Rationale

Rationale The opinion piece, “Arkansas State lifts ban on football helmet crosses, but players must foot bill for decals”, was written by Todd Starnes and published on Fox news on September 18, 2014. This article deals with the symbols on helmets of the Arkansas State University football team. The football players put a Christian cross on their helmets to honor two of their fallen teammates who passed away this year. After the game was nationally televised, some people complained that religious symbols should not be shown on televised sport matches.
In the article, Todd Starnes argued that the football players were being violated of their freedom of expression, and that they should be allowed to keep the crosses on their helmets. Throughout

He used phrases such as ‘standing up for their fallen teammates’ and ‘the university discriminates against them in a blatant violation of the Constitution’ to manipulate the readers into thinking that the players were some kind of victims of the university. Todd Starnes included a quote in which Mr. Weyer, the father of Barry Weyer said, “I just have a hard time understanding why we as Christians have to be tolerant of everybody else’s rights, but give up ours.” This statement is highly refutable and it also shows a misunderstanding of the issue. It is crucial to understand that nobody has to give up his rights or be ‘tolerant’ of the rights of others. It is about exercising one’s rights without infringing upon other people’s rights. Throughout the article, Starnes used quotes such as “(Christians are) tired of being pushed around” and “having to kowtow to the politically correct crowd.” Words like “pushed around” and “kowtow” were deliberately used to evoke sympathy from the audience. However, there is no evidence to indicate that Christians are being ‘pushed around’ to give up their rights. The players are allowed to practice their religion and express their grief for the two teammates as long as they don’t offend their audience or suggest a state endorsement of

However, people should consider whether expressions of faith are appropriate to be displayed in public sport matches. The overlapping of religious expressions and sports has been disputed for a long time because it is a sensitive issue to many people. Once, religious symbols were banned from the London Olympics faith badge in 2012. Although the badge was supposed to be the symbol of the role of religious leaders, plans for representing the nine major religions were negated because not all religious believers would feel comfortable wearing symbols of other faiths. Expressions involved with religions should be dealt with carefully since it could be offensive to people who have other beliefs. This is why sectarian religious symbols are rarely used in sport games because they might alienate some fans. Furthermore, the purpose of the decal on the players’ helmets was to honor the former player and their equipment manager. If some of the audience are uncomfortable with their means of expression, not only is it disrespectful to the audience, it can also be discourteous to the people who the players are showing honor to. The players wanted to ‘carry the spirits of Markel and Barry Don onto the field for one more season.’ Commemorating the teammates with a Christian cross could lead to some people having a negative impression of the members, which should not happen as a result of remembrance. Thus, the