High School Cheerleaders in Trouble for Bible Verse Banners

[innerSpaceman]

And now I've got another image in mind ... one which, only perhaps, was not intended by the actual display of dominance and thin cheerleader membrane barrier bursting at the school game.

[flippyshark]

<snicker> Oh, I don't think there's any "perhaps not" about it.

[Jazzman]

Okay, so maybe not the most socially conscious choice of the cheergirls, but it's not like it was the school that plastered the phrases across the side of the gym and forced students to memorize them. The girls did it on their own, and last I checked, that is their Constitutional right. If the phrase fits and is inspiring, then why not use it, regardless of the source? If the Qur'an said somewhere to "Rush, rush, rush my brothers, for the End Zone is sacred and the ultimate praise is to score!" then that'd be a good one too, even for non-Muslims. (I'd quote a real Qur'an verse, but I don't know any.)

Ultimately, I guess I have to wonder why stuff like this freaks people out so much. It's just some phrases on butcher paper, not a forced re-education camp.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Jazzman

Ultimately, I guess I have to wonder why stuff like this freaks people out so much. It's just some phrases on butcher paper, not a forced re-education camp.

In a climate where there is a well organized, well funded, and distressingly successful by some measure effort to force mythology to be taught as a valid scientific theory, and scientific theory to be denigrated as "just a guess" no more valid than the magic in a 6000 year old book, you can forgive people for being sensitive about such things.

[alphabassettgrrl]

Originally Posted by Jazzman

Ultimately, I guess I have to wonder why stuff like this freaks people out so much. It's just some phrases on butcher paper, not a forced re-education camp.

It works to ostracize those who aren't "in." If I don't believe in the god of the banner, what do I get to do while they're standing there with it and everybody else is cheering it? I get to sit essentially by myself and it is clear that I am on the outside.

I find it generally objectionable to put a sectarian happening into what is ostensibly a public (and unrelated) event. If I go to a football game, I don't want it to feel like a religious event. I want sports, not a revival.

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by alphabassettgrrl

It works to ostracize those who aren't "in." If I don't believe in the god of the banner, what do I get to do while they're standing there with it and everybody else is cheering it? I get to sit essentially by myself and it is clear that I am on the outside.

What happened to cheering for the team? Who would know who is cheering for Jesus, who is cheering for the team and who is cheering in hopes that someone loses their top?

I'd be more inclined to have some sort of "outrage" if someone directly involved (cheerleader, player or student) had an issue. Like HR told us in a training "you can't be offended on someone's behalf. If it bothers you then you are offended. But you can't report it because the person directly involved might or might not be". I am so sick of faux outrage on behalf of people who don't know they should be offended.

Originally Posted by alphabassettgrrl

If I go to a football game, I don't want it to feel like a religious event. I want sports, not a revival.

Then you should stay away from any sporting even that plays God Bless America (aka Ducks games when the Stars are in town), any sporting event where the player thanks god (football games) and audience members have bible verses painted on their chests. Oh and awards ceremonies where the recipient thanks god.

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by BarTopDancer

What happened to cheering for the team? Who would know who is cheering for Jesus, who is cheering for the team and who is cheering in hopes that someone loses their top?

Yet no one has addressed this.

Who would know what you're cheering for? Unless they are chanting Our Father's, then there's an issue.

[innerSpaceman]

Originally Posted by alphabassettgrrl

If I go to a football game, I don't want it to feel like a religious event. I want sports, not a revival.

Then what about singing The Star Spangled Banner? It's done at just about every professional sporting event. You either join in, or you're sitting there silent while everyone else is standing up singing. Is this cramming Patriotism down your throat?

I have it on good authority that Uncle Sam is better hung than Jesus, so isn't patriotism at least as objectionable as christianity in this context?

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Then what about singing The Star Spangled Banner? It's done at just about every professional sporting event. You either join in, or you're sitting there silent while everyone else is standing up singing. Is this cramming Patriotism down your throat?

I have it on good authority that Uncle Sam is better hung than Jesus, so isn't patriotism at least as objectionable as christianity in this context?

Those damn Canadian hockey teams and the singing of the Canadian national anthem. We're in America dammit! I don't want that damn Canadian pride shoved down my throat. I feel left out because it's not my country and not my anthem.

[Alex]

As someone who struggles to accept his own atheism, so long as those signs are being done completely at the hands of the students and they don't harrass anybody who don't wish to participate, I don't care a whole lot.

Though this particular use seems to suggest that calls them in Christ for the purpose of winning football games. If they wish to designate their god as surprisingly petty then who am I to argue.