Hemant Mehta's Blog, page 1915

Catholic Sports League Tells Girl She Can’t Play Football, Even After She Nails Two Kicks in Her Debut Game

Cece Lucia, an eighth grader at St. Simon Middle School in Indianapolis, happens to be on the football team — and she’s a really good kicker.

In her first game on Sunday, she made both of her attempts — an excellent debut performance for any player. (You can see video of one of her kicks here.)

And then, after the game, her coach received a phone call…

… If she played again, her team would be forced to forfeit. She had been ruled ineligible to play by the Indianapolis [Catholic Youth Organization], simply because of her gender.

There’s plenty of precedence for female kickers on football teams — Kyle Robbins rattles off a bunch of names at the Crimson Quarry — but the one that really stands out is Lindsey Overstreet, who wanted to play in the same Indianapolis CYO league a few years ago:

Problem is, the Catholic Youth Organization, which runs the football program, prohibits girls from playing with boys in football. It’s one of five sports the CYO has deemed gender-specific for years.

“It’s believed that if boys or girls in those sports were involved, it would just change the climate in which the sport is played,” CYO executive director Edward Tinder said. “Co-ed involvement would alter the integrity of the sport, it’s believed.”

I would love to know how the “integrity” of football would be threatened by the presence of a girl on the team. (As if football is so full of integrity now…)

But what’s really important is that her teammates and coaches were more interested in her athletic talent than her chromosomes. That didn’t seem to matter to league officials.

The Philadelphia CYO, on the other hand, allowed a girl to play defensive end… but even that took a two year fight.

The Indianapolis CYO is under no obligation to change its rules — it’s not like the organization receives federal funding — but just like with other Catholic groups that discriminate against LGBT individuals, this makes them look pathetic and old-fashioned. (Big surprise there, I know.)

(In fact, I’m sure they’d be thrilled to hear your thoughts on this situation.)

For now, Cece’s family members are just trying to raise awareness of the situation on Twitter

In honor of trying to get awareness out of an issue in 2014. @indystar @IndyStarSports @GoCathedral please help. pic.twitter.com/XicbAPx2QB

— Madeleine Lucia (@madeleine_lucia) September 30, 2014

The best thing for anyone to do in this sort of situation may just be to show how out-of-step with the times the Catholic Church is.

In the meantime, let’s hope Cece gets to play in another game, even if it means doing it in another league.

(Image via Shutterstock. Thanks to Brian for the link)

Washougal City Council (WA) Votes to Have Invocation Prayers, but Not Without Silly Arguments from Both Sides

The Washougal City Council in Washington state just voted 4-3 to have religious invocations at their meetings, but it didn’t happen without a furious debate. The dissenters aren’t just a bunch of typical liberals, either:

Councilors Brent Boger, Joyce Lindsay and Paul Greenlee opposed the resolution for several reasons.

Lindsay said faith lies beyond the realm of the council, and she expressed concern that the prayers would put some in an awkward position. Boger, who noted his Christian faith, included himself in that group.

“This rule change will lead to a situation where I would appear to be joining in a prayer led by a non-Christian,” Boger said. “I would appear to be worshipping a non-Christian god. That is something I cannot do.”

Voting against the resolution prevents no one from praying on their own time, he said. Ultimately, Boger reluctantly said he’ll just have to step out of the room during the invocations.

Well, no one ever assumes the councilors promote the religion of the invocation speaker, so I’m not sure what conspiracy theory Bogan is working off of… but at least his conclusion is the right one.

The other councilors don’t seem to give any damns about the comfort level of citizens. They just assume they know what’s best for everyone because they’re religious:

“For 6,000 years, people have been calling on God,” [Councilor Connie Jo] Freeman said, addressing the other councilors. “And we here on the Washougal City Council have an opportunity to welcome God formally — because I know we all believe in God. I know we’re all professors of faith.”

How does she know what “we all believe”? And when you elect a Creationist to the city council, you’re stuck with someone who makes a lot of mistaken assumptions. (How do we know she’s a Creationist? That one’s left as an exercise for the reader.)

Councilor Dave Shoemaker, one of the more vocal proponents of the resolution, said prayer belongs in council meetings. He contends the removal of prayers from any public meetings undercuts First Amendment rights.

“We’ve got a tradition of doing them in this country, and that tradition is under attack,” Shoemaker said. “I don’t believe in relegating God to someplace off the agenda.”

The removal of prayers would maintain neutrality, not promote atheism. And I’m pretty sure God will get over it if He’s not listed on a Washougal City Council agenda.

This is a council that could use the influx of Satanist, Pagan, and atheist speakers. Maybe once Shoemaker and Freeman realize the size of the door they just opened, they’ll be first in line to slam it shut.

All of their email addresses are on this page. I would encourage the Satanic Temple and atheists who live in nearby Portland, Oregon to contact them immediately to get on the list.

(Thanks to Brian for the link)

Ohio Elementary School Distributed Yearbooks with a Christian Cross on Them

At Addaville Elementary School in Gallipolis, Ohio, the 2014 student yearbooks have a giant Latin cross on the cover with the word “BELIEVE” inscribed on it:

My mockup of the cover. I made it in under a minute. You should be proud of me.

In a letter to District officials, the Freedom From Religion Foundation asked for a recall on the books:

“The inclusion of the Latin cross, which is the preeminent symbol of Christianity, on a public elementary school yearbook is illegal. It is beyond comprehension that public school officials would have allowed this publication to be printed with sectarian religious imagery and then distributed to young elementary schoolchildren.

…

The 2014 yearbook alienates those non-Christian students, families, teachers, and members of the public whose religious beliefs are inconsistent with the message being promoted by the school… The yearbooks should be collected and reprinted.

The school hasn’t responded yet, but you have to wonder who designed that cover and who gave it a green light. Did they just swipe a template from a local Catholic school?

(Image via Shutterstock)

Former Wrestler Michael “PS” Hayes Releases Single: “Why Can’t the Children Pray in School”

Retired wrestler and musician Michael “Purely Sexy” Hayes recently released a song called “Why Can’t the Children Pray in School“… which is strange, since the chorus doesn’t include the lines, “They can!” or “You’ve got to be shitting me.”

Here’s the actual album art for the song, proving that he means business:

Yep. That’ll show ‘em.

He promoted the single with this tweet a few days ago…

… so I’m gonna guess writing lyrics isn’t really his thing.

I went ahead and bought the song — the things I do for you people! — and it’s exactly as bad as you think it is.

Here’s a brief sample of the lyrics:

You know, at school, there’s a lot of right and wrong.
What could it hurt to read the 23rd Psalm?
With all the troubles ahead, let’s give ‘em some relief.
In “One Nation Under God” is what we believe.

Now imagine that with a weird country twang, throw in some children singing “Jesus Loves Me” for no good reason, do that for five minutes, have a fade out at the end, and there you have it.

How do I get my $0.99 back?

(Thanks to Brian for the link. I think.)

Pickens County Board of Trustees (SC) Will Allow Invocations, but Only Religious Groups Will Be Invited to Give Them

The Pickens County Board of Trustees in South Carolina just decided to allow sectarian invocations at their meetings. And they think they’re above the law on this one despite the advice of their attorney:

The policy doesn’t run afoul of the First Amendment’s restriction against governmental endorsement of religion because it gives the same opportunity to all religions and is in line with a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Town of Greece, N.Y., vs Galloway.

…

The board added language to the new policy recommended by its attorney that says, a religious leader may offer an invocation “according to the dictates of his own conscience,” but that the board “requests that the public invocation opportunity not be exploited to proselytize or advance any one, or to disparage any other faith or belief, denigrate nonbelievers or religious minorities, threaten damnation or preach conversion.”

It also specifies that the invocation is to be offered “for the benefit of the board” and that no one will be required to participate.

That sounds all well and good… but there are a few problems:

1) School boards are not the same as city councils. There are children present at many school board meetings (sometimes, they’re required to be there), making religious prayers in that venue more coercive than at a local government meeting. The law isn’t clear on whether or not this is legal, but the Freedom From Religion Foundation says the Greece ruling doesn’t apply to school boards; prayer at school board meetings is similar to prayer in schools. Just as teachers can’t pray in the classroom with a captive audience, neither can school board members.

2) The school board says they’re open to speakers of any faith and no faith… but look at how their policy actually works:

“This policy is not intended, and will not be implemented or construed in any way, to affiliate the board with, or express the board’s preference for or against, any faith or religious denomination,” it says.

It calls for the district administration to compile a list of religious congregations in Pickens County, updated annually, and for invitations to be mailed to each congregation inviting them to request to be allowed to deliver the invocation at one of the board’s 10 monthly meetings each year.

So everyone is allowed to speak, but only religious groups will be invited. How exactly is that fair…? And do the board members not understand that their policy would shut out smaller religious groups (that may not have a building in the area) as well as non-religious groups?

That, to me, is a far greater violation than the presence of children at the meetings.

3) This isn’t the first time Pickens County has run afoul of the First Amendment. Last year FFRF contacted the Board of Trustees after they had students delivering Christian prayers to open their meetings.

4) This is also the same school district where, last year, the valedictorian ripped up his pre-approved speech and said the Lord’s Prayer instead:

…

This is a district that already has a religion problem. They can’t get past the idea that people may not accept Jesus as their savior. This new board policy is just another way to inject Christianity at board meetings, but it still doesn’t look like it passes muster.

It also means Satanists and Pagans and atheists better act quickly if they want to speak at these meetings. You can contact the board members right here to request an upcoming date.

(Thanks to Brian for the link)

Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains His Problematic George W. Bush Misquote

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about some questionable statements Neil deGrasse Tyson makes in his presentations.

One of them in particular invoked something President George W. Bush supposedly said after 9/11 (beginning at 1:35):

… Here’s what happens. George Bush, within a week of [the 9/11 terrorist attacks] gave us a speech attempting to distinguish we from they. And who are they? These were sort of the Muslim fundamentalists. And he wants to distinguish we from they. And how does he do it?

… He says, “Our God” — of course, it’s actually the same God, but that’s a detail. Let’s hold that minor fact aside for the moment. Allah of the Muslims is the same God as the God of the Old Testament. So, but let’s hold that aside. He says, “Our God is the God” — he’s loosely quoting Genesis, biblical Genesis — “Our God is the God who named the stars.”

To be clear, according to Tyson, a week after 9/11, Bush said “Our God is the God who named the stars” in order to distinguish us (the good guys) from the fundamentalist Muslims (the bad guys).

He followed that up with a line about how two-thirds of the stars actually have Arabic names (cue audience laughter). Not only are we united in that way, we owe a great debt to Arabic scientists of the past.

The problem was: There’s no evidence Bush actually said that right after 9/11. They only time he says anything close to it is from 2003, after the explosion of the Space Shuttle Columbia, as a phrase intended to unite us all. Watch the 2:45 mark:

The same Creator who names the stars also knows the names of the seven souls we mourn today. The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not return safely to Earth; yet we can pray that all are safely home.

Far from dividing us, Bush actually used the words to bring us together.

A few days ago, Tyson responded to accusations that he was taking Bush out of context — which he was — by saying he really did remember Bush saying that, or something like it, right after 9/11:

I have explicit memory of those words being spoken by the President. I reacted on the spot, making note for possible later reference in my public discourse. Odd that nobody seems to be able to find the quote anywhere — surely every word publicly uttered by a President gets logged.

FYI: There are two kinds of failures of memory. One is remembering that which has never happened and the other is forgetting that which did. In my case, from life experience, I’m vastly more likely to forget an incident than to remember an incident that never happened. So I assure you, the quote is there somewhere. When you find it, tell me. Then I can offer it to others who have taken as much time as you to explore these things.

One of our mantras in science is that the absence of evidence is not the same as evidence of absence.

My concern wasn’t that he was making a political point against Bush (which some of his critics suggested), but that he was saying something untrue and continued to repeat it in his speeches. If he wanted to use that anecdote, why not at least double check that it’s true?

Last night, Tyson posted some thoughts on Facebook about his public talks. Most of it is random yet entertaining, but wedged in there is an explanation about the Bush quotation:

… I was wrong about when he said it. It appears in his speech after the Columbia Shuttle disaster, eighteen months after September 11th 2001. My bad. And I here publicly apologize to the President for casting his quote in the context of contrasting religions rather than as a poetic reference to the lost souls of Columbia. I have no excuse for this, other than both events — so close to one another — upset me greatly. In retrospect, I’m surprised I remembered any details from either of them.

Of course, very little changes in that particular talk. I will still mention Islamic Extremists flying planes into buildings in the 21st century. I will still contrast it with the Golden Age of Islam a millennium earlier. And I will still mention the President’s quote. But instead, I will be the one contrasting what actually happened in the world with what the Bible says: The Arabs named the stars, not Yahweh.

That’s great. That’s all we wanted. This wasn’t an attempt to bring Tyson down — at least not by me; I remain a huge fan — but a request for his stories to be corrected when the evidence shows they’re not true. I know there are people who seem to have it out for the guy no matter what he does. I’m not one of them. I want him to continue being a strong voice for science education and space exploration. But he shouldn’t have to resort to the playbook of many pastors to do that. The Grammar Nazi part of me still wishes he’d remove the quotation marks around lines that were never actually uttered… but this is a huge step in the right direction.

Once again, I have to give a huge hat tip to Sean Davis of The Federalist for raising these concerns in the first place. They were fair points to bring up and I hope he’s satisfied with this response.

(Thanks to Liz for the link. Portions of this article were posted earlier)

This Describes Catholic School Pretty Well…

(via Jessica Hagy)

The NFL Refs Penalized a Muslim for His Post-Touchdown Prayer, So Why Do They Ignore Christians Doing the Same Thing?

***Update***: Both Abdullah and Chiefs coach Andy Reid said the reason for penalty was for the slide, though when you see the replay below, it’s hard to separate the two.

…

In Monday night’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the New England Patriots, Husain Abdullah intercepted a pass from Tom Brady and ran it in for a touchdown. Afterwards, he celebrated by kneeling down and touching both hands to the ground — a brief prayer from the devout Muslim:

(Image via Fox Sports)

His team was immediately charged with a 15-yard penalty for excessive celebration, or, as the ref put it, “unsportsmanlike conduct, going to the ground.”

Here’s what the NFL rulebook considers taunting in that manner:

Individual players involved in prolonged or excessive celebrations. Players are prohibited from engaging in any celebrations while on the ground. A celebration shall be deemed excessive or prolonged if a player continues to celebrate after a warning from an official.

It’s hard to see how his brief prayer qualifies under that rule — was that really a “celebration”? — but the bigger question remains: Is it any different from a Christian player pointing to the sky after a touchdown? What about Tebowing?

In the 2011 Super Bowl, something similar happened:

When the Green Bay Packers’ Nick Collins intercepted the ball and scored a (pretty exciting) touchdown, he got on his knees and threw his hands in the air. The refs said he went “to the ground after the score” and assessed the same sort of penalty.

But later in the game, the Packers’ Greg Jennings caught a touchdown pass and also went to the ground after the score. The only difference is that he was clearly saying a prayer.

Unlike his teammate, Jennings didn’t get called for a penalty.

At the time, the National Football League’s Vice President of Officiating, Mike Pereira, said this:

The whole issue is, you can’t go to the ground on your knees or with your hand or anything. There’s only one time that you’re going to be allowed to go on your knee after you score like this, and that’s when you want to praise the Lord. If you do that, then I’m going to allow that, because I do not want to be struck by lightning, I promise you that. We will allow that.

Pereira said something similar last year:

you're not penalized for going to the ground to give praise after a TD

— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) November 25, 2013

The NFL is a private organization, so this isn’t a First Amendment issue. But the inconsistency is ridiculous.

Are brief prayers after a touchdown allowed or not?

Are Christian prayers allowed but Muslim prayers penalized?

Some clarification by the NFL would be great.

Chris Strauss of USA Today points out how the refs might have screwed this one up and how the NFL can make amends:

While social media is already full of accusations claiming a more diabolical double standard in penalizing Abdullah for his prayer, it’s equally possible that the referees saw him drop to his knees and threw the flag before recognizing what his intentions were.

The best thing the league could do is put out a definitive statement first thing Tuesday admitting that he shouldn’t have been flagged and that the officials made a mistake.

There’s no way the NFL is going to ban brief Christian prayers after a touchdown. They don’t need more bad publicity than they already have. But even if they allow prayers after a touchdown, what’s to stop someone who’s actually celebrating from saying, “But Ref, I was just thanking Jesus”?

I’d love to see that happen.

(Large portions of this article were posted earlier. Thanks to Kyle for the link)

Secular Group Showcase: Society of Edmonton Atheists

We asked you to tell us about your local secular group in an attempt to encourage the start-up and growth of “good without god” communities. We’ve received a lot of responses already (Thanks!) and here’s a glimpse at our next group: The Society of Edmonton Atheists in Alberta, Canada:

They have a very unique way of educating members about religious communities in their area:

Our members regularly attend conferences and debates hosted by religious organizations to learn more about the religious communities in our City. One recent event was a conference featuring Ken Ham.

You can read more of our interview here!

…

Want to be featured in this series? If you can fill out most of the questions below, your group is probably a good candidate to be showcased on our page. We hope to hear from you! E-mail submissions to SecularGroups@gmail.com!

Group name:

Location:

Mission Statement:

Links to group’s Facebook. website, Twitter, etc.:

When was your group established?

What does your group do for fun to connect with each other?

What community/volunteer activities does your group participate in, if any?

What political/social activism does your group do, if any?

Does your group have a favorite charity to fundraise for or promote?

Do you have any stories to share about your city having a positive reaction to your group?

What are some challenges your group has faced?

What advice would you like to share with other groups struggling to grow or are just starting up?

**Please attach some photos of your group as a whole, in action, and having fun**

Another Day, Another Two Students Punished for Not Standing During the Pledge of Allegiance

These stories are coming non-stop lately thanks to the American Humanist Association’s recent campaign encouraging students to remain seated during the Pledge of Allegiance.

Today, the AHA’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center sent a letter to the Washington County School District in Abingdon, Virginia on behalf of an 8th-grade student at E.B. Stanley Middle School.

The student in question, currently in eighth grade at the E.B. Stanley Middle School, does not wish to participate in the Pledge exercise in any manner because he objects to the recitation on several grounds, including the “under God” language in particular. As such, he has attempted to simply sit at his desk during the exercise in an undisruptive manner. When he has done this, however, he has been ordered by his teachers (both last year and this year) to stand with the threat of discipline for refusing to do so. The student has also been lectured for attempting to opt out, having been told by his teacher last year that failure to participate in the exercise was somehow an unpatriotic offense to those who have served in the military.

That’s strange, especially since the teachers are violating the law by making the kid stand up — and you would think breaking American law would be considered far more unpatriotic than someone who exercises his freedom of speech.

A similar thing happened to a high school freshman in California’s Oak Park Unified School District. In a letter, the AHA’s Monica Miller explained the problem to district officials:

The student in question, currently in ninth grade at Oak Park High School, is an atheist and does not wish to participate in the Pledge exercise in any manner because he objects to the “under God” language and feels that any level of participation in the exercise validates that theistic affirmation. As such, he has attempted to simply sit at his desk during the exercise in an undisruptive manner. When he did this, however, he was reprimanded by his teacher (Russell Peters) in front of the entire class, and was even accused of being “disrespectful.” The teacher, in a loud and “yelling voice,” further told the student that he would be removed from class if he ever refused to stand for the Pledge again. The student felt so intimidated by the teacher’s actions that he felt compelled to stand during the Pledge exercise since the incident, against his sincerely held beliefs.

This should just become a part of institute days for teachers at the beginning of the year — a quick reminder that the Pledge is optional for everyone. No one has to say it and no teacher has the right to even threatened punishment to any student who wants no part of it.

(Image via Shutterstock)