OP said "noted" when I voiced my concern so I'm not here to try and beat a dead horse. Maybe I need to clarify my position, though.
I have ZERO problems with what gods somebody chooses or doesn't choose to believe is real. It's personal and it's their right. I have enjoyed walking a course with believers and throwing Frisbees with them and have had a great time. I look forward to it. We can share the space and the activity together because that's what Disc Golf is all about. It's for everybody.
I played a round once with a random group of Mormon door-to-door proselytizers who were taking a break from spreading whatever good news their religion offers and joined me in tossing some Discs at the baskets in the local neighborhood park right across the street from their last "gig" (it was the small course in Charlotte, MI the year it first opened). They NEVER tried to convert me to their religion at all, just enjoyed tossing Frisbees with me. It was a good time and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. They looked comical playing Disc Golf in their Sunday best and neckties and polished shoes. It makes me smile every time I think about it.
Disc Golf is for everybody.
Do you want to invite players to a pre-tournament prayer before registration starts in some private, quiet location? Knock yourself out! That's totally cool with me. I imagine it would bring you a level of peace that might even translate to better C1X putting.
It's this idea of compulsory religious participation in sanctioned Disc Golf (or else be cast aside...go get a hot dog and a soft drink, you subhuman, you) where I'm going to draw a hard line and raise a giant ****ing red flag. And I hope the OP is paying attention and not just paying lip service with his "noted."
Even if a large number of people believe the religion and that its supernatural stuff is real and righteous (and again, I'm fine with that), there are a large number of us who don't. Yes, even down south. Thus, taking a specific god and making it the focal point of the opening festivities of a Disc Golf tournament (or anywhere else outside of church or private property) is being pushy about it, possibly toward others who might even have negative experiences in that religion and don't wish to always have to go around in life reliving it.
I was raised religiously and was a religious person until early adulthood. I know what it's like walking around actually thinking all that supernatural stuff is real and good. You want to help others believe it too out of genuine concern. I get that. Most often it's with good intentions.
What Dave said earlier is the best logical route from that point of view, I believe. Live by example. Don't be a dick about it. This is a Frisbee-throwing event, not church. What about somebody who was abused by church officials? Apparently there are a lot more of them than the 1950's would want us to believe. Don't they have a right to play Frisbee in a sanctioned tournament in a public park without being reminded, even for just one minute, about their childhood abuse at the hands of somebody who represents that all-powerful invisible man who did nothing to stop the abuse?
There are other reasons to never do this. For example, if you get to hold the tournament up for a Christian prayer, why shouldn't a tournament director of other religions get to do this too? Would you be cool with some Islamic prayer after your Christian prayer, then everybody off to their tee designation?
To be honest, the way the OP declared how he wished to foist prayer and a national anthem on Frisbee players moments before they embark on a Frisbee throwing activity, it came off as chest-thumping. Don't deny it. I echo what others have said if alpha-maling your political identity is a top priority at a Frisbee event: just go ahead and make it exclusive to fundamentalist Christianity and/or right wing politics and be done with it. Call it the Jesus Disc Golf Association or something. Just don't call it the "American" Disc Golf Association and wrap yourself in its flag. You don't hold a monopoly on what America stands for just because you pray to the Christian god and are the sort who enjoys making everybody stand at attention and salute a flag like they're in boot camp, even a flag that guarantees in its constitution that you have free speech and it isn't compulsory by law to pledge allegiance to it. Would you want Bernie Sanders supporters, for example, to get to do some sort of progressive pledge of allegiance afterward as equal time? Nope?
Neither do I. I'm here to hit tight lines with my Pro Leopard, make that 35-footer for birdie, and have a good time with friends while competing with them, not pray and salute a flag.
What makes America great is, in theory, its freedom and its inclusiveness. The people who wave the red, white and blue while going against freedom and inclusiveness are hypocrites and un-American, if you were to ask a lot of us who enjoy playing Disc Golf. We don't want that **** starting off our events.
Disc Golf is for everybody.
Pray to our specific god and salute a flag with us in this sanctioned event, or go get a hot dog? Give me a break.
Oh, and if you're going to ignore all of this and go through with the public prayer anyway, be sure you're not holding these tournaments in public parks paid for by EVERYONE, including those of us who don't share your unobservable beliefs. They are PERSONAL beliefs. Go into thy closet, shut thy door, and shut the hell up about it, like your bible tells you to do, especially if you are in a position of power in a public space. Please, and thank you.
Hope I wasn't unclear. Disc Golf is for everybody.
Disc Golf is for everybody.
Disc Golf is for everybody...
