There’s just so much wrong here. Essentially, this ESPN columnist is saying you have a right to be a Christian and you have a right to be a football coach. Just not both at the same time.
I feel weird even linking to this kind of asshattery because to guys like this, you give him hits, you are simply asking him for more asshattery.
ESPN:
The Cornhuskers assistant coach recently testified in front of the Omaha (Neb.) City Council that gays, lesbians and transgender people shouldn’t receive anti-discrimination protection under a proposed ordinance. He is considering testifying on May 7 in front of the Lincoln City Council, which will conduct a public hearing on proposed legislation that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
None of this would matter if Brown were an ordinary citizen with an extraordinary belief in his interpretation of the Bible’s position on homosexuality. That belief led him to compare the sponsors of the Omaha ordinance to Pontius Pilate and to tell The Associated Press “that based on the Bible, homosexuality, the lifestyle of homosexuality, is a sin.”
But Brown isn’t an ordinary citizen. He is a coach at a public university and for a revered football program whose reach stretches from Omaha to Scottsbluff. When he speaks, his words carry more power because of his association with Nebraska football.
It was no accident that when Brown spoke to the Omaha City Council he listed his address as Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium. And there is no separation of church and state on Brown’s Nebraska football office voice message:
“I praise the Lord Jesus Christ for today. I hope you’re having a blessed day. Not able to answer my phone right now. Give me a try back and Lord willing, I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Have a great day.”
Brown, as well as Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne, has said that Brown’s city council testimony reflected only the assistant coach’s personal views. But those views were made by an employee of a public university that receives 42 percent of its funding from the federal government and state appropriations.
It is also a university that prides itself on inclusion, whose Office of Equity, Access and Diversity Programs features the school’s non-discrimination statement. And there in that statement, in boldface type, by the way, is this: “It is the policy of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln not to discriminate based upon age, race, ethnicity, color, national origin, gender, sex, pregnancy, disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, veteran’s status, marital status, religion or political affiliation.”
Brown clearly doesn’t support policies that provide anti-discrimination protection to gays and lesbians. And yet he represents that university as a football coach in one of the nation’s most recognized programs?…
Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN is all sorts of bothered and bewildered how a believing Christian could possibly work at a public university. Check out this priceless quote:
In other words, Brown can continue to call gays and lesbians “sinners,” and then report to work the next morning.
Brown, the coach, has previously retorted by saying, “To be fired for my faith would be a greater honor than to be fired because we didn’t win enough games.”
This made poor Gene lose his white knuckled grip on reality and he calls for Tom Obsborne, the athletic director, to fire Brown:
So Brown would be a willing martyr. And if he continues to confuse faith with a person’s fundamental right not to be discriminated against, then Perlman and Osborne should fire him. Because while his religious beliefs are his own — and his opinions protected under the First Amendment — Brown remains a representative of a university whose core values stress the “diversity of ideas and people.”
Brown has the absolute right to express his views. But at what point do those views bleed into the workplace? It’s a small thing, but Brown’s office voice message is proudly nonsecular. And Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini has said that Brown discusses religion with his players, but, according to the AP, no team member has complained.
This lunatic can’t stand that Brown says “God bless” on his phone message. He thinks that’s evidence to be presented for his dismissal.
Gene, you see, says that if you think homosexual acts are sinful then you’re guilty of discrimination. He writes, “Discrimination is discrimination. It isn’t a buffet line where Brown can pick and choose who can be protected from it. It is repugnant in all forms.”
Hey Gene, the Bill of Rights isn’t a buffet line either. You can’t pick and choose who gets what rights. As of now, Christians still have a right to be Christian in public.
May 1, 2012 at 8:38 pm
The article uses the term, more than once, 'public university.' We can see where this is going. The same old Obama Administration tenet of freedom of worship, not freedom of religion. Once, it was too horrifying for the so-called progressives to see a nativity scene on public grounds… Now it is too horrifying for them to see anyone with Christian convictions to hold a job at a public institution. Does no one remember where these kinds of sentiments led the Jews in Germany last century?
I once thought I was a liberal because I truly believed 'I may not agree with what you say, but I'll defend your right to say it.' Halfway through my 'education' at one of those hallowed public institutions, I realized that liberals believe no such thing. And it's gotten a lot uglier in the last two decades since my time at university.
~Elodie
May 1, 2012 at 9:23 pm
Here's an article on Ron Brown and one of his players who is Muslim:
http://www.omaha.com/article/20110915/BIGRED/709159709/1001
"As Brown told the running backs six months ago, he won't stop reading Bible passages at meetings. But he won't try to force Christianity down any player's throat.
"We're not proselytizing," Brown said. "We're not trying to jack kids over the head with stuff. We're just saying, 'Hey, this is who we are.'
"They go to school here. They're hearing from professors all kinds of philosophies. Those professors aren't apologizing for who they are. They're saying, 'There's no God,' some of them. 'There is no right from wrong.'
I'm saying, 'Yes, there is God. There is Jesus Christ. And there is right from wrong.'
"You guys do what you want with it. You don't have to believe me if you don't want to. It ain't gonna cost you a down of playing time. It ain't costing Ameer any playing time."
Brown has coached "tons of kids," he said, who didn't share his beliefs. No player has ever complained about his messages.
"I don't need to change Ameer. I just need to love up on him and let God do what he wants with him."
Ameer doesn't know of any other Muslims on the team. But he says he doesn't feel left out in the locker room, or in the running backs room.
When Brown opens his Bible, "I always tune in. I always want to enlighten myself on something new," Ameer says. "I've always said I wanted to explore the world of Christianity just to better familiarize myself with it. I always take his stories and they always mean something.
"He really comes at it with a universal message. It's not just for Christianity. He always tells me keep God first. I feel the exact same way." '
May 1, 2012 at 10:13 pm
The thing is, too, that the last thing he says about discrimination being repugnant in all forms is just flat out wrong. Discrimination is only a problem when you're discriminating based upon a criterion that is irrelevant to whatever decision you're making. Colleges discriminate between their applicants based upon factors such as GPA and standardized test scores, but since these data are presumed to be relevant to one's viability as a college student, few people complain about it. A technicality, I suppose, but you can play all sorts of rhetorical tricks with such vaguely understood words.
May 1, 2012 at 10:24 pm
That's not a technicality, Moonstruck, that's really the heart of the matter. Discriminate is just a synonym for distinguish– to discern the differences between two or more things or people. Discrimination only becomes a problem when it is **unjust**. The issue now is to help fuzzy-minded people think clearly about the cardinal virtue of justice, which is grossly misunderstood in our day and age.
May 1, 2012 at 11:33 pm
I think it's kind of hilarious that he's defending the university's policy of protecting "diverse ideas" and then wants the coach fired–because his ideas differ from the writer's own. It's like his head just imploded all over the page.
May 2, 2012 at 6:22 am
If you want to find more ESPN "asshatery," read this (in which an ESPN writer said that Cubans were free people):
http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=32866
May 2, 2012 at 12:34 pm
"It is the policy of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln not to discriminate based upon age, race, ethnicity, color, national origin, gender, sex, pregnancy, disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, veteran's status, marital status, religion or political affiliation."
So here's the real deal: if they can be openly homosexual (I won't call them gay because they're not: they're angry) and participate in the University's program (as an athlete or as a coach) then Mr. Brown can be openly Christian and participate in the University's program (as an athlete or as a coach).
Maybe someone needs to propose a new constitutional amendment ensuring the separation of Sex[ual orientation] and State.
May 2, 2012 at 4:05 pm
Guys humping guys makes the baby Jesus cry. This fact remains whether a preacher is saying it or a coach. 😛
May 3, 2012 at 11:37 am
It's funny how he actually says that Brown has a constitutional right to express his religious beliefs just not at work. That comment is just laughable. So freedom of expression and religious belief is fine so long as you keep it to yourself.
David
May 3, 2012 at 11:22 pm
He's a Kike.
What do you expect from a Christ-Killer?
May 4, 2012 at 1:49 am
"Manjitomoe"?
The first half of that's a Swastika, y'all. Now, sure, the swastika is a perfectly normal Buddhist symbol—and no, it doesn't matter what direction it goes—but click that link: it's an anti-Semite blog.
目障り。