It’s Time for a Little Push-Back

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Last weekend, in my hometown here in Texas, the Columbus High School relay team was disqualified for making a religious gesture. That’s the headline this morning.

These boys won. They won the regional championships and qualified for state, but then it was stripped from them. Not because of cheating or lewdness, those things I could understand. They were stripped of their accomplishment because the guy running the final leg of the race pointed toward the sky as he crossed the finish line.

The UIL – the body responsible for overseeing high school athletics in Texas – denies that it is about the competitors’ religion at all. They say it’s all about the “celebratory gesture” at the end of the race which goes against the stated “no taunting” policy. I’ll admit that when I heard that there was a written policy of no celebratory gestures in the competition area, I thought “Well, he sounds pretty reasonable…and they knew the rules…it stinks, but that’s life.”

Until I thought about it a tad bit longer.

 The UIL spokesman said that his agency has nothing against religion. The athletes are free to do anything they wish as long as they are “outside of the competition area.” I’m sorry Mr UIL-Man, but I’m going to have to call bull-spit on that.

Now, I’ve been to a few track meets in my day. I’ve run track, and I’ve even run on relay teams. I’ve spent many Saturday and Sunday afternoons in the broiling sun at the track. These meets can easily run 4-6 hours long. And in all that time, with hundreds of runners and dozens of heats… this was the only “celebratory gesture” made? There were no fist pumps, not a single runner sprinted across the lanes to hug mom or a coach, no other arms were raised over-head, not a single relay team dog-piled the last runner as he crossed the finish line? Not a single one?

It’s all about the “appearance of fairness and sportsmanship” with these people. The appearance, not actual fairness or sportsmanship. Which makes me think … while this might not be actual discrimination against Christian athletes, it certainly has the appearance of it. It would appear as though these boys were disqualified from the State Championships because one if them made what can be loosely interpreted as a religious gesture.

It seems like it’s become a thing these days for all levels of government to give the appearance of pushing Christians around. We don’t really cotton to that around here. I say it’s time that we Christians gave the appearance of pushing back!

Call or Email the UIL and tell them what you think of this idiot decision. I think it would be great if they spent all day today trying to keep up with the phone calls and email.

You can email or call the UIL at [email protected] or call 512-471-5883

and if you’re interested in getting straight to the people in charge, you can also send personal emails to:

 
Darryl Beasley: [email protected]
 Peter Contreras: [email protected]
 Traci Neely: [email protected]

Texans are friendly folks, so I’m sure they’d love to hear from you even if you aren’t from here.  Thanks! Now I’m off to write some emails!