Wiltz

Alright read the story below. Do you think ISU should allow a chaplain as an offical member of the team. The position is being paid for by donations and not University funds.


ISU petition opposes football chaplain
Associated Press

DES MOINES - More than 100 faculty members at Iowa State University have signed a petition opposing the football coach's plan to make a chaplain an official member of the team staff.

Coach Gene Chizik, hired last November, wants to hire a chaplain who would be paid by private donations. ISU athletic director Jamie Pollard supports the plan because he contends student-athletes are under a lot of pressure and need access to spiritual guidance.

Faculty members behind the petition said hiring a chaplain is improper at a public university given the separation between church and state. And they said the move would favor Christianity over other religions.

"Are you going to have counseling for Jewish students? Muslim students? There's no such thing as one religion or one version of Christianity," said Dr. Hector Avalos, a professor of religious studies at ISU.

ISU spokesman John McCarroll said President Gregory Geoffroy has been traveling but received the petition earlier this week.

"He really hasn't had a chance to talk with the athletic director with some of the questions raised in the petition," McCarroll said. "But he will be addressing the issues raised by that petition

UGLY

I have no problem with it, he is being payed by private donations. Perhaps to appease the libs they should pay him as an unofficial team chaplain

_SL_

I'm in agreement with the prof, this is not OK.

_SL_

How does his being payed privately matter? It still would show university or team preference for one religion over another and one sect of christianity over another.

UGLY

It matters because I would guess that he is not in any official capacity working for the university. If anyone was going to have an issue with it should it not be the student athletes or the parents of the players.

UGLY

Also I didnt read where he was a Christian Chaplain. In my experience in the military the Chaplains are versed in many religions and can give guidence for multiple beliefs.

_SL_

The money is still the university's, it is just not an extra burden to tax payers.

It does not matter if the team likes it or not, the issue is university sponsership of a religion. If the entire team (not the athletic department) wants to form a group (like Athletes in Action) that would be fine -- funding would then be granted through the right kind of process.

Spider

It should come as no surprise that I agree with Dr. Avalos and SL. I assume that counseling services are available to all students and a team chaplain is both superfluous and inappropriate. I also believe that locker room team prayers (not private, individual prayer, but group prayer) is entirely inappropriate. If some team members want to get together and have a prayer meeting, that's fine, but it shouldn't be an official team function. Sports is about sports, it's not about God or religion.

__________________
"Love never dies." The Beatles

_SL_

then why would the professor of religion not be corrected when he asks where the jewish or muslim religious guidance is?

UGLY

Perhaps he did not have all the facts before ho spoke to the paper.

Please explain to me how "PRIVATE" donations still belong to the school. I also said that maybe to appease the libs they should hire him in an unofficial team capacity.