Joe Bagadonuts
Well-Known Member
/threadHow heartwarming that Big Al can let down his defenses both on and off the court.
Repped!
/threadHow heartwarming that Big Al can let down his defenses both on and off the court.
What is he? Jewish?
Read in an article that he is Muslim, like Memo. Article could be wrong though, for all I know. Dont remember the link off of the top of my head
I'm not a religious person myself, but if religion in this case is a source of bonding/camaraderie, I'm all for it. In my experience, however, religion is as often, if not more so, a source of divisiveness than harmony. As long as, I suppose, they have a live and let live perspective on belief/faith, then it might work. But throw in an aggressive, holier-than-though evangelical in the mix, then it's more worrisome. (As an aside, I'm heartily sick of agressive evangelicals showing off their 'faith' in sports culture and sporting events. I don't care about people's religious beliefs (as long as they don't try to impose them on me), and I don't want to hear about them or see showy ostentatious displays. To anyone out there who believes that the creator of the universe--to the extent he exists--gives a crapoloa about the outcome of a sporting event, grow up, get some perspective, and quit being so damn ego-centric.)
Read in an article that he is Muslim, like Memo. Article could be wrong though, for all I know. Dont remember the link off of the top of my head
He needs to pray harder.
I've always felt that a team that prays the most to a Christian God to help them, and make the other team lose is, 100% the winner of the championship every year. God hears every prayer, adds them up, and the top 8 praying teams from each conference make the playoffs, then God takes the 2 best praying teams from each conference and pits them in a best of seven Finals Playoff, or "Pray-off game", if you will.
The team that spends the most minutes per player praying then wins the championship. This has happened since the dawn of time. It's nice to see we're starting to finally figure it out as a team.
Everyone is different and have the right to believe in whatever they feel is right. All I ask is that you be respectful.
I'm with Nick on this one. No need to be rude, when you know for a fact it will offend many people, let alone one person on the board.
Thank you.What I REALLY don't want is this to become part of this team's greater narrative. Like Tebow and Lin, where I feel like the religious thing has overshadowed their accomplishments/shortcomings on the court/field.
This team is awesome to watch, and has played well as of late without a "superstar." That should be how the public/press view them. Not as a "christian-based" team as one poster referred to them, which made me a lil' queasy.
I agree in principle with the observation that we ought to be respectful of other's beliefs.
I disagree, however, that one should refrain from saying something because it will offend many people, let alone one single person (especially not one single person--that's virtually impossible to achieve, unless you want rote, boring, superficial discussion--we can only reasonably control it so far if someone chooses to take offense).
In my view, criticizing benign characteristics that say nothing about what or who a person is by themselves (e.g., race, ethnicity) is always inappropriate. On the other hand, beliefs/actions are totally fair game. (Unless one uses beliefs/actions as thinly veiled code words for race--hear that CJ?) This doesn't mean we shouldn't strive to be respectful when commenting on other people's beliefs, but beliefs have far too great an impact not only on those who share the beliefs and on those who do not share them, to make them off limits to criticism. Just because a belief emanates from a religiously based faith, does not privilege it from other beliefs emanating from other sources. Again, however, mutual respect is generally preferable, but it cuts both ways. I'll respect your religious beliefs to the extent you keep them to yourself or discuss them when appropriate, but make a ostentatious show of them (e.g., Tim Tebow) or try to impose them on me (e.g., Rick Santorum or Utah Legislature), then I feel less constrained by rules of forbearance and politeness.
I agree in principle with the observation that we ought to be respectful of other's beliefs.
I disagree, however, that one should refrain from saying something because it will offend many people, let alone one single person (especially not one single person--that's virtually impossible to achieve, unless you want rote, boring, superficial discussion--we can only reasonably control it so far if someone chooses to take offense).
In my view, criticizing benign characteristics that say nothing about what or who a person is by themselves (e.g., race, ethnicity) is always inappropriate. On the other hand, beliefs/actions are totally fair game. (Unless one uses beliefs/actions as thinly veiled code words for race--hear that CJ?) This doesn't mean we shouldn't strive to be respectful when commenting on other people's beliefs, but beliefs have far too great an impact not only on those who share the beliefs and on those who do not share them, to make them off limits to criticism. Just because a belief emanates from a religiously based faith, does not privilege it from other beliefs emanating from other sources. Again, however, mutual respect is generally preferable, but it cuts both ways. I'll respect your religious beliefs to the extent you keep them to yourself or discuss them when appropriate, but make a ostentatious show of them (e.g., Tim Tebow) or try to impose them on me (e.g., Rick Santorum or Utah Legislature), then I feel less constrained by rules of forbearance and politeness.
People get offended entirely too easily. The whole reason why we have the concept of a profanity is that some people just need words that will offend them. It's like some sort of a reassuring purification thing for them.
You can't say that your faith is strong and then get offended when someone makes fun of your religion. It's like saying you trust your wife completely, yet you get jealous when she shows too much interest in what a waiter has to say.
People get offended entirely too easily. The whole reason why we have the concept of a profanity is that some people just need words that will offend them. It's like some sort of a reassuring purification thing for them.
You can't say that your faith is strong and then get offended when someone makes fun of your religion. It's like saying you trust your wife completely, yet you get jealous when she shows too much interest in what a waiter has to say.