Nike is anti-religious, Christian phobic, and should be boycotted

I see what this guy is trying to prove, but the funny thing is that reality is 180* from what he's (poorly) attempting. A religious person (esp christian/catholic/etc) will be canned/reprimanded/shamed in a heartbeat, whereas if an atheist shares their views, nothing at all will happen...which is as it should be for ALL, geezus, don't everyone get their politically correct panties so wadded up, learn to hear something you don't agree with and NOT flip out and feel "violated" or "unsafe" or whatever other PC bull$*** you want to term it. truly pathetic how coddled our world has become (it's not just campuses, it's really everywhere nowadays!)

Stagger Lee wrote:

As an atheist, I'm a little offended that I can't insert my beliefs into everything I do with impunity. I mean, there are atheists that teach, are firefighters, bankers, some are even behind the pulpit.

When I got to work I can't just preach my dogma to my Christian bosses. It doesn't seem fair. I mean, we have some clients that are probably atheists. These bosses should probably be careful about letting people know their religious persuasion and our business practices should probably get more in line with retaining our atheist customers.

One of my co-workers even outwardly wears a cross! What if a non-believing client sees that!

You obviously don't live in the Bible Belt or the anywhere in the rural Midwest. The office I work in is (conservatively) 70% Catholic. The issue has come up in passing, and if asked I won't hide my beliefs. You'd have thought I just landed from the Crab Nebula. Christians have it backwards in many instances. Often they are the ones doing the shunning and persecuting.

Personally, I don't care if someone worships Curious George, Buddha, Coldplay, or a Swingline stapler. Like you, I also get tired of people crying persecution because they think they have the right not to be offended. Christians are not immune to this and are just as guilty as anyone else. The OP is a shining example.

I'm not gonna wade through this whole thread, but from the few responses I did look at I think the OP rates a very solid 7/10. THIS is quality trollage--I thought the OP was slightly, but *just* slightly, over the top, but still see this as an excellent effort.

Part of what makes this (i.e. OP, thread, and subject in general) funny is that Manny's religion also says not to get tattoos. As Manny himself might have pointed out, animals don't inject coloring agents into their skins, so why should humans do something so unnatural?

But of course Manny *wouldn't* point that out, because he likes getting tattoos:

http://athletetattoodatabase.com/img/wiki_up/manny.pacquiao1.jpg

In other words, he cherry-picks the parts of his religion that he likes, and ignores the stuff he doesn't.

Just like every other adherent, of ANY religion, that I've ever encountered. Maybe Nike was put off by his hypocrisy?

(Nah, I'm just kiddin'...)

Another Christian wrote:

I refuse to buy nike because

1) The sweatshop issue

Honestly curious. Do you research the source, with regards to child labor, for all the items you buy? Is the Nike 'sweatshop issue' old news or are there still issues with their shoe and clothing manufacturing?

What you're failing or refusing to grasp, and I suspect it's more the latter, is that we're in a time when anti-gay comments are generally not well taken so companies generally, certainly not universally (think Chic-Fil-A or Hobby Lobby), want to avoid being associated with them.

Nike may or may not have known that Pacquia was religious when they signed him. But being religious does NOT automatically equate to disliking gays nor does it equate to making public statements about one's likes or dislikes. So Nike could well have not known Pacquia was religious, or that his religious beliefs included strong anti gay feelings. or that there would be a time when he'd go public with that view.

Once he did they likely decided it was bad business to be associated with him and dropped him. His religion is tangential to the whole business. If he was an athiest and said the same things they'd still have dumped him.

Asakaka wrote:

The Civil Rights act says you cant punish an employee for their religious view.

You hate the Civil Rights act. Noted.

I'd bet anything that Manny is not a Nike employee, but rather a business partner. Or more likely Manny has a company that is doing business with Nike.

nO his religion is at the core of it. The man is a Christian. Whether he sins himself isn't relevant. You don't have to be without any sin to be a Christian. As a matter of fact, the religion itself teaches that everyone is a sinner of some sort. That doesn't take away the fact that he can still say what his religion teaches and he'd be accurate. If he says it, and he gets fired over it, it proves Nike is intolerant. They hire Christians and then fire them for talking about their religion. It's stupid.

Lol at "he has a tattoo"

So what?

Does the Catholic Church teach that homosexuality is a sin?

Yes.

All he did was say what his religion says. Now he's fired.

But anyone with any sense should have known this is his view since he's a member of The Church. And if you didn't know, by the fact that he's a member of that same church would mean he's affiliated with it.

Yet they hired him. Then they fired him for it. Again- Stupid. Ignorant. Intolerant,Bigoted = Nike.

Nike is a bigoted organization.

Would you rather Nike not hire Christians at all and avoid the risk of having them make comments that they'd later need to fire them for?

It's all much more straight-forward than people are suggesting. Nike is a business - all they care about is the bottom line.

They did a sponsorship deal with him because they thought it would help sales - they finished the deal because they thought continuing would hurt sales.

It's a calculation - some people will get upset by this, but fewer than would be upset by continuing the deal.

Any logical person is christian phobic. The damage done to humanity by such religious death cults is simply staggering.

"But anyone with any sense should have known this is his view since he's a member of The Church."

You might want to take a poll of "members of the Church" to see how many hold that view.

Polltaker wrote:

"But anyone with any sense should have known this is his view since he's a member of The Church."

You might want to take a poll of "members of the Church" to see how many hold that view.

For what? Why do you continue to argue that it's some shocker that a member of a church holds the views of that church. You're whole argument continues to be "they might not hold that view". But they likely do.

HRE wrote:

Would you rather Nike not hire Christians at all and avoid the risk of having them make comments that they'd later need to fire them for?

At least in that case everyone would see what a biased outfit nike has become. Nike is basically holding religion hostage. "You want a deal? Ok, give up your religion"

I think this point needs to be made known. Nike is going to extort you.

Polltaker wrote:

"But anyone with any sense should have known this is his view since he's a member of The Church."

You might want to take a poll of "members of the Church" to see how many hold that view.

In addition. Don't act like you don't hold some stigma toward someone for even being a member of a church that teaches traditional marriages are the only one. I suspect you'd want Nike to drop the guy even if he didn't mind gay marriage but you found out he was still a member of a church that does.

BLZ bubbles wrote:

Any logical person is christian phobic. The damage done to humanity by such religious death cults is simply staggering.

Yes, anti-religious maniancs are not murderous regimes? like athiest communist ones, or anti-Judaism fascism. You want to bring up history, acknowledge what anti-religion policies have managed to do. Feeding Christians to lions for being Christian. Those are real pleasant societies historically huh? Pfft

You brought it up.

Seems like most Christians are OK with gay marriage.

And there are gay Christians.

Asakaka wrote:

Those views are well known that religions feel Homosexuals are commiting sins. Doesnt matter whether me or you believe that. They do. Tyson Fury the heavyweight got the same flack, and people called for him to be banned from boxing (belt taken). Fortunately it didnt happen.

But the pretending will still go on , ie "NOT ALL people follow Scripture to a T"... Yet many do believe in it. This is NOT a surprise. It's also NORMAL.

You have a warped sense of what is "normal" among Christians. There are MAJOR denominations where the vast majority of the members do not have this hateful attitude toward homosexuals...Methodists, Universalists, Lutherans, and even the Episcopalians have come around to that view. When you throw in the throngs of Catholics who personally don't have a problem with homosexuals and the more liberal attitude of the current Pope, there are literally millions of Christians in the US who don't hold this hardline stance that you say defines Christians. My father was a Methodist pastor (now retired), and one of his best friends in life is a lesbian Methodist pastor. Fundamentalists don't have the corner market on Christianity.

AND, again, for any of you Fundies who have this hardline stance against homosexuals, you are ALL being hypocritical as you DO NOT follow the other tenets listed in the Bible as I have mentioned.

And finally, since when does a person's religious view trump everything? We don't allow all kinds of behavior due to religious views...can't murder, can't engage in polygamy, can't stockpile illegal weapons, etc. If a company hires you, you had better represent the company as they want or you will be severed from that business relationship. Nike doesn't owe MP anything. He engaged in deplorable hateful speech that they want no part of. They have that right, and he's an idiot.

Asakaka wrote:

HRE wrote:

Would you rather Nike not hire Christians at all and avoid the risk of having them make comments that they'd later need to fire them for?

At least in that case everyone would see what a biased outfit nike has become. Nike is basically holding religion hostage. "You want a deal? Ok, give up your religion"

I think this point needs to be made known. Nike is going to extort you.

So you'd want ALL Christian athletes, regardless of their political views, frozen out of endorsement deals? You want all of those sprinters who thank the Lord after they win races or make national teams to lose their contracts with Nike because it would show what a biased outfit Nike is and that it holds religion hostage? And if Nike is so biased and anti-religious, why do those sprinters still have their contracts?