I really would like to get people's feedback and comments on this one.
The other day I had a discussion with two liberal coworkers about high school sports. Apparently it's a law (or at least a high school sports association policy) in Alaska that they can't have any sports games or championships on Sunday. My two friends were telling me that it is discriminatory to other religions that have their holy days on Friday or Saturday. Their argument was that all days should be open for sports activities, and that way it would be most fair. By catering to the Christian majority, they argued, it is tyranny of the majority.
I brought up the idea that these sorts of things can't be all things for all people, but they might as well be as much as they can for as many people as possible. They said that by not catering to anyone they are being everything for everyone. I thought that was an interesting spin. By being nothing for anyone, they are claiming to be everything for everyone.
They threw in an additional argument that it wasn't fair for kids that they had known of in some rural towns whose board of education wouldn't allow sports teams to compete in local and state competitions on Sunday, which made it unfair for students who didn't believe the same way. This was a red herring, though, because we were talking about state-wide mandates, not local policies.
Does a state government have the constitutional right to cater to a particular religion? Is there a difference between establishment and catering? Does "freedom of religion" mean "freedom from religion?" Did the founders intend for there to be a complete absence of religious considerations in the public discourse?
Of course they didn't intend there to be an absence of religion. That is a sticky question though. I don't think it's tyranny to "cater" to the majority. And, honestly, it's ridiculous to punish 80% because you're afraid of possibly offending 20% - and of that 20%, I'm sure most of the people who actually do worship on a sabbath day other than Sunday realize that they are a minority and can't expect society to bend things around for them. They learn to deal. The truth of the matter is, you aren't going to be playing sports on every day of the week, so you may as well have that be the day that is universally recognized as the weekend and one that will convenience the majority. The idea that you are going to create a huge issue for 80% so that you can make as many people satisfied as possible is a little ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. One of the primary concerns of the founders, as expressed in the Federalist Papers, was developing a system that preserved both majority rule and minority rights. However, while preserving those minority rights, it is necessary to avoid tyranny of the minority, as well.
ReplyDeleteMy major beef, though, is that I fail to see how the majority is infringing on minority rights by trying to preserve a holy day of its own.