This from an article in a Texas paper about a high school basketball player and said player's reasons for playing for a particular team in college. I'll paraphrase, but the player said that a big plus was that the coaches are members of the same religious denomination she is, Church of Christ.
OK, now, explain to me again why it matters what religion a basketball coach is. Wait, I know, God will be on their side.
These kinds of statements really irk the heck out of me, for a number of reasons.
First, though this player doesn't come out and say it, the inference is that not only are those
who go to the Church of Christ somehow more desireable, but those who do not are somehow just not quite as good. We can't have any Lutheran or Catholic basketball coaches. And Hindu? Oh hell no.
Second, I find it incredibly sad that a young person just venturing out on his or her own would be so closed-minded as to list among the primary appealing traits they find in other people, "They are exactly like me." How about going off to college and experiencing new things, learning new things and, perhaps, broadening your horizons.
And finally, it's pretty telling to me that this young person actually felt comfortable saying this to a reporter for publication. It's a testament to how tolerant our society is of bigotry by Christians in relation to other religions. I wonder, if we changed "Church of Christ" to some other class/characteristic of people, how much such a statement would be tolerated.
How about these:
"It's a big plus that the coaches are white like me."
"A deciding factor was the fact that the coaches were Muslim, as I am."
"I'm heterosexual, and I chose to play for this team because the coaches are heterosexual too."
"Since I am a man, it was really important to me that I have a male coach."
Nope. Can't see anybody without a wish for lots of nasty phone calls saying anything like that publicly. But say, "These guys are best because they're Christians like me," and it's all apple pie and waving flags.
Wonder how long before we end up with a state religion.
Perhaps we're already there.
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Saturday, June 24, 2006
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1 comment:
And while we're dogging the mighty majority, how come Christian churches are always "first"? First Lutheran Church. First Church of Christ. How can they all be first?
Don't they know that not only can we not all be first, but that sometimes it's cool to let other people be first? How come we never see the Third Church of the Holy Trinity? The Auxiliary Church of Christ That The Overflow Attends?
And on that note, why all the redundancy and vagueness? Here's what amuses me. For example, you have the Church of God. You have the Church of Christ. Basically every church name has two words in it akin to "church" and "the creator." How can we all keep track of these minor differences in name and doctrine? Here is what I propose:
"Big Loud Church Where People Twitch On The Floor"
"Cold Church With Hard Pews Where Hymns Are Slow and Boring"
"Church Where Immoral Folk Like You Are Welcome and Can Hold Office"
"Mostly White Church: Bring A Covered Dish That Contains Noodles"
"Fun Black Church With Robes"
Hey, a new blog topic. I always drive by certain churches and notice their annoying billboards and am struck by a lot of their pretentious habits. Funny that while growing up I didn't notice them. I guess a fish doesn't notice its water until it's out of said water.
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