Monday, February 18, 2008

From My Stupid Christian Files: Foul Call Edition

Just to let you know that my Stupid Christian File is an equal-opportunity feature...read about St. Mary's Academy of Topeka's refusal to allow a woman to referee during one of its games.

Good Morning America interviewed the referee, as well as a representative of the high school athletic association that's currently reviewing St. Mary's status. The referee gave a calm, reasoned, stand-up interview wherein she noted that, once her uniform goes on, she is an official, and gender has nothing to do with enforcing the rules of the game.

Unsurprisingly, the traditionalist Roman Catholic administration of St. Mary's won't respond to requests for interviews or for an explanation of their athletic policy. (Otherwise known as the Stonewall Play...which has worked so well -- cough -- for institutional churches in the past.)

The people I feel sorriest for here are the students of St. Mary's, who are going to go through life burdened with ridiculous ideas about sexuality and gender roles that the rest of society is increasingly getting over.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Stuff like this sends me over the edge. Way over. Choosing gender over qualifications make soooo much sense to me. I'm feeling the need to smack something.

Sheryl said...

If it is any consolation, the Roman Catholic church considers the Society of St. Pius X to be a schizmatic (sorry if that is misspelled) movement, and is not officially sanctioned by the "official" church.

Rumor has it though, that Benedict XVI is hoping to reach some kind of reconciliation with them and bring them back into the fold. The thought of that makes me shudder.