Call me stupid, but I don't know what religion has the gesture of one finger raised to the sky.
If they finished first, then one finger looks like someone's saying "#1" to the world. That's what one finger raised to the sky after a victory means anywhere else I've ever seen it. I have never seen one finger raised to the sky mean "God".
So, my sense is that the family is being coy and trying to turn this into a religious discrimination case.
Call me crazy, and certainly biased. I ran track and coached it for about 8 years. It has a bunch of really dumb rules about bracelets, rings, spandex under shorts, and even their "celebration" rule can be called arcane.
However, it is a rule no matter how dumb, and the "one finger = God" thing has escaped me in my 33 years of ordained ministry.
As Granny says in Josie Wales: "Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining."
Here’s the problem, schools have become increasingly hostile to any and all forms of Christian expression. The gesture he gave is pretty consistent with the religious expressions of football players that point to the heavens either following a touchdown or at the end of a game or baseball pitchers who point upwards to the heavens after getting that final out. The gestures are not intended to taunt anyone but to recognize God. In that sense it is purely a religious observance.
Any rule which prohibits religious expression is subject to strict scrutiny and the rule must not be so overly broad that it impinges upon a persons right to practice their faith so long as it does not unreasonably interfere with anyone else’s rights.
In this case any rule which would prevent an athlete from making any gesture that could be interpreted as being a religious expression should be void on its face. The kid’s actual motives are irrelevant in that the rule itself is unconstitutionally overbroad.
Maybe his claim that this was a religious expression was an afterthought, but the government cannot make an inquiry as to whether or not he is truly religious. The only inquiry is whether this gesture can be interpreted as a religious gesture. If it can, then the rule cannot prohibit it.
I can only imagine that you don't watch sports on TV very much. I see that gesture all the time: the athletes eyes are turned up to the heavens. You'd think there would be a video of this. If he's looking at his opponents, then it's taunting.
One good thing from this, Texas just got (at least) four more staunch anti-progressives.
It was Fletcher who said that to the Senator.
Granny said “doodly squat.”
I reached the same conclusions xzins. While it may be possible the runner was pointing to God, I find the gesture to more often mean, “We’re Number One!” Secondly, whether the rule against celebratory gestures is foolish or not, all of the teams should have known the rule prior to competing.
I also think it’s unwise (and nearly impossible) to discern the runner’s intentions. If a runner make any gestures that appear unsportsmanlike in the competition area, we cannot know why the gestures were made, but we can enforce the fact that they were made. So, again, it may be a stupid rule, but it appears to be fairly enforced (religious claims notwithstanding).
Personally? I’d call it unsportsmanlike behavior, and we know how quickly that can get out of hand once you start permitting it.