Religious athletes win ruling, yes in Oregon...

The Oregonian ^ | 06/06/03 | TRACY JAN

[PlutoPlatter]

The Oregon Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the state's high school activities association must make reasonable efforts to accommodate religion when scheduling tournaments.

The ruling -- the first of its kind in the nation -- came in an appeal from Portland Adventist Academy after its basketball team was barred from competing in the state championships. But the decision extends beyond basketball to 80 state championships in 16 activities organized by the Oregon School Activities Association, including such competitions involving dance, cheerleading and music.

The Portland Adventist Cougars, this year's Northwest League champions, were stopped from playing in the Class 2A state tournament in March because the team does not play from sundown Fridays to sundown Saturdays, when Seventh-day Adventists observe the Sabbath.

[PlutoPlatter]

We'll see if this is taken to a higher court

[ican'tbelieveit]

Is Oregon in that court jurisdiction in San Francisco, with the extremists?

[PlutoPlatter]

Yeah, but I don't know if this would get moved to a federal court or not... it could still be sent to the Oregon Supreme Court though.

[sharkhawk]

This is a bad ruling. Will the state now have to change all of it's wrestling, swimming, Tennis, Track etc competitions which are usually held Friday afternoon, and Saturday? Now the State can't schedule it's championship weekend games, when will they play? What if a muslim school say's they won't play on Fridays? They made the right decision, they couldn't agree to play, so that should be the end of story.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Dumb decision - of course, that is par for the course with Oregon.

So now, the vast majority of Oregon high school athletes and their families, and their families' work schedules are hostage to the tiny percentage of believers who have a church calendar which is offbeat.

Who's the PC liberal now, running to court, and forcing everyone to change their lives to accomodate the minority?

[connectthedots]

As a Christian, the SDA legalistic attitudes in areas such as this may be why the church is not growing. Have they not heard of the 'New Covenant'?

[Mister Baredog]

Is Oregon in that court jurisdiction in San Francisco, with the extremists?

You mean Chuckie Schumers "mainstream" judges? Yes it's the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The same court that's trying to eliminate "under God" in the Pledge.

Whenever the Supremes take one of their cases it's overturned(100% of the time). Unfortunately many of their IDIOT rulings stand.

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

I know that in Williamsburg, the Adventists tried to get Christmas outlawed. They were successful in getting the Christmas holidays changed to the winter holidays. That left a bad taste in quite a few peoples' mouths.

[ican'tbelieveit]

It will probably end up in that court at some point. But I have to agree somewhat with Chancellor. We dislike when liberals try to force conservative groups to conform to their standards, ie: Boy Scouts. Either this school needs to adjust its practices, or they need to find like minded schools to join them in their quest. But not force a whole state to adjust to them.

[LiteKeeper]

SPOTREP

[Tamar1973]

I do agree that the state failed in their duty to accomdate PAA in this matter. However, it is PAA with the greater moral dilemma, IMO. Ellen White, who is considered a prophet of G-d by the SDA church, specifically condemns competitive activites/games of any kind. The tradition of the SDA church favours the use of manual labour for exercise rather than athletics/sports.

"Every talent of influence is to be sacredly cherished and used for the purpose of gathering souls to Christ. Young men and young women should not think that their sports, their evening parties and musical entertainments, as usually conducted, are acceptable to Christ. " Messages to Young People, p. 391, paragraph 1.

"This is no time to foster pleasure loving by providing the youth, as they enter upon their student's life, with facilities for the playing of games which are a snare to all who engage in them. They act as if the school were a place where they were to perfect themselves in sports, as if this were an important branch of their education, and they come armed and equipped for this kind of training. This is all wrong, from beginning to end. . . . "Manuscript Releases, vol. 4, p.255

"Where were these watchmen when these unseemly games and athletic sports, these trials of animal strength and exhibition of physical skill were in progress? Students could have had this class of education at home...But do not substitute play, pugilistic boxing, football, matched games, and animal exercises, for manual training. All of this stripe and type should be vigilantly prohibited from the school grounds.--Letter 27, 1895, pp. 1-3. (To F. Howe, May 21, 1895.)" Manuscript Releases, vol. 11, p. 161.

"Apparently there was much involved, in a country given to holidays and sports, in allowing any beginning toward what could easily become an infatuation. " Ellen G. White, Vol. 4, The Australian Years, 1891-1900, p. 443.

"In the April confrontation Ellen White had suggested as an alternative to engaging in sports, "There are houses that can be built." Ellen G. White, The Australian Years, 1891-1900, p. 446.

"I entreat the students in our schools to be sober minded. The frivolity of the young is not pleasing to God. Their sports and games open the door to a flood of temptations." Living by Principle, p. 20.

If PAA were really following the religious dictates of their religion, they would not be involved in this lawsuit in the first place.

Notice the ACLU supporting the school.

[Blessed]

What would the reaction be if they tried to play on Sunday? Does this represent equal protection under the law? It would not seem to be a problem to move one consolation game occaisionly or allow a forfiet.Most tournaments quit playing consolation games when the NCAA quit years ago.

[sharkhawk]

Some High School events now are on Sunday. The problem is you have to accomodate the largest numbers of athletes. Saturday is the best day for most of them. But the issue is they agreed to play all games if they qualify, if the Oregon State tourney is like the Illinos State Tourney, the finals are 1 game Friday eve, 1 game Saturday Morning, 1 game Saturday eve. If they made it and refused to play the Friday eve game they would give an advantage to the team with a bye. I admire them for putting their religion ahead of sports, I dislike the way the want to force everyone to play their game.

[PlutoPlatter]

you stumped the chump... translation?

[Blessed]

I am surprised they are playing on Sunday.Glad I live in Ga.
Most educators except the arts teachers respect the sabath and do not even schedule practices.Sports are never scheduled on Sunday even for weather problems.

[LiteKeeper]

I am a retired Army officer (artillery, MI, and chaplain). I have the privilege of teaching several classes in Colorado Springs to high school, college, and adults on comparative worldviews (biblical vs secular). As I read the various threads, some impress me as good for illustrating different worldviews. So, using some Army terminology, I mark "incidents" as "SPOTREPS" (spot report) and "descriptions of the current world scene" as "SITREPs" (situation reports). When I get home, I download these SPOTREPs and SITREPs to a database for future use.

Does that help?

[PlutoPlatter]

I think I have a working Schedule:

let's see.... Monday: is out respecting the Wiccans, Tuesday is out respecting the Rastafarians, Wednesday is out because of mid-week Mass, Thursday is Free, Friday-Saturday is out respecting the Adventists, Sunday is out respecting the Protestants. any conflicts?

[PlutoPlatter]

Gotcha, thanks

[Central_Floridian]

I agree.

[dennisw]

 

[PlutoPlatter]

Ah, a fellow disc lover. Looks just like the one hanging on my wall! Not many people would know where my name comes from.

[dennisw]

Knew it by that name a few years before it became more widely known as frisbee and a mega sucess as frisbee. Used to toss PP around w/ my friends

[ladylib]

The ACLU represented the students????

[PlutoPlatter]

like many things, they have appreciated in value and these are worth hundreds of times their original price. ;)

[kmiller1k]

CIF Rules in California do not allow games or practice during regular season on Sunday.

I also agree that the court made a mistake favoring one religion over all others. Scheduling will become a logistical nightmare in Oregon next school year.