Religion in football

[temery]

He's right. This has nothing to do with tolerance.

 

[formerlurker]

He's right. This has nothing to do with tolerance.

If we're having an open dialog and you're taking some sort of stance, I'd love to know what that stance is.

 

[temery]

No I'm not. The coach is a Christian like many others in the south. Something you and others on here just don't get. Mark Richt is a big Christian and does prayers and a number of other "Christian" things. This is an Atheist group going after a coach because of his Christian beliefs.
I for one am tired of atheist stopping everything that Christians do. I don't see them ever criticizing other religions it is just Christians. Like I said this is coming to a head and the Christians in this country will not put up with this much longer. Nor should they.

It is not about his beliefs, it's about his actions.

 

[uconnbill]

If it were a Muslim doing the exact same thing, you'd be going ape$hit.

This is a Christian country and no ONE is forced to do it. You and others are clueless when it comes to the south and their belief in God and Jesus.

I will add that in South Carolina this is not a issue with 95% of the people there. This is the typical crap from the atheist who continue to try and change are country into a secularist "which will never happen".

 

[temery]

This is a Christian country and no ONE is forced to do it. You and others are clueless when it comes to the south and their belief in God and Jesus.

I will add that in South Carolina this is not a issue with 95% of the people there. This is the typical crap from the atheist who continue to try and change are country into a secularist "which will never happen".

I was born in the south, Bill.

 

[uconnbill]

I was born in the south, Bill.

Then you know. It is different there and I for one like it just the way it is when it comes to Jesus and God.

 

[temery]

Then you know. It is different there and I for one like it just the way it is when it comes to Jesus and God.

I care about the 5% you referred to in a previous reply. And it's actually a lot more than 5%. Catholics were not very welcome in the bible belt.

 

[Nostical]

This is a Christian country.

How about a "predominately" Christian country. For sure, the majority of believers here happen to be Christian, but should that mere preponderance in numbers control our nation's designation? After all, while our planet is predominately blue, we still call it Earth not Water.

 

[Tenspro2002]

This is a Christian country and no ONE is forced to do it. You and others are clueless when it comes to the south and their belief in God and Jesus.

I will add that in South Carolina this is not a issue with 95% of the people there. This is the typical crap from the atheist who continue to try and change are country into a secularist "which will never happen".

Surprise, mother****er. This is a non-denominational country. No one religion is privileged over any other, regardless of how populous, loud, ignorant, or obnoxious its members are.

 

[uconnbill]

How about a "predominately" Christian country. For sure, the majority of believers here happen to be Christian, but should that mere preponderance in numbers control our nation's designation? After all, while our planet is predominately blue, we still call it Earth not Water.

I agree with that as that fits better than my term I used.

 

[uconnbill]

Surprise, mother* *er. This is a non-denominational country. No one religion is privileged over any other, regardless of how populous, loud, ignorant, or obnoxious its members are.

I never said one religion is better than another my statement is about the country as a whole.

Happy Easter to you!

 

[whaler11]

Don't you guys get the south?

The south is different because their majority finds it acceptable to discriminate against people on the basis of their religion.

The south is different. Can't you get that?

 

[Confident Carl]

The quickest way to get Kevin Ollie to leave UCONN is to shutter him about his Christian faith. It's simply who he is. Ollie lives out his faith in thought, word and deed. Trouble making Atheist groups tire me with their antagonistic rhetoric and divisive tactics.

 

[Husky25]

The quickest way to get Kevin Ollie to leave UCONN is to shutter him about his Christian faith. It's simply who he is. Ollie lives out his faith in thought, word and deed. Trouble making Atheist groups tire me with their antagonistic rhetoric and divisive tactics.

Have you read what this thread is about? Yours is the first post that mentions Ollie or the possibility of shuttering his faith. This thread has nothing to do with either. Different sport, different institution, Different region of the country, all.

 

[huskysupporter]

The quickest way to get Kevin Ollie to leave UCONN is to shutter him about his Christian faith. It's simply who he is. Ollie lives out his faith in thought, word and deed. Trouble making Atheist groups tire me with their antagonistic rhetoric and divisive tactics.

You do understand the difference between Kevin Ollie and the situation at Clemson, correct?

 

[uconnbill]

Don't you guys get the south?

The south is different because their majority finds it acceptable to discriminate against people on the basis of their religion.

The south is different. Can't you get that?

Actually the narrow minded folks are on here. As someone else said keep this anti Christian and lose a coach like Kevin Ollie. His faith means a lot to him and he talks about all the time. I guess that bothers you, because of your continued complaining about this.

 

[temery]

The quickest way to get Kevin Ollie to leave UCONN is to shutter him about his Christian faith. It's simply who he is. Ollie lives out his faith in thought, word and deed. Trouble making Atheist groups tire me with their antagonistic rhetoric and divisive tactics.

You'd be very wrong to characterize all those who disagree with you, as atheisists. I realize it is needed to support your position, but you'd still be wrong.

 

[whaler11]

Actually the narrow minded folks are on here. As someone else said keep this anti Christian and lose a coach like Kevin Ollie. His faith means a lot to him and he talks about all the time. I guess that bothers you, because of your continued complaining about this.

I don't know what you don't get.

Kevin Ollie can be as faith driven as he likes. He talks about it plenty and I've never seen anyone take offense.

Kevin Ollie as an employee of the State of Connecticut can't create an atmosphere where people of other religions either are discriminated against or could show why they would feel discriminated against.

That the south has larger majorities of Christians who have no problem discriminating against people does not make it better to most people who aren't delirious.

I'm a white male. You sound like I would if I complained that my employer has a diversity policy.

You and a few others can't wrap your head around that you want the state to allow you to discrimate against people and when you get push back you take the insane stand that you are being discriminated against.

 

[SubbaBub]

I never said one religion is better than another my statement is about the country as a whole.

Happy Easter to you!

Actually, that's exactly what you are implying.

 

[Husky25]

Actually the narrow minded folks are on here. As someone else said keep this anti Christian and lose a coach like Kevin Ollie. His faith means a lot to him and he talks about all the time. I guess that bothers you, because of your continued complaining about this.

So the quickest way to drive out UConn's National Champion head coach is to tell him that he can no longer do something that he wasn't doing in the first place. That's an interesting way of making a point...A point that didn't need to be made, seeing as Kevin Ollie has exactly zero to do with this thread.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Ok, can we all calm down? Hopefully we can all agree that Clemson is a public school and there for the 1st amendment applies to it as the government. That's the easy part. Also, easy, government employee can go to church and pray on his own time. No issues.

Now the tricky part. One of the foremost tenets of many "flavors" of Christianity is evangelization. I am sure you have heard "evangelical" as a word used in association with many Christian churches. So, it is entirely likely that evangelization is integral to his faith. That he cannot freely exercise his religion without evangelizing. Now, does that conflict with his role at a government institution? Probably, yes. A person at the DPW can't use that role to evangelize when you go get a new driver's license for example. But the line isn't a black and white line here. I think the coach could have church retreats or do other things, perhaps off-season or outside of the framework of the team, and include players in those. It's not an easy case in either direction.

 

[kibblesnbits]

Coaches can evangelize all they want outside of a public university. They can take a sabbatical and travel the world preaching and proselytizing. They can express their personal beliefs and thankfulness to whatever deity they worship in discussions that are clearly limited to their personal beliefs and not aimed at players. What they should not and cannot do is exert any influence over the religious activities of athletes under their control. A coach is not some random person that approaches people and says "I'd like to share with you my faith." They are people who have direct supervisory responsibility over subordinates (athletes) and should not leverage that in any way (just as a boss in a private or public sector environment should not) to guide or influence the subordinates' exercise of faith.

If there's any doubt about the line of voluntary versus influenced - don't do it. It's fine if a player shares the same religion and attends the same church on their own. However, setting up bus trips to "church days" and announcing them at team meetings definitely can be perceived as exerting influence. Some will not feel comfortable if they don't join in such a visible activity arranged by the coach. Creating an environment where someone could be uncomfortable about deciding whether to attend an overtly religious, clearly coach sponsored activity is hardly the path to voluntary practice of anyone's faith.

 

[kibblesnbits]

Actually the narrow minded folks are on here. As someone else said keep this anti Christian and lose a coach like Kevin Ollie. His faith means a lot to him and he talks about all the time. I guess that bothers you, because of your continued complaining about this.

No one has expressed a problem with Kevin Ollie being a man of faith. I think people respect him for that. But please show us where he's ever given the impression that he should influence his players exercise of their own personal faith.

As for whether Kevin would leave over this issue, you must think he's not very bright. He's been associated with UConn for more than 20 years. He's well aware of the environment and yet he chose to return after his NBA career was over. I don't see how he serves as any basis for the argument you put forth.

Edit: Many extremely religious people that I know say they prefer an environment where restrictions on influencing faith are in place - because they know how uncomfortable they would feel if placed in an environment where the powers that be were pushing (or very, very publicly making available) alternatives that they did not agree with.

 

[Adios]

Don't you guys get the south?

The south is different because their majority finds it acceptable to discriminate against people on the basis of their religion.

The south is different. Can't you get that?

It is acceptable up here, too, to a good extent. Just more low key. A good number of people are very intimidated, and whatever else, by a woman who wears a scarf on her head. It's sadly laughable. The bigotry up here is as dumb as it can get. Typical old school stuff. Except it's cool to be friends with those your ancestors (not you, just in general) used to hate.

 

[uconnbill]

No one has expressed a problem with Kevin Ollie being a man of faith. I think people respect him for that. But please show us where he's ever given the impression that he should influence his players exercise of their own personal faith.

As for whether Kevin would leave over this issue, you must think he's not very bright. He's been associated with UConn for more than 20 years. He's well aware of the environment and yet he chose to return after his NBA career was over. I don't see how he serves as any basis for the argument you put forth.

Edit: Many extremely religious people that I know say they prefer an environment where restrictions on influencing faith are in place - because they know how uncomfortable they would feel if placed in an environment where the powers that be were pushing (or very, very publicly making available) alternatives that they did not agree with.

Not yet, but I would bet sometime in the near future someone will have an issue with it.

No different than this going on almost daily in our country