Religious Conflicts

[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?

[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.

[Foster]

For what it's worth our VEX league this year we had a Sunday session at the Jewish High School in Philadelphia. They wanted to have the finals at their school, but the teams from the Christian Schools didn't want to come on a Sunday.

So we waited until 1 hour after sundown on Saturday night and held the first Night-time VEX tournament. Upside, everyone played. Downside, we didn't get done until 11PM.

So a little creativity goes a long way.

[mom1155]

The NYC Regional is Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Some advantages are that teams only miss 1 day of school, not 2 and that people who worship on Saturday or Sunday, can participate 1 day.

[Nathan Streeter]

Originally Posted by mom1155

The NYC Regional is Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Some advantages are that teams only miss 1 day of school, not 2 and that people who worship on Saturday or Sunday, can participate 1 day.

Perhaps I'm just missing something, but I don't see how a Friday -> Sunday regional would be an improvement... For those who worship on Saturdays, you still miss one day of competition. For those who worship on Sundays, you now miss one day instead of none! From that perspective it's clearly not an improvement.

But, as you said, it means most people need only miss one day of school and one day of work... While it is good to minimize the amount of days missed from school or work, comparing one day at school/work to one day at competition isn't comparing apples to oranges.

It's fairly easy to take a day off of school to go to a co-curricular event and employers are usually quite understanding about taking a day off to work with your team at a Robotics event! Extremely few people are omitted from a Thursday -> Saturday event for employment/education reasons. By contrast, those that have their day of worship on Saturday or Sunday are asked to put a day of a competition above worshiping God... Some teams, as a result, are not able to attend competition on either the second day or on the third day, which clearly puts you out of the running for success on the field.

Originally Posted by MarcD79

FIRST does its best to accommodate on the large scale. It has to appease the majority, not minority.

While this definitely has been true, it seems hard to say this would remain true if more regionals switch to a Friday -> Sunday schedule, where people of almost any religion are asked to skip worshiping God that weekend.

[RoboMaster]

Originally Posted by mom1155

The NYC Regional is Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Some advantages are that teams only miss 1 day of school, not 2 and that people who worship on Saturday or Sunday, can participate 1 day.

mom1155, you appear to be a planner of this regional. It's interesting to have you participate in this discussion and see your reasoning for this plan, thank you. You said that people who worship on Saturday or Sunday can participate 1 day. But they would be able to participate 2 days each, Fri and Sun or Fri and Sat. Could you clarify more what you meant, and how this is an advantage?

[DonRotolo]

It absolutely depends on each individual's own relationship with God, and whatever happens is between you and Him. I do miss Mass on Sunday competitions, but I always find quiet time to reflect on the gifts that God has given me and how I am doing His will by using those gifts to help teams at a competition.

Although my belief is that God sees my actions in a kindly light, I won't know in this world whether he is as forgiving as they say. We are all sinners, and the best we can do is try our best to improve our ways.

TechLizzy16, if that means you miss a day or whole competitions, you need to evaluate what is more important in this life - robots or God. (Note which of those two names always uses uppercase...)

[Seth Mallory]

Stay true to your beliefs. That makes you a more valuable person then someone that chooses to follow the path of others instead of their own. You would make a fine addition to our team because you follow your own ideals. When one is honest with themselves they can be trusted to be honest with others.

[Sean Raia]

I do not mean to come off as sounding ignorant, but i feel that everyone regardless of religion should be able to justify attending all of the regional.

Im quite frankly shocked that a team requested a surrogate drive team for this reason!

I truly do learn something new every day.

[sithmonkey13]

Although I have never missed a competition day, there have been points throughout the build season over a few years (usually around the last weekend) where I have to argue around allowing time for attending mass (Roman-Catholic). These arguments have gotten intense (to the point of me almost dropping robotics over dropping my religion) and usually end with someone pointing out that the team is formed under a Jesuit-run school, so the members should be allowed time to attend religious services. Although sometimes frustrating to some members (since I am the lead programmer/ team captain), people have admitted that my resolve to not drop my religious convictions when conflicts arise has proven why I am the leader (courageous enough to stand up to the whole team to argue for why I will not be in early on a Sunday, and willing to change my Sunday schedule to attend both mass and robotics).

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Sean Raia

I do not mean to come off as sounding ignorant, but i feel that everyone regardless of religion should be able to justify attending all of the regional.

Im quite frankly shocked that a team requested a surrogate drive team for this reason!

When you're an Orthodox Jew, it's not exactly a choice, to the best of my knowledge. You're resting during that 24-hour period. It kind of depends on exactly how strict you are in observance of the Sabbath, too. I'm out of my depth if I go any farther than that with explanation, so I'll stop there.

Admittedly, I'm a Protestant, and I have been known to miss church services due to traveling home from an away competition.

On the other hand, almost all of 330's students and their families have also been known to show up at the same service at our home church during build season, coming straight from the shop. (Saturday night service, at the time; Sunday morning seemed to be preferred when competing.) Then there was the time when we "dropped in" en masse on a church whose pastor had recently transferred from our home church... before heading home from an away regional.

[gixxy]

Thankfully the one day my Teacher sponsor will not plan a meeting is Sunday, otherwise There would be some conflict. I do not consider Robotics work, not that I stick to that rule in the first place.

In the event we did have a Sunday Meeting. I would go, but not until I went to mass and had communion first. Otherwise I would feel very shamed.

I fully understand your stance, and agree that your beliefs should come first.

My view as an Episcopalian.