Methodists object to Richmond Braves
Virginia’s capital has lost the 2012 United Methodist international conference because it is home to a minor league baseball team named the Braves.
[…]
Kenneth Branham, chief of the Monacan Nation, which is based near Lynchburg, Va., told the [Washington] Times that he has no problem with the Richmond Braves. The team’s mascot is a talking duck.“The mascot thing has been blown out of proportion,” he said. “The problem is not that teams have American Indian names and mascots, but how those mascots act.”
OK, so a private enterprise has a mascot that is ostensibly offensive to Native Americans (even though a Native American representative says it isn’t), and so they are going to move their convention to another city.
THE CITY DIDN’T NAME THE TEAM, PEOPLE! Geez.
Waaaaitaminit.
Yes, this is trivial and stupid, but other than that connection, how
does “vicarious and pointless offense-taking” equate to “radical
Islamist”? Okay, they refuse to give Richmond their business, but
they’re not burning embassies and suchlike.
Or did I miss something in the news I don’t read?
I said “use same logic”, not same response. In both instances, a religious group punished an entire community based upon actions of a very small, non-gorvernmental sub-group.
I wonder what the UMC intends to do next…’excommunicate’ any Methodists who play for the Kansas City Chiefs? Withhold scholarships from students at the University of Florida (the Seminoles) and withdraw their campus minsters? Maybe they should stop paying their federal income taxes because Washington’s team is the Redskins.