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Reproductive Justice and Gender

Religious School Bans Female Referee from Officiating Boys' Game

By Ginna Green, Shakesville. Posted February 19, 2008.


The reason given, according to the referees: a woman could not be put in a position of authority over boys because of the academy's beliefs.
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referee
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This would be unbelievable if it weren't just so gosh darn believable:

Kansas activities officials are investigating a religious school's refusal to let a female referee call a boys' high school basketball game.

The Kansas State High School Activities Association said referees reported that Michelle Campbell was preparing to officiate at St. Mary's Academy near Topeka on Feb. 2 when a school official insisted that Campbell could not call the game.

The reason given, according to the referees: Campbell, as a woman, could not be put in a position of authority over boys because of the academy's beliefs.

Which are basically that women are second-class citizens who must defer always to the menfolk. Thoroughly modern, Millie.

In good news, her fellow referees are standing by her.

Fred Shockey, who was getting ready to leave the gym after officiating two junior high games, said he was told there had been an emergency and was asked to stay and officiate two more games.

"When I found out what the emergency was, I said there was no way I was going to work those games," said Shockey, who spent 12 years in the Army and became a ref about three years ago. "I have been led by some of the finest women this nation has to offer, and there was no way I was going to go along with that."

Right on.

[Thanks to Shaker KarateMonkey for passing that along.]

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See more stories tagged with: gender, religion, sexism, sports

Melissa McEwan writes and edits the blog Shakespeare's Sister.

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old news already
Posted by: somegirl on Feb 19, 2008 6:51 AM   
Current rating: 2    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
i wrote a post about this on thursday...alternet picks up my cohorts all the time but not me!!! ok, maybe i'm being a watb but wtf???

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Kansas
Posted by: frank69 on Feb 19, 2008 7:25 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"What's the Matter with Kansas?"
Well, first it was "Evolution is JUST A Theory."
Now, It's "A Woman Can't Be In Charge of Boys."
I realize Kansas is kind of flat, but the earth IS ROUND folks!

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» RE: Kansas Posted by: AMERICAN VETERAN
» RE: Kansas Posted by: Denver Dem
Religions may come and go, but irony and stupidity are everlasting...
Posted by: SbgBJ on Feb 19, 2008 7:34 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I wryly note the name of the school: St. MARY's.
Hmm, let's see -- MARY. Who is "only" the so-called "Mother of God", to whom entire gospels were devoted (& then banished-vanished), who's actually standing in for the Magna Mater, Mother Earth, the Queen of Heaven, Mother of All the Gods, Creatrix of the Universe, who was worshipped and celebrated for tens of thousands of years, l-o-n-g before male gods became all the rage. The early christians bribed their way into Her shrines, bringing their god onto Her altars, only to usurp and demonize the Great Mother (and all women, e.g. Eve) thereafter, in favor of JEEzus (who, it turns out, didn't WANT a religion to be founded on his teachings, for that would refute his belief in the coming end of the world!)

(The history of the Koran is also similarly "interesting" & misogynistic.)

Religions may come and go, but irony and short-sighted stupidity are everlasting....

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And the Catholic Church is SQUARE !
Posted by: odcherenow on Feb 19, 2008 7:38 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Get a life, RC's. One would think you had enough troubles as a result of your misogynist models.

As a "raised Catholic", now in recovery, I can attest to the second class status thinking. And it's not benign; it's dangerous.

In the second grade, we were practicing a fire drill and the boys were lined up to exit before the girls. When I asked the priest in charge "Why?" he said it was because "They could be future priests."

And the girls, worth less, could be left to burn. A-men

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Do their sisters
Posted by: JSquercia on Feb 19, 2008 9:57 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Do their sisters have to be escorted by a male relative whenever outside the house . The more one hears of this kind of stuff the more one sees the incredible similarities between these freaks and the Muslim Fundamentalists .
It seems all early versions of relegions treat women as second class citizens from Jewdism on down

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Reverence Woman! Gnosticism!!!
Posted by: garry minor on Feb 19, 2008 10:10 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In the first century after Jesus, before Christianity had been watered down and censored by the Romans, the True believers in Christ lived communal lives and took care of one another, read the Book of Acts. Women were treated with equality. This lifestyle is more evident in the Gnostic Gospels discovered at Nag Hammadi Egypt in 1945.
The Gospel of Philip say's;
The companion to the Savior is Mary Magdalene. But Christ loved her more than all the Disciples, and used to kiss her often on the mouth. The rest of the Disciples were offended... They said to him, "Why do you love her more than all of us?" The Savior answered and said to them, "Why do I not love you as I love her?"
And again from another source;
Mary Magdalene was chosen by our Lord as a type of the Church and would be one of the first fruits taken with her Lord. She was the constant companion to Jesus Ministry, to him she ministered of her substance, she Anointed him for his Ministry, and for his burial, she was the last at the Cross, and the first at the tomb, and to her alone he gave the commission, "Go tell Peter" and wheresoever the Gospel was to be preached, her love and devotion to her master were to be declared.
Another source say's;
Reverence Woman, Mother of the Universe, in her lies the Truth of creation. She is the foundation of all that is good and beautiful. She is the source of life and death. Upon her depends the existance of man, because she is the sustenance of his labors. She gives birth to you in travail, she watches over your growth. Bless her. Honor her. Defend her. Love your wives and honor them, because tomorrow they shall be mothers, and later progenitors of a whole race. Their love enobles man, soothes the embittered heart and tames the beast. Wife and Mother they are the adornments of the Universe."

There is now an incredible amount of literature available that prove the Romans are frauds, the problem is they actually believe the lie, millions upon millions of people do! Why shouldn't they? It's what they have been taught from birth!
So which side sounds more Godly to you, the Romans or the Gnostics?
I say for 2000 years we have been misled with deceptive lies and traditions taught by men in order to control society. The first six or seven hundred years of the Church were an intellectual nightmare with many prohibitions, even reading was forbidden. Look at the divisions within the Churches today. What is their foundation? Where is the Unity?
The Book of Jude say's it well;
"For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only sovereign and Lord.
Yet these men speak abusively against what they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals-these are the very things that destroy them.
These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow there own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instinct and do not have the Spirit."

We receive the Spirit of Christ through the Anointing with Holy oil as described in the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament, Exodus 30:23. It is Gods visible form of an invisible grace! It repairs the separation.

Psalm 133
How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!
It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
down the collar of his robes.
It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.

Garry Minor
Columbus Kaneh bosm Ministry
Columbus Indiana

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» George Carlin: God is a Man Posted by: 2dogarage
Pecking order
Posted by: 2dogarage on Feb 19, 2008 10:57 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When I was in India I was appalled to find out that the pecking order of the family proceeds from the father through the male offspring with the mother's place of importance falling behind the youngest male. The female children follow mom and are treated as servants, they are merely a liability who will require a dowry to remove them from the dinner table.

What I later realized after returning to the states is that things aren't really so different here, all of the supposed "women's liberty" is mostly window dressing and enjoyed by relatively few women.

Which is why, in my opinion, the democrats should be really afraid in the coming election. A black man and a woman running for president are two poor choices for the bulk of Americana.

Let's hope I am utterly wrong about that.

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» RE: Pecking order Posted by: TheNamelessCity
» RE: Pecking order Posted by: maggie
» RE: Pecking order Posted by: walldodger1969
Ginevranz
Posted by: ginevranz on Feb 19, 2008 12:07 PM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This school is fundamentalist/ultra traditionalist:
St. Mary's Academy & College
Welcome to the St. Mary's Academy & College website. We hope you enjoy your visit to our school website.

If you are unfamiliar with St. Mary's Academy & College, a brief introduction is in order. Our schools are incorporated in Kansas under the title of "The Society of Saint Pius X, Saint Mary's, Inc." St. Mary's is owned and operated by the Society of St. Pius X, an international priestly society founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre to maintain the traditional Catholic priesthood and all the works related to it.

The statutes of the Society of St. Pius X state that "schools, truly free and unfettered, able to bestow on youth a thoroughly Christian education, shall be fostered and, if need be, founded by the members of the Society. From these will come vocations and Christian homes" (Statutes III, 4). To this end, Archbishop Lefebvre founded St. Mary's Academy & College.

Our property is located in Kansas, America's heartland, on 465 rolling acres. We are approximately twenty-five miles west of Topeka, the State 'Capitol', and seventy-five miles west of Kansas City. The Jesuits originally constructed our eleven historical buildings on the site of an old mission, dating from 1848, where they served the Potawatomi Indians. In the early 1900's, Saint Mary's was a well-known college and seminary. It closed in 1967 and was purchased for the Society in 1978.

Since that time, our schools have grown considerably. In September, 2003, the Academy numbered over 750 students in grades K - 12. The College numbered over 60 students. We receive neither government or corporate funding to run our schools, since we wish to remain completely free from any interference in the Catholic structure of our programs. Our income depends exclusively on tuition payment and donations from our friends and benefactors.

The ultimate goal of our schools is to form good Catholics and good citizens in such a manner that the whole person may be submitted to the reign of Jesus Christ in the spiritual, moral, intellectual, and physical spheres. We are committed to fulfill with loyalty and dedication Archbishop Lefebvre's command:

"We have to build, while the others are demolishing. The crumbled citadels have to be rebuilt, the bastions of Faith have to be reconstructed; firstly the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass of all times, which forms saints; then our chapels, monasteries, our large families, our enterprises faithful to the social politics of the Church, our politicians determined to make the politics of Jesus Christ - this is a whole fiber of Christian social life, Christian customs, Christian reflexes, which we have to restore."

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» RE: What aabout the teachers? Posted by: ginevranz
» Lefebvre Posted by: illit
John Knox articulated
Posted by: maggie on Feb 19, 2008 1:04 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
this sentiment in his sermon "Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women" published in 1558.

"For who can deny that it is repugnant to nature that the blind shall be appointed to lead and conduct such as do see,

that the weak, the sick and the impotent shall nourish and keep the whole and the strong, and finally

that the foolish, mad, and frenetic shall govern the discrete and give counsel to such as be sober of mind?

And such be all women compared to man in bearing of authority."

1558 - 2008: what's 400-500 years of history?

Sign me up for the Monstrous Regiment, I say!

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