I’m not a religious person.
I used to be, but I’m not anymore. Now, I'm more of a “live and let live” kind of guy.
I don’t care what you believe as long as it doesn’t hurt or abuse anyone. It’s like the old saying goes: “My right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins.”
Unfortunately, we don’t always see this in today’s world of hyper-polarized religious conflict. Even things like sport and competition, two things I hold dear in my heart, are not safe from religious persecution.
Recently, the Women’s World Chess Championship was awarded to Iran, meaning that all contestants will be traveling there to compete. There’s one small hiccup, though.
All the women will have to wear hijabs to compete.
I’m going to take an operational pause right here because it’s easy to read that sentence and assume I’m raging against Islam. I’d like to say I’m not criticizing Islam, I'm criticizing religious oppression.
That’s exactly what’s happening in Iran. There’s even Iranian social media campaigns where women are ditching hijabs as a statement against oppression. These women can face serious repercussions for their “crimes” if they are caught, and even they are abandoning the tradition.
At least one chess player, Nazi Paikidze, is refusing to compete. She’s sort of a chess superstar, and her absence at the competition will certainly be felt.
Unfortunately, this great competitor won’t get the chance to play because she feels like she should be able to play in whatever she wants — not in what some religion she doesn’t subscribe to says she must.
Nirantha Balagopal is a 25-year-old Tucson resident who occasionally teaches sixth graders in Tucson the basics of chess.
Balagopal, like myself, understands the difference between wearing a hijab as a form of religious expression in America and being forced to wear one in Iran.
"I think I would feel the irony in a sport that has historically featured men, to feel my own womanhood pigeonholed," she said. "In a very gendered society, if they let women compete in something "masculine," shouldn't we be held to the same dress code?"
However, the chess world isn’t the only one where the oil of religion mixes with the water of sport.
During the Olympics this past summer, at an event that’s supposed to transcend worldly political and religious conflict, we saw another display of religious bickering taking over sport.
In a judo match between Israel’s Or Sasson and Egypt’s Islam El Shehalby, Sasson eventually scored a victory by throwing Shehalby twice.
Traditionally, in martial arts, respect is placed above everything else. You win with humility, and you lose with grace. Refusing to bow or acknowledge an opponent is seen as one of the most disrespectful things one fighter can do to another.
However, at the end of the match, Shehalby refused to bow to Sasson. He wouldn’t even shake his hand.
Shehalby is a Muslim, from a country with historically shaky-at-best relations with Israel. He allowed these worldly issues to pervert the sanctity of the sport in which he was competing.
From my perspective, as a non-religious person, these things just seem silly to me. God doesn't have anything to do with judo.
I don’t think He exists, but if he were to, I really hope He wouldn’t care about these things. I’d like to think that He could just sit back and enjoy a thrilling judo bout or chess match without worrying about who loves Him the most and the loudest.
This argument tries to draw a line between religious respect and personal respect. I think bans on things like hijabs are just as ridiculous as forcing every woman to wear one, but that’s the world we live in.
No one takes the middle ground, it’s all or nothing. It’s either “Ban Scary Hats” or “Force Women to Cover Their Faces” because male lust is totally a woman’s fault (I said sarcastically).
Reach the columnist at cjwood3@asu.edu or follow @chriswood_311 on Twitter.
Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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