Yesterday evening, BYU played a basketball game against Providence College in Rhode Island. I’m assuming pretty much everyone knows BYU is run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but Providence is also a religious institution. Right on their home page, they describe themselves as follows: “Since 1917, PC has taken pride in being a Catholic and Dominican institution of higher education — one for those who seek truth, celebrate the relationship between faith and reason, and pursue these values in a loving, diverse, and inclusive community.”
That seems like a great mission, and one that would attract a student body focused on doing just that.
Yet during the game last night, that same student body repeatedly began to chant “F*** the Mormons” over and over. To the point that their athletic director had to go yell at them to cut it out, and then issue a public apology this morning, saying it doesn’t represent who Providence is and what they stand for.
Now, I realize that fans are dunderheads pretty much across the spectrum, and they do and say some awful things. I also realize that that Latter-day Saint religion is one that gets lambasted routinely online whenever it comes up even tangentially in a conversation. (If you’re ever on Reddit and someone mentions it, plenty of people will pop up to say just how awful and wrong they think it is, and how awful and stupid anyone who practices the religion is. It’s not pretty.)
That said, I also believe if Providence came to Provo, and the BYU student body started chanting “F*** the Catholics” . . . never mind. I don’t think there’s enough critical mass among even the most wrong-headed BYU students to actually successfully start that chant and keep it going. (Though if you switch the F word to something a bit tamer? Then yes, I unfortunately wouldn’t be stunned to hear of BYU students doing something that insensitive.) But I’d like to think no one would be successful with an anti-religious chant anywhere.
Clearly that’s not the case. There are also plenty of anti-Semitic chants that pop up these days, particularly at European soccer games. Latter-day Saints are not alone, though thankfully the chants last night didn’t lead to the sort of violence that has broken out in Europe over similar circumstances.
The thing is, sports has nothing to do with religion, or at least, it shouldn’t. I’m pretty sure God doesn’t have a favorite team, despite what some might wish to think, and I’m far from convinced He steps in to help any team win. When you go to a game, you’re there to do something that’s completely unrelated, other than the fact that some of the players might be religious, or the team might represent a religious institution.
I’d like to think this was an isolated incident, but it’s not for BYU. The same chant popped up at USC in 2021 and Oregon in 2022. At least, in those two incidents, school officials made public apologies, so it’s on the record as having happened. But it’s not like those are the only three times it’s happened. I don’t hear these sort of chants being aimed at other religious groups, but perhaps that’s just because it doesn’t pop up on my radar as easily?
I’m not what sure what else I have to add. Just a general disappointment that this continues to be an issue. I understand why people dislike my church’s stances on several hot button issues, and I respect their right to object to those stances. But I don’t think anything is gained by doing it like this, especially since I doubt many of the students chanting really understood what exactly they were doing. (I’m going to give the benefit of the doubt here.) They were just doing something that seemed funny to them at the time.
That doesn’t make it right, though.