Should a state association accomodate a religious school for the playoffs?

[truerookie]

Wow!!. There may be a chance

[Nevadaref]

The NCAA specifically accomodates BYU by placing them in a bracket which plays on Thursday and Saturday, not Friday and Sunday in the basketball tournaments.

[canuckrefguy]

"What it looks like, frankly, in the record, is that you're not making any accommodations for this religious purpose but you're making accommodations . . . for all sorts of secular purposes," Justice Thomas Balmer said to the OSAA's attorney.

Interesting....wonder what he meant by that

[Texas Aggie]

What the school is asking for here is not a reasonable accommodation. In BYU's case, the only time it becomes even remotely problematic is for the NCAA basketball tournament. Further, BYU wants Sunday's off. If they wanted Saturday's off and made the final four, I can assure you the NCAA wouldn't be accommodating.

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by Texas Aggie

What the school is asking for here is not a reasonable accommodation. In BYU's case, the only time it becomes even remotely problematic is for the NCAA basketball tournament. Further, BYU wants Sunday's off. If they wanted Saturday's off and made the final four, I can assure you the NCAA wouldn't be accommodating.

Do you believe that the NCAA makes this accomodation for BYU only in basketball, but not in the tournaments for other sports?

[Ref in PA]

Does Oregon play games on Sunday? Probably not. They are accommodating the traditional Sabbath for most Christians if they do not. If Oregon tried to schedule games on Sunday you would see more protests than what you see here. I don't think it would be that hard for Oregon to be flexible in this situation, but that is just my opinion.

I also applaud the school for forfeiting games in prior years. It is rare to see someone stand up for their religious beliefs in the sports world. I may not agree with another's religious belief, but I will support them in their cause if I feel they are being treated unfairly because of their beliefs. In this case, I feel it would not be that hard to reschedule a game. I would applaud the opponent even more if they would not take the forfeit win

[stripes]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Do you believe that the NCAA makes this accomodation for BYU only in basketball, but not in the tournaments for other sports?

BYU's policy is not to participate in ANY sporting event that takes place on a Sunday. In general the NCAA will make accomodations for this policy, but in the event that the NCAA will not accomodate them, BYU will forfeit the contest rather than play on Sunday.

I remember a few years ago, one of the teams had a chance to go to a national championship which would take place on a Sunday and the NCAA agreed to move the contest from Sunday to Monday to accomdate them if they made it that far.

[Adam]

If rescheduling doesn't place a hardship on someone, what's the big deal? Just because Notre Dame (or BC, or Oral Roberts, etc.) doesn't reschedule doesn't mean BYU doesn't believe more strongly in this particular issue.
Again, if accomodating doesn't impose a real hardship on the other parties, I don't see a problem with it.

[bgtg19]

Originally Posted by Texas Aggie

What the school is asking for here is not a reasonable accommodation. In BYU's case, the only time it becomes even remotely problematic is for the NCAA basketball tournament. Further, BYU wants Sunday's off. If they wanted Saturday's off and made the final four, I can assure you the NCAA wouldn't be accommodating.

Aggie, you mention that in BYU's case, the only time it becomes even remotely problematic is for the NCAA basketball tournament. That's also true for Portland Adventist Academy. The only time it becomes problematic is during the playoffs.

Also, if some school in the NCAA tourney wanted Saturdays completely "off," that might be problematic for the semifinals, but if BYU or a Seventh-day Adventist university wanted its beliefs (no playing sundown Friday to sundown Saturday) to be accommodated, what would be the big deal about making sure the requesting school played the second game Saturday night (beginning well after sundown)?

I'm inclined to agree with the kind of sentiment expressed by Jimgolf. Promising that a state/tournament will change for a school "no matter what" seems unreasonable, but requiring the state/tournament to consider ways to accommodate the schools in ways that are reasonable makes a lot of sense. The NCAA is making a good faith effort to enable BYU to participate; why can't the OHSAA make a good faith effort to enable Portland Adventist Academy to participate?

I know that in Maine, the Maine Principals Association has accommodated a Seventh-day Adventist school during tournament scheduling. There's no controversy there, that I'm aware of.

Anyway, as the whole issue pertains to us officials, our scheduling issues should not influence this at all. We just serve the game. If they schedule a game when one of us cannot do it, some other official will serve that game.

[cmathews]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

The NCAA specifically accomodates BYU by placing them in a bracket which plays on Thursday and Saturday, not Friday and Sunday in the basketball tournaments.

they actually go further than that....Thursday Saturday brackets sometimes feed Friday, Sunday.. A couple years ago, it was mentioned that the NCAA was set to move them to another "pod" if they advanced to avoid the Sunday thing. I personally think it is wrong to make the accomodations, other Christians also observe the Sabbath on Sunday, Notre Dame doesn't hesitate to play on Sunday in tournaments. I also would be willing to bet that you can find plenty of people playing basketball in Provo on Sunday...this isn't "working" on the Sabbath, it is playing....

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by cmathews

they actually go further than that....Thursday Saturday brackets sometimes feed Friday, Sunday.. A couple years ago, it was mentioned that the NCAA was set to move them to another "pod" if they advanced to avoid the Sunday thing.

This was done because the committee overlooked the fact BYU was scheduled to play on a Sunday if they won the first round that year. BYU lost and it was not an issue.

Peace

[cmathews]

Yep JRut hit it on the head.....I just hate that they do it...In the name of discrimination/persectution it is just as damaging to make accomodations for one group over the interests of another in my opinion.

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by cmathews

other Christians also observe the Sabbath on Sunday,

Originally Posted by REF in PA

They are accommodating the traditional Sabbath for most Christians

Nobody observes the Sabbath on Sunday. The Sabbath, by definition, is the last day of the week when God rested after creation. It's Saturday, specifically sunset Friday through sunset Saturday.

Christians who "rest" on Sunday observe "the Lord's day" because it's the day that Jesus rose from the dead.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

Nobody observes the Sabbath on Sunday. The Sabbath, by definition, is the last day of the week when God rested after creation. It's Saturday, specifically sunset Friday through sunset Saturday.

Christians who "rest" on Sunday observe "the Lord's day" because it's the day that Jesus rose from the dead.

Semantics. This is the Jewish (as well as some Christian sects', such as Seventh Day Adventists) definition. It's probably more correct, historically. However, many Christians do observe the Sabbath on Sunday as a matter of practice. That's why many businesses are closed (Hobby Lobby and Chick Filet for example), most high school associations don't play games on Sundays, and some states prohibit alcohol sales on Sunday.
While most don't observe this as a hard and fast rule, many do.

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

Semantics.

I respectfully disagree. It's a matter of definition. If I say, "I'm a bachelor" and you say, "No, you're not. You're married," I can't say, "Ah, that's just semantics". This is the same thing. The Sabbath is Saturday, the last day of the week because that's when God rested. That's the definition of "Sabbath". You can't just say it's Sunday because that's when Christians go to church.

However, many Christians do observe the Sabbath on Sunday as a matter of practice.

No, they don't. They observe the Lord's Day on Sunday to commemorate Jesus' resurrection.

You can't open presents on October 31st and call it Christmas. You can open presents on October 31st, sure. But that doesn't make it Christmas. And you can rest on Sunday. But that doesn't make it the Sabbath.