Baptisms at the Athletics Complex

[AU-24 3,063]

45 minutes ago, RunInRed said:

Here's a question:  Do you think a Jewish person, Muslim or non-believer would be comfortable on Auburn's Football team?

Why wouldn’t they? The team is majority US citizens; does the Aussie punter feel unwelcome? The coaching staff is majority cacausian, do the African Americans feel unwelcome? The players are majority African American do the cacaisians feel unwelcome?

I served in majority Muslim countries and I felt very welcome. I served and lived in vast majority Roman Catholic countries and organizations and felt perfectly welcome. I lived in a very heavily populated Morman city and state and again, felt perfectly welcome!

Open up the mind and try some tolerance.

[AU64 10,122]

4 minutes ago, AU-24 said:

Why wouldn’t they? The team is majority US citizens; does the Aussie punter feel unwelcome? The coaching staff is majority cacausian, do the African Americans feel unwelcome? The players are majority African American do the cacaisians feel unwelcome?

I served in majority Muslim countries and I felt very welcome. I served and lived in vast majority Roman Catholic countries and organizations and felt perfectly welcome. I lived in a very heavily populated Morman city and state and again, felt perfectly welcome!

Open up the mind and try some tolerance.

Thanks....and the good thing is that most young people seem to be more open minded about things like that.  From my observations, few teens have very firm feelings about religion and it seems unlikely they would have enough anti-religious feelings to turn down a playing opportunity because so many players expressed Christian views.  On the other hand,  I've lost count of the number of kids who cited the religious and family spirt of Auburn as a reason to attend. 

And I'm betting that some of those with no religious spirit when they arrive are affected by the way their Christian team mates treat them....at least I hope that is the case....."you shall know them by their fruits"   Matthew 7:16

[BhamCAT 47]

For the person who brought up agnostic professors.....Thank you!  If you grew up in the Alabama school system and shared beliefs that did not fall in line with the majority, you weren't gonna be very popular.  Going to a university like Auburn, which I did, allows you to grow, question, and form you own opinions away from the constant pressure that had been there your whole life.  I have no problem with religion at all, but I agree with Mikey and Red and some others that it has no place being associated with our football team or our university.  JMO

[BhamCAT 47]

As an example...If I show up as an atheist at a local church in the south, and talk to others about why I "think" they have been misguided, I will be so unwelcome there that I would not feel comfortable at all.  Why is that?  because I'm in the minority.  Yet people make arguments on this with "why haven't former players or current players made any comments against this type of thing?"  BECAUSE those comments would not be welcome or make them feel very comfortable.....at all.

[aujeff11 6,243]

10 minutes ago, BhamCAT said:

I have no problem with religion at all, but I agree with Mikey and Red and some others that it has no place being associated with our football team or our university.  JMO

Our program shouldn’t coerce religion by any means but this is a little extreme. 

[BhamCAT 47]

Coercion is a strong word, but unless you are in the small minority of a group, albeit a football team or otherwise, it's hard to understand the "pressure" to not stand out.

[aujeff11 6,243]

3 minutes ago, BhamCAT said:

As an example...If I show up as an atheist at a local church in the south, and talk to others about why I "think" they have been misguided, I will be so unwelcome there that I would not feel comfortable at all.  Why is that?  because I'm in the minority.  Yet people make arguments on this with "why haven't former players or current players made any comments against this type of thing?"  BECAUSE those comments would not be welcome or make them feel very comfortable.....at all.

I’ve seen several reports from current or former disgruntled players regarding other things about Auburn that they didn’t like. It’s not like they always stay buried. If there is a real problem, the story will come out. The world is too transparent for those problems to stay buried.

[aujeff11 6,243]

3 minutes ago, BhamCAT said:

Coercion is a strong word, but unless you are in the small minority of a group, albeit a football team or otherwise, it's hard to understand the "pressure" to not stand out.

I guess you’re assuming that the majority of the football team are bible thumpers? 

[BhamCAT 47]

Other topics in the BIBLE BELT usually do not carry the same one-side and such strong stances as the subject of religion does.

[BhamCAT 47]

I'm assuming that the vast majority of them would not publicly state otherwise.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

4 minutes ago, BhamCAT said:

As an example...If I show up as an atheist at a local church in the south, and talk to others about why I "think" they have been misguided, I will be so unwelcome there that I would not feel comfortable at all.  Why is that?  because I'm in the minority.  Yet people make arguments on this with "why haven't former players or current players made any comments against this type of thing?"  BECAUSE those comments would not be welcome or make them feel very comfortable.....at all.

That's an interesting example. I would think if someone showed up at a church and started telling people that they were misguided that person wouldn't be very welcome because choosing to go into someone's place of worship and proclaim their beliefs to be wrong is a pretty aggressive act. In fact, trying that with some religions could very well be hazardous to your health.

Now, if you were to to a neutral location to discuss your feelings about Christianity with Christians, I would hope that you could have a nice discussion. I know that, in some ways, is wishful thinking, because there are a lot of people who just can't handle social discord no matter what their beliefs, but I like to think there is a decent sized segment of the population who gets that the rest of the world doesn't have to believe what they do and can have a discussion without it being a big thing. I mean... you know... as long as they aren't bama fans... 

As for the former/current player statement, I'm going to disagree. First, our former players have shown little self-control when it comes to voicing their opinions of what happens on the Auburn football team. Second, the current generation of players is also very vocal, thanks to social media. I would be more inclined to believe that the lack of commentary from the team is because they share a love of Auburn Football and this external stuff that people on the Internet fret about really doesn't matter to them. What matters to them is being the best player they can be and being there for the guy next to them who is trying to achieve the same thing.

[bigbird 60,498]

2 hours ago, triangletiger said:

So, how do you explain why there is something rather than nothing?

BOOOOOOOOOM 

[aujeff11 6,243]

Seems to me, CAT, that your assumptions are built upon other assumptions that Auburn players have to be in the majority among other brainwashed Christian athletes in order to find favor amongst their peers. You’re free to your opinion but I highly doubt it’s like that at all.

[BhamCAT 47]

it's hard to view it from the side you aren't on, when on such a volatile topic....but your assumption is correct

[selias 2,398]

1 hour ago, triangletiger said:

The multiverse theory just kicks the can down the street, so to speak.  It still seems to me that existence of the multiverse requires some sort of explanation.  I realize you haven't committed to any particular cosmological theory, but how did it all get started?  Prominent cosmologist Lawrence Krauss has claimed that it all came from nothing through quantum vacuum fluctuations.  But, then, how did these quantum vacuum fluctuations occur if there really is nothing?  

I'm not skilled enough at math and theoretical physics to answer. As I said, I'm just a layman with an interest in the topic and I'm not skilled/educated enough in math to even attempt an answer. Virtual particles popping in and out of existence is completely mind blowing. Quantum entanglement makes my brain hurt but is really interesting.

[augolf1716 21,107]

Speaking of seedy underbelly of Auburn

Where are the damn Cheerleader photos??????????????????????

@RunInRed

Heck I'd even take majorette photos.......did I ever tell the story of the time I dated an Auburn majorette

[Zeek 16,649]

7 hours ago, Barnacle said:

So long as athletes of other religions are free to do the same, I don't see an issue with this. 

As long as we're not pulling players by their dreads and forcing their head in the water while screaming scripture lol

[doc4aday 1,887]

I have zero problems with this. This is a breath of fresh air in that all we hear has to do with guns, drugs, and violence. A team that prays together stays & plays together IMHO!

[AU64 10,122]

Just now, doc4aday said:

I have zero problems with this. This is a breath of fresh air in that all we hear has to do with guns, drugs, and violence. A team that prays together stays together IMHO!

Seems we have spent a lot of time today over a problem that no one has shown to actually exist.  that there are players being pressured against their will....without any indication that such is happening.   

T

[aubiefifty 16,760]

6 hours ago, Swamp Eagle said:

Perhaps you should move from 'this part of the country.' 

The last time I checked, students can still 'voluntarily' pray at school; the school cannot mandate religious participation. I would suppose this is a voluntary baptism by all involved, including the attendees who were their to support them.

 

I have zero problem with it, of course. 

so someone disagrees with something they should move to another part of the country? has he brought in lawyers to stop any baptisms? he simply says he is not comfortable with it and you basically tell him.fine. move. what a classy statement.........

[auburnphan 6,050]

31 minutes ago, augolf1716 said:

Speaking of seedy underbelly of Auburn

Where are the damn Cheerleader photos??????????????????????

@RunInRed

Heck I'd even take majorette photos.......did I ever tell the story of the time I dated an Auburn majorette

Auburn Tiger Paws‏ @AUTigerPaws 10h10 hours ago

 

 

Congratulations to our new 2018-2019 Tiger Paw Captain, Curran! We can’t wait to see you lead this upcoming team so well! #autigerpaws #auburnfamily #wareagle

0 replies 3 retweets 18 likes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TeBoneAU 89]

What a AUsome declaration by those young men!!!

[abw0004 10,110]

3 hours ago, triangletiger said:

I'm going to get off on a tangent a bit:

Where does the Great Commission fit in with this?  How do you reconcile 'being accepting' with evangelism?  While we can obviously be kind and loving to others of all beliefs and worldviews, there are pretty hard and fast tenets of Christianity which are contradictory to those of other religions.  While they both can share elements of truth, Islam in whole and Christianity in whole cannot both be true (if for no other reason than their respective positions on who Jesus was/is).  

What does it mean to judge others?  Does thinking that someone else's religious views are wrong qualify as judging them?  If by 'judge', you mean to condemn someone to hell/damnation, then that is not within our power as mere mortals and certainly would be the height of arrogance and pride on our part; however, if by 'judge' you mean to rightly discern truth from falsity, then the Bible tells us to do that also and your definition conflicts with Biblical teaching.  

  

Feel free to PM me.  That answer will be way to long for this thread.  

[aubiefifty 16,760]

4 hours ago, RunInRed said:

Coerced is a pretty strong word.  But it’s pretty easy to argue a top-down culture has been established, at a public university which has created an environment that emphasizes a particular religion.

Hypothetically, if all else was equal, except the religion was Islam, running publicly rampant (and seemingly endorsed/supported at the higher levels) inside the program, instead of Christianity, would you be OK with that?

he makes a valid point on this. did not some school district in florida try to force prayer or something to that effect at an elementary public school and suddenly had a satanic group giving out coloring books legally. here is one article describing this.......

orlandosentinel.com

 

Orange School board vote bans Bibles, Satanic material giveaways

Lauren Roth

4 minutes

---

Orange County students will no longer face the possibility of being offered Satanic coloring books or Bibles between classes under a new policy adopted by the School Board on Tuesday night.

The board has been considering such a change since a group called The Satanic Temple asked last fall for permission to distribute a Satanic coloring book and two fact sheets to Orange students.

But most of the debate Tuesday was over whether the board should ban just religious materials — or those from all outside groups.

"That would be an injustice to groups that provide great programs to our students," said board chair Bill Sublette, citing Little League, football teams, the YMCA and Boys & Girls Clubs as examples. "Some things are worth fighting for."

Most of the speakers Tuesday encouraged the board to insulate itself against lawsuits by banning all outside materials.

"It is not the School Board's job to promote religion of any kind," said Warren Geltch of Orlando.

A few others, including Conway Middle School seventh-grader Rhiannon Dodson, urged the board to leave the policy as is to encourage an exchange of ideas.

"Don't bar kids from learning and growing," she said. Nothing in the policy would prevent a teacher from using the Bible or other religious materials as historical documents in a class.

The Liberty Counsel, which is representing World Changers of Florida, the group that gave out the Bibles, has said that stopping groups from giving out religious materials in schools is unconstitutional, and that they intend to sue.

Board members, who said they are on solid legal ground, voted 7-1 to approve a policy based on those in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, which allow passive distribution of some materials, but nothing that is religious, political or sectarian.

For three years, the district allowed Bibles to be distributed to students in schools based on a court decision that required a similar giveaway in Collier County schools.

The district also ended up letting in materials provided by an atheist group, the Central Florida Freethought Community, that sued in an attempt to stop the Bible giveaways.

But after the request from The Satanic Temple, the district cut off all religious-material distribution, pending a possible policy change.

After Tuesday's decision, the organizer of the local Satanic Temple chapter said she was disappointed that it took her group's request to prompt action.

Other than Christian groups, "they'd rather not have any other groups distribute materials," said the organizer, who goes by the name Tabitha Burns out of concerns for her safety. "The message we're putting forward is tolerance and personal liberty," she said.

David Williamson, with the Central Florida Freethought Community, said the decision is a "victory for Orange County students" — if religious-materials giveaways do not return to schools.

The board also Tuesday adopted a resolution asking the governor to delay school and district grades, as well as hold students and teachers harmless for scores on this year's new state tests.

The resolution asks for the accountability system to be fully funded, to minimize the number of tests student have to take and to ensure the tests they do take are grade-appropriate.

lroth@tribune.com or 407-420-5120

one article describing this.

 

now i seek god daily before anyone starts bashing me.And i certainly do not want anyone handing out satanic coloring books to children. and i am pretty sure you cannot allow one and give free reign to another.  just a little something to think about.....

 

 

[TitanTiger 20,472]

2 hours ago, BhamCAT said:

I'm assuming that the vast majority of them would not publicly state otherwise.

Auburn has a long and ugly history of former players airing its dirty laundry.  Names like Eric Ramsey, Stanley McClover, Troy Reddick, Chaz Ramsey, and Raven Gray come to mind, just to list a few.  

Don't kid yourself.  If someone after almost 20 years of Chette Williams' involvement with Auburn Athletics was made to feel left out, ostracized, pressured or uncomfortable, we'd have heard about it.  It's Auburn.  We never avoid it.  And you know Selena Roberts dug like hell trying to find anyone who could add some spice like that to her story and she offered nothing.