A friend found this post about how Gonzaga is concerned with how students mock the LDS church by dressing up as missionaries…
at least they are thinking about it.
an RM being on their team is the main reason their administration is raising the pressure…It is ok to be biased so long as you are not hurting our own team…such a great example…
I guess I am not that bothered by students dressing up like missionaries. It may not be respectful but it doesn’t rise to the level of the demonstrations against the Y that occurred in the late 60s in some of their road football and basketball games. A few of them got violent and put players and fans in peril. What happens on occasion with the students mocking missionaries isn’t anything to get exercised over. It seems that whenever some students dress up like missionaries in road games the Y usually wins. I remember the game at San Diego St. in 2011. Both teams were in the top 10 and the game was on national TV and BYU beat them. If all they do is dress up in suits and ties with bike helmets on and BYU wins let it continue.
I guess we can become hypersensitive victims like too many special interest groups in society or we can take it with good humor and roll with the punches. Sometimes the ridicule crosses the line but students dressing up like missionaries is relatively harmless in my opinion. If we get all indignant about it I think it only empowers them. If they were ridiculing the leaders of the church and the doctrine I would say they have crossed a line that I would object to.
At the Utah game a bunch of the students had some fun dressing up in hard hats and safety vests and chanting “that’s not safe.” They were mocking the Utah coach. Mocking is never encouraged but some of it is very offensive and some of it is students acting like college kids. Dressing up like missionaries may be mocking but the only people who are harmed by it are the ones doing it. If you get offended over it then it is your fault. I served a mission and it just doesn’t bother me. These kids don’t have a clue what they are mimicking and the problem is theirs not mine. If they really wanted to be convincing they would get a missionary haircut and shave all facial hair if applicable. If it has some cosmic effect on the BYU team where they play better then let it continue.
I will commend the Gonzaga administration for their concerns. It does show a level of class on their part regardless of whether a return missionary is on their team or not. In some respects I am glad BYU is in a conference with other church sponsored schools. It may not be good the sports programs but it does put them in conference with schools who have values more aligned with theirs.
Personally I kind of get a kick out of it.
But it bugs me that their administration is bothered by it sufficiently only when they actually have an RM on their team.
They were bothered by it before sufficiently to bring it up, but not to try and make an appreciable difference.
If according to their principles it is wrong. Then it should be wrong whether they have an RM on the team or not. Only after it might affect the play of their team do they actually attempt to do something…just strikes me as a bit of hypocrasy.
The world is full of such, the mote in your eye is always more visible than the beam in mine own…including mine of course.
Mormon missionary costumes are specifically targeted mockery of the Mormon faith,
The name Mormon, just like Yankee, started as a mockery. But the Yankees and the Mormons came to embrace the names as their own.
Do Catholics take is as a given that when someone dresses up as a priest, nun, bishop or pope that is offensive? that it is a mockery? obviously sometimes it is…
BY said that at one point that it is foolish to take offence when none is intended, but it may be even worse to take offence when it is intended…
If Gonzaga actually asked those attending the game to dress up in white shirts to honour Wade or all the others who honour their religion by dressing up and serving in that manner that would be a much greater sign of respecting and honouring the differences their PC administration and student leadership seem to be espousing.
And I would guess that for a long time the students who dress to mock would be quieted quite effectively…maybe not…though the psychology of mockery is one of those things I just don’t understand well.