Research Paper on "Religious Freedom and Sports"

Research Paper 12 pages (4091 words) Sources: 5

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Religious Freedom and Sports

To many people, the life of a professional athlete is one that seems absolutely privileged. Professional athletes make absurd amounts of money to play a game. In addition, they are treated as celebrities because of their status as professional athletes. They represent the best in their fields, with professional athletes making up only a very small percentage of total athletes for each sport. The best of the professionals have opportunities for endorsement contracts, and their revenue from those contracts can greatly exceed the money they get for actually playing their sport. However, professional athletes have burdens that other professionals do not have. They are expected to be role models during their private lives, as well as their professional lives. Public whims change, making it difficult to predict what non-normative behaviors the public will tolerate in their professional athletes, but the public does have an opinion about athletes. In addition, athletes are expected to engage in certain behaviors as part of their work lives. They are expected to work unusual schedules, including weekends and some holidays. In addition, they are expected to observe a code of behaviors related to their work lives that have nothing to do with their actual work performance, such as observing the national anthem. Some of these obligations conflict with the religious beliefs of certain professional athletes, and, at various times, these conflicts have created problems for the athletes, and for the teams for which they play.

Furthermore complicating the issue is that the interaction between professional athletes' religious beliefs and their work performance is a complicated one. Religious beliefs may mean that a player is unavailable on certain dates, but religious beliefs can also impact performance that is not actually required to perform one's job. Should those beliefs be viewed in the same manner? What about those athletes that use their positions as professional or college-level athletes to try to spread their religions? Other employees are generally prohibited from trying to spread their religion during work hours; should professional athletes be treated any differently? These problems are only going to grow. Foreign athletes are joining American professional sports in growing numbers, so that one can expect more and more conflicts between religion and American tradition, which is a huge part of the American professional sports environment. Therefore, this paper will consider the obligation that professional sports organizations have to respect and accommodate the religious beliefs of their employees, particularly professional athletes.

Background

One of the first times that the public really became aware of a player's religion creating a conflict with his life as an athlete was in 1965, when Sandy Koufax, a Jewish baseball player, refused to pitch in a game that fell on the Jewish holy day, Yom Kippur. Had this been a normal game during the regular season, it is doubtful that many would have paid much attention to Koufax's refusal to play. However, the game in question happened to be the first game of the World Series, and Koufax's refusal to play could have cost his team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, the World Series. His refusal to play resulted in an anti-Semitic backlash, though he played exceptionally well for the rest of the series. "Koufax's decision and his pitching brilliance remain a source of pride among devout American Jews, even those who aren't baseball fans."

Of course, not all of the conflicts between a player's religious beliefs and his professional career are as clear-cut as the Koufax scenario. While not all Jewish players have made the same choices as Koufax, his religious beliefs clearly support his refusal to play on Yom Kippur. Other athletes' religious beliefs may not even impact their ability to play their sports, but still have consequences for them. For example, in 1967, Muhammad Ali was stripped of his boxing license. This was because of his refusal to step forward for the draft for the Vietnam War, though he based his refusal on his religious convictions as a Muslim. It was three years before he was able to fight as a professional again, and was only able to do so in Georgia because it did not have a boxing commission. Ali was ultimately vindicated. In 1970, the New York State Supreme Court ruled that Ali was unjustly denied a boxing license based on his refusal to participate in the draft, and he regained his ability to fight.

One of the more recent conflicts between a professional athlete's religious beliefs and his professional performance came about in 1996, when the National Basketball Association (NBA) suspended Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, a player for the Denver Nuggets, without pay when he refused to stand for the National Anthem. Abdul-Rauf's position was that standing for the National Anthem was a nationalistic ceremony, and participating in such a ceremony was prohibited by his Islamic faith.

In addition, Abdul-Rauf called the American flag a symbol of oppression and tyranny.

His conflict was resolved without resorting to legal action. Abdul-Rauf said that he would stand during the National Anthem and pray during that time, which caused the NBA to lift his suspension. However, his very refusal to stand sparked debate, with some expressing support for his religious freedom and others, notably Houston Rockets player Hakeem Olajuwon, a very famous Muslim NBA player, to differ with Abdul-Rauf's interpretation of Muslim beliefs.

Not all religious interactions with religion are by members of minority religious groups. National Football League (NFL) player Tim Tebow is known for prostelizing while on the football field. When he was a college ball player, he wrote Biblical references in his eyeblack. This practice has since been banned in college football, and is banned in the NFL, but now he writes those same messages on part of his uniform. The NFL dress code specifically prohibits such behavior, and other players have been fined for writing messages on parts of their uniforms, but it appears that Tebow has yet to be fined for this practice. There is no question that Tebow's actions are off-putting for a number of sports fans, but they have not been met with the same amount of outrage as when the player is expressing non-Christian religious beliefs. This could actually be somewhat alarming Tebow has been associated with Athletes in action, an evangelical organization whose mission is "to boldly proclaim the love and truth of Jesus Christ to every college athlete in the U.S. And the millions they influence."

In this way, Tebow's activities are about influencing the religious beliefs of others, while the other athletes mentioned were acting to preserve their own religious beliefs. Should this make a difference in the analysis of those behaviors?

Rules

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the premiere piece of federal legislation discussing religious discrimination in the workplace. 42 U.S.C.S. § 2000e-2(a) discusses employer practices and states that:

It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer

(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; or (2) to limit, segregate, or classify his employees or applicants for employment in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Different circuits have established different standards for plaintiffs seeking to establish employment discrimination cases. In EEOC v. Union Independiente de la Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados de Puerto Rico, 279 F.3d 49 (1st Cir. 2002), the court explained that "In order to establish a prima facie case of religious discrimination based on a failure to accommodate, the plaintiff must show that '(1) a bona fide religious practice conflicts with an employment requirement, (2) he or she brought the practice to the [Union's] attention, and (3) the religious practice was the basis for the adverse employment decision."

Once a plaintiff establishes the prima facie case of religious discrimination, the employer must demonstrate that it either made a reasonable accommodation or that requiring it to make such an accommodation would create an unreasonable hardship.

The statutory and case law makes it clear that religious accommodations are required, but also that employers do not have to make those accommodations when doing so creates an undue burden on the employer. Of course, an undue burden for a small mom-and-pop operation will be judged differently than an undue burden for a major organization. The greater an employer's resources, the greater the burden they are expected to carry in order to accommodate their employee's religious beliefs. However, the slip side of that is that the more important an employee is to an organization, the more burdensome it might be for the employer to make the appropriate religious accommodations.

Analysis

One of the problems for professional athletes is that their Title VII religious discrimination cases look substantially different than the… READ MORE

How to Reference "Religious Freedom and Sports" Research Paper in a Bibliography

Related Research Papers:

Sports Ethics Term Paper

Sports Ethics

Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" was the famous motto of the legendary football coach Vince Lombardi, which seems to have been taken to heart by the… read more

Term Paper 10 pages (3696 words) Sources: 5 Style: APA Topic: Sports / Exercise / Fitness

---

World Cup Unifying the Globe Research Paper

Sports

World Cup: Unifying the Globe

In almost every country of the world, the way that the national pastime is played is seen as a guide to national character and… read more

Research Paper 20 pages (6706 words) Sources: 10 Topic: Sports / Exercise / Fitness

---

Managing Religious Diversity in the Workplace Term Paper

Managing Religious Diversity in the Workplace

Nowadays there is certainly an emergence of religion in the workplace, as this is a mixture of the increase in religious recognition with a… read more

Term Paper 11 pages (4595 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Religion / God / Theology

---

Ethnic Diversity in Democratic Research Paper

Ethnic diversity in democratic states

Democratic France

With the process of globalization experiencing rapid progress, the international public starts to deal with more and more issues, given that most countries… read more

Research Paper 10 pages (2937 words) Sources: 15 Topic: Women / Feminism

---

Saudi Female Expats in Paris International Migrants Research Paper

Saudi Female Expats in Paris

International Migrants make up about 190 million of the population of the world today. (Balbo 5) the ratio between migrated men and women is roughly… read more

Research Paper 15 pages (4635 words) Sources: 10 Style: MLA Topic: Women / Feminism

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>