Religious Conflicts

[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.

[TechLizzy16]

Thank you!

[TechLizzy16]

Sorry but that isn't even allowed. :/ My "holy day" is kind of like my date with God. I focus my attention on him.

[TechLizzy16]

Thank you everyone for all of your wonderful insights and opinions. Feel free to continue on posting. My team won the Traverse City District Competition yesterday and this is their second year in the FRC. I am praising God for allowing this. I am disappointed I didn't receive a medal, but at the same time I know that God wanted me to be at home resting and worshiping him.

[Meredith Novak]

Originally Posted by TechLizzy16

Thank you everyone for all of your wonderful insights and opinions. Feel free to continue on posting. My team won the Traverse City District Competition yesterday and this is their second year in the FRC. I am praising God for allowing this. I am disappointed I didn't receive a medal, but at the same time I know that God wanted me to be at home resting and worshiping him.

Congratulations to your team on the win. Everyone on the team should get a medal. Ask your coach. We always get extras for the members who cannot be at an event for one reason or another.

[MarcD79]

I am not one to practice religion, so I am not any kind of expert. The way I look at it, volunteering is a form of "REST" for me. Maybe I do not see it as a vice, or a job, or anything else but relaxation. As has been posted, you have to decide for yourselves what route you want to take in life. FIRST is not about government or about religion. It is about " For inspiration and recognition of Science & Technology". FIRST does its best to accommodate on the large scale. It has to appease the majority, not minority.

[fox46]

It is about " For inspiration and recognition of Science & Technology".

I think of FIRST as a method of improving the world around me. Although I am not particularily religious, I do have my own sense of spirituality. Under this pretense of giving to my community, educating others and improving the world around me, it is my belief that FIRST is a good thing. To mentor a FIRST team of students to better perpare them for their future is one of the least selfish things you can do. I believe god would approve of my efforts to do good for those around me and hence I don't think he would think less of me for trying to make the world he created a better place. Even if that keeps me busy 24-7.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by TechLizzy16

Thank you everyone for all of your wonderful insights and opinions. Feel free to continue on posting. My team won the Traverse City District Competition yesterday and this is their second year in the FRC. I am praising God for allowing this. I am disappointed I didn't receive a medal, but at the same time I know that God wanted me to be at home resting and worshiping him.

Lizzy,
I hope your team took a medal for you. You certainly deserve one.
Al

[TechLizzy16]

Lizzy is my nickname. My real name is Anna

[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.