Atheism in the NBA

[trickybilly]

I don't recall anyone complaining when Phil Jackson was handing out books on Bhuddism.

If Pete Carroll took all his players to do yoga or something and someone was like "Heck no." people would say the guy wasn't a team player. 

My understanding is that the team that crams religion down your throat is probably BYU.

Does anyone know if Arian Foster does Christmas? If he does he's sorta a fair weather atheist, right? Does he celebrate St Valentines Day? Does he honor Irish Catholics by getting really drunk on St Patrick's Day?   Does he celebrate MLK Day?

BYU has a lot of Mormons, so they don't really have to cram anything.

Lots of people do secular Yoga. Lot of people practice mediation that has no religious content. These are practices that have empirically been shown to have benefit. The also do not challenge anyone's already held worldviews, unless you choose to do those practices with people who like to inject religion. In fact, quite few Atheists also consider themselves a form of Buddhist with no real contradiction due to the nature of Buddhist philosophy (or Zen Buddhism, which I assume is Jackson's thing).

Holidays are irrelevant. Why would being an atheist stop someone from celebrating holidays with other people? I could ask why Christians celebrate a holiday on Dec 25, a day chosen due to being during Saturnalia. They can celebrate whenever they want if that is what they enjoy. The fact that Dec 25 isn't very compatible with the stories in the Bible doesn't really matter. People are free to enjoy the traditions they want. Why should Foster be anti-Christmas just because he doesn't believe in any gods? Christmas has become part of secular culture, even in some Muslim countries.

If we are talking football though, religion is a regular problem and players not in the establishment religion are put in a lot of awkward situations in HS and even in some colleges. Not really an issue in basketball.

Pretty sure not every player at BYU is Mormon.

Yoga is a Hindu thing. There isn't secular yoga any more than secular church. You don't have to believe in Hinduism to do yoga any more than you have to believe in God to be in a church.

I mean if you want to say Christmas is secular now that would only be because of cultural appropriation/****ization.

Curious what the **** says? Can't figure it out.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

It should not matter whatever an NBA player's belief is, or lack thereof.

Also, if it creates a locker room disturbance, than that's more of a problem of who's forcing which beliefs more than the beliefs themselves. So if players and staff respect each others beliefs, there is nothing to worry about.

Yeah, no argument here, but the point is more that Christianity assumes that Godless people go to hell, or even if you subscribe to the 'new' Christianity you are still just missing something.

Like I'm saying religion logically creates locker room disturbances, just by its very nature. I mean obviously it doesn't because, well, rich people don't really get into useless arguments, but it should.

Not everyone is as awesome as Evan Turner.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/nba-guard-evan-turner-compares-himself-to-jesus-christ-131441/

Again, it should not be a problem as long as you not force it into someone.

If Christian (or other religion) players, coaches, owner and/or staff thinks their Atheist teammates are going to hell, let them, as long as they don't force them to convert, or force those ideas unto them in the locker room, and vice versa.

If at any point any side has forced their ideas to the other, then it becomes an issue. So just keep your beliefs to yourself to avoid it.

[guava_wrench]

I don't recall anyone complaining when Phil Jackson was handing out books on Bhuddism.

If Pete Carroll took all his players to do yoga or something and someone was like "Heck no." people would say the guy wasn't a team player. 

My understanding is that the team that crams religion down your throat is probably BYU.

Does anyone know if Arian Foster does Christmas? If he does he's sorta a fair weather atheist, right? Does he celebrate St Valentines Day? Does he honor Irish Catholics by getting really drunk on St Patrick's Day?   Does he celebrate MLK Day?

BYU has a lot of Mormons, so they don't really have to cram anything.

Lots of people do secular Yoga. Lot of people practice mediation that has no religious content. These are practices that have empirically been shown to have benefit. The also do not challenge anyone's already held worldviews, unless you choose to do those practices with people who like to inject religion. In fact, quite few Atheists also consider themselves a form of Buddhist with no real contradiction due to the nature of Buddhist philosophy (or Zen Buddhism, which I assume is Jackson's thing).

Holidays are irrelevant. Why would being an atheist stop someone from celebrating holidays with other people? I could ask why Christians celebrate a holiday on Dec 25, a day chosen due to being during Saturnalia. They can celebrate whenever they want if that is what they enjoy. The fact that Dec 25 isn't very compatible with the stories in the Bible doesn't really matter. People are free to enjoy the traditions they want. Why should Foster be anti-Christmas just because he doesn't believe in any gods? Christmas has become part of secular culture, even in some Muslim countries.

If we are talking football though, religion is a regular problem and players not in the establishment religion are put in a lot of awkward situations in HS and even in some colleges. Not really an issue in basketball.

Pretty sure not every player at BYU is Mormon.

Yoga is a Hindu thing. There isn't secular yoga any more than secular church. You don't have to believe in Hinduism to do yoga any more than you have to believe in God to be in a church.

I mean if you want to say Christmas is secular now that would only be because of cultural appropriation/****ization.

You can do yoga positions without any religion whatsoever.

And there is secular church. Lots of them. Look at Unitarian Universalists. Look At Humanistic Judaism or Reconstructionist Judaism.

Trying to narrowly pigeonhole everything is not an accurate way to view the world.

And the Christmas holiday is just a Christian appropriation or Roman holidays. It really doesn't matter where it came from. Human culture has varied influences and there is lots of cross-pollination.

[Celtics18]

What are you, Grinching For Jesus, Eja?

"No Christmas for you unless you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord an Saviour."

Didn't the Christians originally steal that day, and the rest of the big ones, from godless heathens to begin with?

Trying to take Christmas from Atheists . . . shame

[Eja117]

I don't recall anyone complaining when Phil Jackson was handing out books on Bhuddism.

If Pete Carroll took all his players to do yoga or something and someone was like "Heck no." people would say the guy wasn't a team player. 

My understanding is that the team that crams religion down your throat is probably BYU.

Does anyone know if Arian Foster does Christmas? If he does he's sorta a fair weather atheist, right? Does he celebrate St Valentines Day? Does he honor Irish Catholics by getting really drunk on St Patrick's Day?   Does he celebrate MLK Day?

BYU has a lot of Mormons, so they don't really have to cram anything.

Lots of people do secular Yoga. Lot of people practice mediation that has no religious content. These are practices that have empirically been shown to have benefit. The also do not challenge anyone's already held worldviews, unless you choose to do those practices with people who like to inject religion. In fact, quite few Atheists also consider themselves a form of Buddhist with no real contradiction due to the nature of Buddhist philosophy (or Zen Buddhism, which I assume is Jackson's thing).

Holidays are irrelevant. Why would being an atheist stop someone from celebrating holidays with other people? I could ask why Christians celebrate a holiday on Dec 25, a day chosen due to being during Saturnalia. They can celebrate whenever they want if that is what they enjoy. The fact that Dec 25 isn't very compatible with the stories in the Bible doesn't really matter. People are free to enjoy the traditions they want. Why should Foster be anti-Christmas just because he doesn't believe in any gods? Christmas has become part of secular culture, even in some Muslim countries.

If we are talking football though, religion is a regular problem and players not in the establishment religion are put in a lot of awkward situations in HS and even in some colleges. Not really an issue in basketball.

Pretty sure not every player at BYU is Mormon.

Yoga is a Hindu thing. There isn't secular yoga any more than secular church. You don't have to believe in Hinduism to do yoga any more than you have to believe in God to be in a church.

I mean if you want to say Christmas is secular now that would only be because of cultural appropriation/****ization.

You can do yoga positions without any religion whatsoever.

And there is secular church. Lots of them. Look at Unitarian Universalists. Look At Humanistic Judaism or Reconstructionist Judaism.

Trying to narrowly pigeonhole everything is not an accurate way to view the world.

And the Christmas holiday is just a Christian appropriation or Roman holidays. It really doesn't matter where it came from. Human culture has varied influences and there is lots of cross-pollination.

A non religious church isn't much of a church. Not really any difference between that and a bar or a VFW or something.

I don't see lots of ancient Romans around but if there are than they'd be pagan, which isn't atheist, so atheists still shouldn't be doing Christmas. I don't understand why it's too much to expect atheists not to be hypocritical about Christmas. You don't see me celebrating the birth of Karl Marx or something as an excuse to be materialistic.

[moiso]

Christmas is now a social holiday in case you haven't noticed.  And I've done yoga when I needed the stretching, nothing more.

[Vermont Green]

I read through this and I don't know but it seems to be missing the point.  I think what Adrian Foster was complaining about is that he was forced to participate in some Christian church activities just because he was on the football team.  If this was a private Christian school, that would be fine but what about the Jews, Hindus, or Muslims on the team?  What if the coach was Muslim and forced the team to do some Muslim activities?  The narrative would be different.

The point isn't about who follows what religion, the point is SEPARATION of religion from football.  Players can follow whatever religion they want on their own time as can the coaches.  Players can choose to go to church together or pray or whatever they want.  I don't think the coach should impose his religion on the players though, whether the coach is catholic, Muslim, or whatever.  If he wants to do team building, find a secular way to do it.

[Casperian]

nvm

[Eja117]

Christmas is now a social holiday in case you haven't noticed.  And I've done yoga when I needed the stretching, nothing more.

But if you're an atheist doing Christmas you are appropriating it. I don't understand why that's so hard to admit.

[Celtics18]

Christmas is now a social holiday in case you haven't noticed.  And I've done yoga when I needed the stretching, nothing more.

But if you're an atheist doing Christmas you are appropriating it. I don't understand why that's so hard to admit.

I guess that as a non-Christian, I am, to an extent, appropriating Christmas. But, It's a big part of my personal history, my family's history, and my cultural history.  Many of my family and loved ones are Christians.

I don't feel at all conflicted about celebrating Christmas.  I love the holiday and what it stands for, and I respect that it comes from my culture's Christian heritage. 

I'm not anti-Christian;  I'm just not one.

[moiso]

Christmas is now a social holiday in case you haven't noticed.  And I've done yoga when I needed the stretching, nothing more.

But if you're an atheist doing Christmas you are appropriating it. I don't understand why that's so hard to admit.

Christians appropriate it too.  It's more about presents and food than religion for most people nowadays.  I can't wait to appropriate St. Patricks Day either- the green beer holiday!

[fairweatherfan]

Christmas is now a social holiday in case you haven't noticed.  And I've done yoga when I needed the stretching, nothing more.

But if you're an atheist doing Christmas you are appropriating it. I don't understand why that's so hard to admit.

Much of the traditional Christmas stuff was appropriated from pagan solstice celebrations, so there's a proud tradition there.  It's not like having a tree in the corner has anything to do with the observation of Jesus' birth.  And wait til you hear what Easter eggs and bunnies are really about!

[indeedproceed]

And there is secular church. Lots of them. Look at Unitarian Universalists. Look At Humanistic Judaism or Reconstructionist Judaism.

A non religious church isn't much of a church. Not really any difference between that and a bar or a VFW or something.

I've been to Unitarian services, my uncle was beautifully put to rest in one in Worcester's own First Unitarian Church, and I find your characterization above to be pretty ignorant and disrespectful. Its a very beautiful place to worship, with people who are engaged, and open minded. And the notion that allowing all people to worship is "non-religious" is pretty flawed as well.

[trickybilly]

And there is secular church. Lots of them. Look at Unitarian Universalists. Look At Humanistic Judaism or Reconstructionist Judaism.

A non religious church isn't much of a church. Not really any difference between that and a bar or a VFW or something.

I've been to Unitarian services, my uncle was beautifully put to rest in one in Worcester's own First Unitarian Church, and I find your characterization above to be pretty ignorant and disrespectful. Its a very beautiful place to worship, with people who are engaged, and open minded. And the notion that allowing all people to worship is "non-religious" is pretty flawed as well.

I don't get it. What do you worship in this church?