HuffPost Editorial - Nebraska: Fire Assistant Football Coach Ron Brown

[Nexus]

For over 20 years University of Nebraska assistant football coach Ron Brown has used his position in the university to preach his discriminatory, anti-gay brand of Christianity. His latest crusade to fight for discrimination against the LGBT community finally warrants his termination from the school's football program.

 

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[Comish]

For over 20 years University of Nebraska assistant football coach Ron Brown has used his position in the university to preach his discriminatory, anti-gay brand of Christianity. His latest crusade to fight for discrimination against the LGBT community finally warrants his termination from the school's football program.

 

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Maybe the author should ask the thousands of specators and a national TV audience their opinion of Ron Brown as he delivered the pre-game prayer at Happy Valley last November and see if they discerned a hateful man.

[JJ Husker]

Meh, consider the source- Huffpost Gay Voices. Ron Brown is not a hateful man. He has an opinion and his Christian beliefs and he is entitled to them. He may want to be a little cautious in what capacity and which settings he shares his thoughts however. I don't see a problem with him sharing his thoughts and identifying himself as a Nebraska football coach but he may not want to share those same thoughts in any official UNL capacity or it may come back to bite him.

[Count 'Bility]

I officially nominate myself to travel to where this idiot lives and sternfully fill the back of his throat with my size 14 boot.

[carlfense]

Eh. I don't think he should be fired.

 

Some of his words and actions make me a bit uncomfortable when he is acting in his official capacity but his speech to the Omaha council is not (IMHO) enough to call for him to be fired.

[rawhide]

I think there is a part of the Constitution about freedom of speech somewhere??? I'll bet that Coach Brown will also say that his stance on his beliefs are his and not the University. I doubt he would presume to put words in the mouths of our illustrious Regents. Coach Brown stating he is a coach is like me stating I work at a hospital. ??

 

If the UofN terminates him for that I'd think that a huge lawsuit is on the horizon.

 

 

.02

 

GBR

[carlfense]

I'll bet that Coach Brown will also say that his stance on his beliefs are his and not the University.

That's actually the problem . . . he introduced himself as Ron Brown, football coach at the University of Nebraska.

 

If he would have just said "Ron Brown" then there is absolutely no problem. Even more so if he would have said that these are his words and his words alone . . . not the view of the university.

['SkersRule]

I personally find much of what Ron Brown says as purely bs. But he has a right to say it, his players, and the rest of the players on the team have a right to listen or ignore. Why does the left always want to stifle speech they don't agree with or have the people saying said "disagreeable" speech fired?

[carlfense]

Why does the left always want to stifle speech they don't agree with or have the people saying said "disagreeable" speech fired?

Yeah! The right would never do that . . . especially not in the classroom . . . especially with something like "science."

[Lil' Red]

I don't think his speech warrants firing him but in the future I believe that he should do a better job of clearly differentiating his views from the views of the university.

[walksalone]

I think Ron Brown should heed the words of Ice Cube, who once proclaimed, "you better check yourself, before you wreck yourself"

[tmfr15]

As usual, it's not words, but actions that carry weight. If Coach Brown is approaching players and attempting to intimidate them into thinking what he does, he should be fired. And if that was going on, he would have been fired long ago. I really feel that Coach Brown is, overall, a great person and role model, even if you don't agree with his religion, or even if you are not religious in the least, i.e. a complete atheist. I don't think he would make a habit of ramming his beliefs at players in a classroom or on the field. If a player comes to Coach Brown in confidence and wants to talk about faith or Christianity, then that would be a different issue. Then again, I don't think a gay person is going to start a conversation like that with Brown. Just saying.

[Excel]

Did Coach Brown really say and do all that the article alleges?

 

I'm sure there are two sides to this but to be honest if what Mr. Zeigler writes is true then having a person like Coach Brown associated with your program may be as damaging as it is beneficial.

[Husker_x]

I tried to give this issue some thought before weighing in because I think it's a little complicated. First and foremost, for anyone who wonders why discussions about religion matter, here is a case in point.

 

Ron Brown is by no means alone or even a minority voice in the Christian community. In every church I've ever attended regularly--and these range from mega churches to small congregations of less than fifty people--the basic stance on homosexuality, as dictated by the bible, is that homosexuality is a sin. The things Brown says should come as a shock to no one, and what people should quickly internalize is that he really believes this stuff. He thinks he's doing the Lord's work. Many Christians believe homosexuality to be a sin. I repeat, a sin. Someone who 'practices' homosexuality is, by definition, a sinner, and not in the sense that all have fallen short of the alleged glory of God, but a practicing sinner.

 

While mainstream America and even some aspects of religion have been brought kicking and screaming into the 21st century (and will continue to come along thanks to the country's youth who generally have no patience for bigotry), this is simply a case of civil rights vs. religion. Almost all opposition to the gay rights movement is religious in nature, and flows directly from the so-called logic employed by Mr. Brown. The part where this gets tricky is that Brown has a right to his bigoted religious views. And while it's comforting to see that most sane people condemn his public statements, it doesn't much change the fact that if you're gay and you play running back at Nebraska, so long as Brown is coach, you might have a problem.

 

I don't know that the university would have grounds to dismiss him for A) claiming to be a football coach at Nebraska (which he is), and B) spouting discrimination at a crowd while not working in his official capacity. The real question is, do the fans of the program want Nebraska to be known the place with the coach who's going to try to share the love of Jesus with gay sinners in the locker room? In the year 2012?

 

I don't have a great answer to this question.

[Jarred04]

Two weeks ago I listened to him speak. He made sure this time he said he is NOT representing the University while he was speaking, and did so with a wry smile on his face. He was very serious (imagine that) and spoke about what he said and that he still believes homosexuality is a sin. He then read the passage of the Bible that stated this. He also made it clear he is not "for" discriminating or preaching any hate or aggression towards anyone. He says this is very black and white.

It's tough, because I know he isn't going to change the way he feels and he will not stop saying this in public forums, but I completely understand why the University cannot condone the things he's saying. His stance was that people cannot "change the rules" of Christianity, and that people need to follow the rules if they want to consider themselves Christians.

 

Be clear I am just trying to summarize what I heard while listening to him speak. Hopefully I'm not misrepresenting or misinterpreting. I am keeping my own thoughts and beliefs out of this post.