Religious Conflicts

[TechLizzy16]

I am an Adventist and I worship on Saturdays and do not compete or work on my day of rest. I have been struggling with robotics events because they occur on Saturdays. Is it different elsewhere? Is there anyone out there that also has this problem? I don't mean to start a controversy or anything of that matter, but I would like to know if there are other people out there that struggle with this. I personally believe you should respect God on your day of worship.

[Marc S.]

The Israel regional is on a Monday and Tuesday because of this reason. Many Israeli teams that qualify for champs unfortunately don't compete on Saturdays.

I know there are some regionals that are Friday-Saturday, like San Diego this year. One of the jewish members of our team never makes it to the Saturdays of our competitions, but he says he gets to watch the webcast the next day, so he's fine about it. Not sure what else to say.

[KrazyCarl92]

I know the Israel Regional is Monday, Tuesday for religious reasons. There is also a student on our team that cannot come to robotics meetings on Sundays for religious reasons. There was even a team from Israel that advanced to championships last year that posted on CD asking about a surrogate drive team for Saturday at Championships (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94505&highlight=surrogate+drive+t eam)! You're certainly not alone when it comes to respecting your religious commitments and beliefs, and the FIRST community understands and is here to support you if at all possible! Hope this helps!

[BrendanB]

I know of a few FLL events and an FRC event that occur on Sundays. I have seen teams pass the events up for religious reasons and my personal conviction as a Christian is that I will not attend an event that occurs on a Sunday.

Idea! Are you allowed to "help" other people on your day of rest? If so, you can help your team mates in the pits, or help other teams in the pits. Maybe even volunteer, so you can still be at the event, and see the action!

[cgmv123]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

I know of a few FLL events and an FRC event that occur on Sundays. I have seen teams pass the events up for religious reasons and my personal conviction as a Christian is that I will not attend an event that occurs on a Sunday.

I'm not that strict since my church has Monday night services, but even if it didn't, I would still be "[letting] my light shine before men, so that may see [my] good deeds and praise [my] father in heaven" by attending, so I consider it a non-issue. Especially since we won't make it back by Sunday morning if we go to Championship.

[nathannfm]

This was before my time but I have heard stories where the MOE drive team drove an Israeli robot for one of the days at nationals because the team could not. It seems like this would be a recurring problem, do they usually just not compete that day?

[Meredith Novak]

There is a FIRST Adventist League, but I believe they only run FLL and FTC events at this time. Perhaps you could contact them about the possibility of hosting an FRC event.

http://www.adventistroboticsleague.net/

[msimon785]

As a Jew, I have always encountered this problem. In the past, I have stayed in a hotel by the regional. Of course, you do need to make compromises. I don't know much about Adventist practices, though, so this may not remedy much.

[iblis432]

It depends on your conviction, but I know that I personally view my work in FIRST as a way of honoring God. I don't do it in benefit of man, but I see the events as a way to worship, and I thank God for giving me that day to meet with my fellow man and enjoy the life God gave to me.

Just my two cents, I know certain religions have stricter specifications regarding how you worship on certain days.

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by nathannfm

This was before my time but I have heard stories where the MOE drive team drove an Israeli robot for one of the days at nationals because the team could not. It seems like this would be a recurring problem, do they usually just not compete that day?

Last year at Championship there were several teams helping team 3358 (Y.T.P.T. JETS) Friday night to Saturday at Championship -- MOE added a minibot deploy, 357's Michael Crane took the lead mentor role, Danielle Sisk (Dean's List Finalist from 2493) was student team leader, and we served as drivers and pit crew.

[RoboMaster]

Wow, this is an interesting thread. As a Christian* I suppose I would make an exception for a big event on Sunday. But, for example, while traveling home from a regional, I would try to bring a Bible or devotional to study so that the day has an aspect of reverence.

I also have faith-based reasons for participating in FIRST Robotics. I firmly believe that God has given me gifts and opportunities for pursuing a career and livelihood in engineering, so I want to thank him, utilize those gifts, and ultimately make his glorification the focus of my work. I think it is amazing that when he made this universe he created the means and structure for intellectual ideas and mechanisms that we can create, use for good, and appreciate.



*Evangelical, i.e. Baptist, etc.

[GaryVoshol]

There have been instances of people organizing a Seder for people from various teams when Passover fell during the Championships. We tried very hard to accommodate the dietary restrictions of one of our Jewish team members.

However, FIRST does not mesh very well with strict religious observances. They try; as was noted, the Israel regional avoids both the Jewish and Muslim observances.

But then, there are a lot of other events, such as sports, that do not make it easy to follow your religious practices. As with the rest of life, you have to choose what things you can do and still be true to your beliefs.

[MichaelBick]

Being part of a Conservative, Jewish High School is hard for our team. We don't have meetings on fridays or saturdays, so we lose 2/7ths of the days other teams have. We have to make exceptions for competition, though the school still has problems with us going to competitions. Usually, we have to have one of our Rabbi's come in, so that we can make preparations to still remember the sabbath, even in the heat of competition. Still, there are advantages to being a Jewish team. At finals last year, we sent over people to talk to the Israeli teams in Hebrew. Also, we were the first US team to go to an Israeli regional.