http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=awp5zvUvkwYE&refer=home
April 16 (Bloomberg) — The New York Yankees and the city’s police department were sued by a Boston Red Sox fan who said he was ejected from Yankee Stadium in August because he tried to use the restroom during the singing of “God Bless America.”
Bradford Campeau-Laurion, a 30-year-old resident of Astoria, Queens, said he was the victim of religious and political discrimination. The New York Civil Liberties Union sued yesterday on his behalf in federal court in Manhattan.
“New York’s finest have no business arresting someone for trying to go to the bathroom at a politically incorrect moment,” Donna Lieberman, executive director of the civil- liberties group, said in a statement.
…
Unlike most other Major League Baseball teams, the Yankees seek to prevent fans from moving during the playing of “God Bless America,” according to the complaint. The lawsuit also challenges that policy. Off-duty uniformed police officers at the games are paid by the Yankees, according to the complaint and Browne.
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The article goes on to challenge the charges, saying the man was acting in a disorderly way and was ejected for that reason. Be that as it may, the Yankees do appear to have a “stand still during God Bless America” Policy.
God Bless America is NOT the National Anthem — the Star Spangled banner is, and it is the ONLY song for which you are supposed to stand. GBA is prayer set to words, and it may be patriotic as well, but it is not an official song.
We need an official movement of protest here. For those few who can still afford to pay outrageous prices for baseball tickets, I urge you to protest this policy by deliberately using the restroom, or buying a snack, or simply walking around during this song. Disturb nobody, but make sure they know that you are not standing idly by while they play a musical prayer.
Don’t be drunk, don’t be disorderly, and if they try to stop you don’t take no for an answer. Go as a team, and walk around as a team. Talk on your cell phone, and be otherwise visibly NOT paying attention. If anyone has any baseball tickets to spare, I’ll go with you to do this.
This isn’t very American at all, I’m sure that Mr. Campeau-Laurion will win his this case. Whats he supposed to wet his pants over a song? What kind of draconian policy is this? And people say Obama is a facist…
http://www.TheNewAtheist.com
Dave
If I lived NY I would take you to a Yankees game. How much are tickets?
I think they’re about $300 each now. For balcony seats.
Thanks to Q for alerting me about a typo.
There is NO song you should have to stand for. That’s a denial of freedom of expression.
Any event that involves the out loud singing of that song, or any out loud prayer of any kind is an event I’ll avoid way ahead of time.
Sports and religion go hand in hand because they’re both about a little war that people get to wage in their heads.
Why would someone go to a professional sporting event if they didn’t want to hear that horrible song? That’s to any Atheist who attends these events. If you don’t mind hearing it, there’s no complaint, I guess. If you have to hold still in reverence for that song, well that’s part of having a song like that sung at an event like that. If you don’t mind it being sung, you should also understand that part of that is the fact that people in general will expect you to hold still for it. It’s how that works. I know, it sucks.
With that being typed, that rule that you can’t visit the restroom during the singing of that or any particular time during the event sounds unlawful. I predict that the lawsuit will be successful. Good.
Me, I’ll avoid any such event, but also whenever that kind of nonsense gets aired where it shouldn’t at all under any circumstances, I’ll speak up – and possibly disrupt.
But for sure I won’t go to any professional game because of that religion being there in the plans for the event. That’s one way that Christians keep out dissenters, and it works very well.
If anyone in that business wants to get me to go to a game and fill a seat, they should be made aware that pushing religion on everyone there keeps thousands of people away from sporting events. That’s my experience and what I’ve heard from a great many Atheists across the US of A. We’d rather change the channel during that song, which we can’t do in the stands. Word to the capitalistic wise.
No gods, no masters.
joe zamecki,
Your plan to specifically avoid situations like this allow the religious folk to make you seem invisible, which is exactly what they want to do. Dave is right: there needs to be an active, staged protest. Staying away will allow them to continue the bigoted policy.
If people change the channel at home, it is not a very public action. If a hundred people or so visibly move around and cause disruption at the event while everyone else is remaining still, it will bring attention to situation and hopefully open it up to critical debate.
I’m considering buying a Yankees ticket just to do that.
Good Grief… as if there weren’t enough reasons to hate the Yankees.
I have a bad feeling that this guy in the story probably probably acted like an ass, which doesn’t justify the Yankees.
http://johnfrumandjesus.blogspot.com/
There is NO song for which I am *supposed* to stand. None.
Jingoism is religion with a liberal sprinkling of Nazism.
What thx1138 said.
10-4 that good buddy
This really pisses me off. As a sports fan, who will not tolerate that piece of fascism, I will now be subject for arrest at any game I attend. Does that mean that I have to be a christer to be allowed to PAY for my own entertainment.
Once in a while, they play that song at Michigan Stadium. I used to just sit through it, and once in a while get bitched at for it (but never by anyone official, ushers, police, etc), but last year I sang the Atheist Anthem, written by David Mandell. Apparently he’s made some changes but this is how I’ve learned it. Which also means that I made some changes just in how I remember it. I guess I can go look for the sheet music somewhere downstairs, as we at Michigan Atheists have sung it a couple times, at picnics, Alan sang it at the convention, etc.
We are the Atheists, free from mind control
We have no gods, devils or a soul
Our lives are happy, as anyone can see
Cause we love nature and humanity
(new version, 1st person singular instesd of plural
and 3rd verse “as people can see”)
Throughout the ages, ignorance prevails
Religious leaders preaching fairy tales
Stop all your ranting and thumping of your book
We are the Atheists, we won’t bite your hook
(new-Stop all your raving and your rhetoric
Your Religions make me sick- which is more to the point,
but way fewer sylables. Ma-ake Me-e-e-, etc. I like the older
version, but partly because I know it.
Reason (logic) and science, good for you and me
Not a foolish bible or a diety
Come out and join us, live life free and bold (That’s theclose to memory line)
We are the Atheists, free from mind control.
(I want reality as my goal
I am an Atheist, free from mind control- once again, fewer sylables
so he must have changed the melody a bit)
Sure I get screamed at a bit, but it’s better than wearing the burka.
Is it getting to the point that you have to profess or else just to watch a game. And I know that Atheists are notoriously non-sports fan, but how about going to a movie, a play, to see a band or an orchestra, to enter a park. Where is the line in the sand???
If the convention 2010 is in New York, New Jersey, let’s make it the field trip on Sunday.
great rendition teammarty…..I always sing “God Bless America….A Religious State”…..
Im also tired of seeing god bless america written everywhere….everyday I pass a huge sign that is displayed on the roof of a county ran spca….
Love the song, Team Marty…
I rarely attend events where this is played, but I’m printing out that version and will walk around singing it next time the ‘opportunity’ comes around.
I was born into a standard of living built by my grandparents, my parents, and I did my part, now I’m handing off an America to my son that was sold overseas for corporate greed. I don’t want to hear any patriotic songs, nationism is just another form of religion. I’d rather hear “Imagine” by John Lennon. Improbable as it might seem, it presents a vision of a peaceful human society when we put our human flaws aside. I think it should be the world anthem.
NeoWolfe
God-less America doesn’t have much in it that an atheist would object to, does it?
Neo Wolfe pulls out the curve ball…and I was expecting the high inside brushback heat.
what really bothers me is the “commanding” nature of the song. if people just sang “god please bless America” or “may god…”, as if it were a request or plea. I mean, just who’s in charge now here?
ecorona asked:
” I mean, just who’s in charge now here?”
Response: the one’s who have always been in charge. The one’s with the really big guns and the ones who have no conscience. Have you been in a coma since WW2? Time to wake up.
NeoWolfe
[...] David Silverman placed an interesting blog post on Baseball Ballad Blues « No God BlogHere’s a brief overviewUnlike most other Major League Baseball teams, the Yankees seek to prevent fans from moving during the playing of “God Bless America,” according to the complaint. The lawsuit also challenges that policy. Off-duty uniformed police … [...]