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.

[LemmingBot]

Originally Posted by 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 do think other teams may drive and repair the bot for them on those days at Nationals so they can still get the appropriate participation and keep their beliefs.

Im Roman Catholic and I'd go to a regional instead of church, I think that me helping a team get their robot on the field pleases God just as much as me going to church (besides I can just go to a different church at a later time) But that's just me, every one worships differently and you should never do anything you feel goes agents you beliefs.

[Siri]

Originally Posted by Nathan Streeter

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.

I understand the desire to keep Sunday off in Thursday-->Saturday events for reducing religious overlap, but at least in my experience missing Thursday for school/work is incredibly common. Even when we were based in a specific school (not religious), only the essential crew was allowed to miss Thursday. Many frown upon the number of missed days required in an FRC season. Many, even most, of our mentors perennially missed all or most of Thursday. It's a serious trade-off and quite a bit of time to miss, especially from non-sponsoring employers and universities.

Anecdotally, but it's just as common if not more for or members to miss for work/school as for religion. I believe the regional and district events moving towards limiting weekdays are just trying to balance this for their students, mentors, volunteers, venues, VIPs, etc. Having some of both seems to be a good compromise.

[Tristan Lall]

Who wants to try to implement a sabbath mode on their robot?

On a less hilarious note, here's an example of the downside of letting religion become too central to a fundamentally areligious pastime.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

Who wants to try to implement a sabbath mode on their robot?

Many teams already do. It is called "Autonomous Mode" by some.

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

Many teams already do. It is called "Autonomous Mode" by some.

I was actually thinking about the implications of such a thing after I wrote that, and it turns out that halachic authorities have (sort of) attempted to solve these problems. Behold, a proposal for a sabbath-compliant electric wheelchair. They actually talk about sabbath-compliant control schemes.

[Doc Wu]

I checked with God and he says it's okay to compete on the Sabbath, as long as you embrace Gracious Professionalism.

From now on, event arenas will be considered Churches or Temples and the Judges are your Ministers. The Head Ref will hear your confession...

But seriously, once again, FIRST gives it's participants a taste of the real-world, exposing them to challenges and dilemmas they will face once they enter the job market. This is an opportunity to do some soul-searching and address this problem in a way that fits your personal beliefs.

And they are called beliefs because they are something you accept without proof. They can't be proven or dis-proven. They aren't right or wrong. Either are those who believe the opposite.

[TechLizzy16]

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

Who wants to try to implement a sabbath mode on their robot?

On a less hilarious note, here's an example of the downside of letting religion become too central to a fundamentally areligious pastime.

Great idea. LOL

[Jstack14]

My team never had meetings on Sundays, and to my knowledge no one's Sabbath on our team was on a Saturday so this worked out well. We had a rule about how many meetings you could miss (to try to prevent people from joining to just show up when you felt like it) but i am sure that would have been relaxed for religious reasons. Robotics is great, but if you have a religious conviction (which i do) its just a matter of where you priorities are. To each there own, but for me, a robotics competition isn't worth going against my beliefs.

With that said, its unfortunate competitions interfere with peoples religious observance, but as others have mentioned its the real world. Learn to draw the line now, if you can skip the robotics competition now, you can tell your future employer about your religious adherence and you will be better off for it. It's not that FIRST is a bad activity (obviously we all know its great and can be very inspiring) but rather its the principle. So whether its okay with you to miss your Sabbath in the traditional sense for a week or if you would rather miss a competition, its up to you. We won't judge you either way, but one thing is for sure, as you get older making the choice will be harder and harder if you chose to miss out on certain activities for religious observance. This is especially true when you can rationalize saying "well I missed before, its okay if i do it again." I would say that where ever you stand its good to act on it now to develop the good habit of doing what you believe (whatever that may be).

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.

[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.

[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/