Last updated on 2013.01.29
I read in the Rapid City Journal that Black Hills State University is hosting a Fields of Faith event on October 12. Fields of Faith is a nationwide event affiliated with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a generally decent group which does, alas, lead young people into the temptation of treating prayer as an exhibitionist warm-up activity for gladitorial combat at state-funded events. (Wait: are those basketball players at 4:26 shouting "Sieg heil"? What are they teaching those girls in Kristi Noem's hometown?)
But I notice that the announcement of the Fields of Faith event comes from BHSU Director of Athletics Jhett Albers. He is identified by his official title in the news release. Albers asks "you"—I assume that means all of us—to "prayerfully consider collaborating.
Now public employee Albers has the same free speech rights I do. He can urge people to prayer just as I can urge people to go for a bike ride on Sunday morning.
But I'm curious: in invoking his official, taxpayer-funded title to call people to an organizational meeting in a taxpayer-funded fitness center (Hall of Fame Room, Young Center, Tuesday, Sep. 20, 6 p.m.) to plan a whole bunch of public witnesing and Bible-reading on a taxpayer-funded football field, might Albers be going just a little too far in promoting Black Hills State-supported religion?
Of course, I am teaching réveillon on this week's French 2 vocab list, and that's all tangled up with Mass....
You're making a Hail Mary argument.
I'm with Mr. Mercer on this one, your argument is quite a stretch Cory...
Are they renting the space?
I'm asking a question, Tyler. To what extent can we use public resources to promote this religious event?
If u want rent the football field, have your religion promoted and say you are a French teacher, I will defend your free speech rights. Just wish you were willing to reciprocate. I guess you feel some peoples rights are subordinate to yours
Again, Troy, I'm just asking. I don't have a problem with the FCA renting the field, if that's the arrangement. I don't have a problem with Mr. Albers promoting Christianity. But I do have questions about the extent to which his taxpayer-supported position is being used to promote this religious activity. I'd love to see the original news release and the letterhead on which it was printed.
Seems to me you would want to know three things about this deal, Cory.
1. Was the space rented to the organization holding the event?
2. If the space is for rent, can anybody rent it, or are there conditions.
3. If there are conditions, what are they?
For example, can you, Troy and I rent it and host a bi-partisan line dance and pie-throwing fundraiser to outlaw capital punishment in South Dakota? Because if we can, maybe we should.
This has been brought to my attention so I wanted to provide some details about facility rental at BHSU. Yes, the facilities are available to be rented to all entities through our facility rental agreement. BHSU is working with FCA on the rental agreement for this specific event. If you are interested in hosting a bi-partisan line dance and pie-throwing fundraiser in Spearfish we'd be glad to visit with you about that as well.
Cool, Corinne. Thanks! That's what I was looking for, Cory. I think it addresses all your concerns, right? (Except maybe the obvious question about whether we should invite Stace Nelson or not. ;^)
Bill, for me to line dance in front of people is a big ask. Can't you devise other activities more to my liking? Like maybe a hot dog eating contest?
Corinne! Thanks! Can you send me a copy of the news release?
Bill, I'd drop everything to watch you and Troy dance and throw pies... but I'm not convinced we'd need a whole football field to hold all the other interested parties. Maybe a nice conference room would suffice?
As for my concerns, well, yes, invite Stace! You guys need to share some pie. As for my greater concerns: renting out public space to private groups is fine... but we must be more cautious about the public officials in charge of those public spaces encouraging people to participate and specifically pray. If BHSU rents the field to us for an anti-death penalty pie dance, that's great. But if the public agent renting the facility to us also jumps in and exhorts people to support the event and take the political position that event advocates, is there a problem?
Oh, now I see, you aren't talking about the event itself, but rather the planning of it happening on school property? Is that it?
I don't know, man, it's a hard call. I remember a lot of civil rights and anti-war events being organized by faculty on campus back in the day.
Seems to me that stuff has to be okay.
(Of course, given the mood people were in back then, it was going to happen anyway, whether it was technically kosher or not.)
Troy, okay, I hear you on the line dancing. But if we change it to a hot dog contest, we for sure can't invite Nelson. That would be redundant.
Well... on second thought, maybe not.
Is he really a hot dog?
Or just a weenie?
Getting warmer, Bill. The event itself doesn't bother me any more than all the Campus Crusade for Christ and Navigators events or the Gideons handing out Bibles. My concern lies strictly in determining the extent to which a public official is exhorting us from his public position to engage in religious activity. It's rather like the governor declaring a day of prayer to ask God for rain. Is the state affirming that there is a God, a specific flavor of God?
Ah. Okay. Thanks for the clarification, Cory.
Yup, there's probably a double standard there... a social thing. You can probably get support for having people publicly pray to Jehova and/or Jesus to become better athletes, win more games, be better citizens, etc, but not Allah or Zoroaster. And you should probably even be careful about how you talk about Yoga. (I'm tempted to go into an alphabet thing here, but I'll spare you.)
So... am I tracking you now, buddy?
If so the question becomes the old Orwellian one: "Are some people more equal than others?"
I hate to indict a guy on hypotheticals (rather like shooting prisoners for murders they might commit). But I would be curious to see whether BHSU officials would offer similar exhortations to citizens to participate in Muslim or Buddhist revival meetings (if they have such things). Allow, cool; promote, questionable.
Exactly. And so your question is, should they? It's a very good question.
Cory, this does not go near as far those establishing the New Age Theocracy with the worship of immoral sex via sex education, worship of the sun via scientific based global warming fear mongering, and worhip of man above God humanism via Darwinian evolution. All of that sets up the inclination to join in with the creation of the New Age Pagan Theocracy we call the New World Order.