place to live is that it is based on pluarlism rather than strict majority rule. Since the adoption of the Bill of Rights, our legal system has been based on protecting the individual from the power of the government which represents the majority of the people. Unlike Communism, which endorsed the "Dictatorship of the Proletariat", our system has upheld the notion that the group could not simply do what it wanted at the expense of individuals. Sure, we've blown it in the past, as epitomized by the Dred Scott decision, but I believe the historic trend has been overwhelmingly good for the "people" as well as individuals. It's just that sometimes I wish there was a little more common sense and a lot less litigation.

I have a close friend who is the coach of a HS in Alaska. His team was in the State tournament, and scheduled to play a semi-final game on Friday night...his star player was 7th Day Adventist, and could not play from sundown Friday till Sundown Saturday,,,he asked for a time change, didn't get it, and instead of suing - they devised a game plan that did not include the star, won the semi and then won the championship with the star back the next evening...seems to me that this family is suing because their kid's team lost...would they have still sued if the team had won and he got to play in the championship game???

Very astute observation!

I think that's a rhetorical question (g)

of course they would not have sued.

As usual, its not about the kids, it not about the concept or religion or morality, its simply about winning/losing.

sad to say but we're in for a rough time down the road if things like this continue.

Thanks
David