There was a big artical in the local paper today about a christian TKD school, where they have to memorize prayers and bible verses as well as the moves and patterns for TKD. anyone familer with this? it seems a lot of the parents enjoy it cuz the kids learn more than the fighting part, unlike in some schools.
Tae Kwon Do is not religion and should not be used to advance or promote any religion. Any Instructor who does is misguided and does a huge disservice to his students.
i agree with you. religion should not be mixed with sport. here is just one example. not long time ago i took my kadets and juniors to an international competition. i was talking to 2 (male) instructors and then another one, an instructor from turkey, approached us and he shook hands with the male instructors standing next to me, and then he walked away. he didn't even look me in the eye. he didn't want to shake hands with me and he didn't greet me. those other instructors standing beside me got angry and didn't approve his behaviour but it seems that his religion does not allow him to shake hands with women. it doesn't feel good you know when he completely ignores you and i think it's very humilitating for women. his wife wears a cloth over her head, and when she competes, she doesn't take the cloth off, she simply puts the helmet over it. i disagree with that too. that cloth is not part of the competition outfit/gear.
Religion has no place in sport. neryo, if I were you I would have made a point of saying hello. Simply out of spite I despise men who believe women are lower then men. We are human and created with balanced qualities. Actually I believe women are the superior sex for the simple fact that they seem to have the humble ability to say "thankyou", instead of "I could have done that".
i wanted to shake hands with him, but he refused it by just leaving. i was really caught by surprise. at that moment i didn't say anything, as he left very quickly without even looking me in the eye. but my competitors won his, so the satisfaction was and is on my side. after that competition, at every other competition, he started greeting me, like: 'hello, how are you?' with a smile on his face. 2 weeks ago i ran into another instructor and i wanted to shake hands, it comes sort of automatically i guess, when you stretch out your arm, but that instructor politely told me: "i don't shake hands with women". this one has got better manners than the turkish instructor, but somehow as a woman, i didn't feel...good...it's like i've got a deadly disease or something. to be very honest, i could never imagine myself marry such a guy or such a religion.
The way women are treated in the Koran is disgusting. I'd much rather shake a womens hand them some sweaty hairy man . On the note of the christian tkd school. Sounds like a right load of crap. Sounds like they are trying to promote their church by using a popular sport like TKD. On the note of the muslim lady wearing her cloth while sparing. I really dont think that should be allowed. Im no racist, and respect multiculturalism as much as the next person, but changing the rules of TKD for other is not fair, and not right.
Haha funny how mentioned that after sayin that you dispise men who think they're better... Im not havin a go at you or anything, just something i picked out while readin ur post Back to the topic though, i agree with everyone else, Religion and Sport dont mix... just like how Salt and Vinegar chips and nutella dont mix , although my mate thinks otherwise
GOtta gree on the head cloth. If they want to dress liek injas and compete in Martial arts then they should take up Nijutsu But seriously the only religions that have a right to a place in martial arts are those that helped give birth to the art. Islam, christianity, Judaism etc... have no place at all in most eastern arts (obviously some eastern, expecially Filipino MA are Islamic in nature but they are the exception rather than the rule), it's just a sick attempt to "get em ehile they are young", ensurign that the indoctrination runs deep.
My pressing question is if she doesnt remove the cloth, how do you know its her your fighting, and not someone who has the same height/weight etc??
if you are talking about the woman i mentioned in my post, well, her entire head is covered with that cloth, except for the face, so i guess there is no problem. but the thing is she should not wear it. and imagine only how sweaty she is and the cloth after the fight and after removing the head gear. who knows if she changes the cloth at all?! we all know that so many different countries with different traditions participated in the world championship in madrid. nobody wore a cloth. i noticed that some girls put on the cloth, but later, when everything was finished.
Wow. Lots i disagree with here, but i'll only address the main topic, the christian TKD school. It *might* not help the art, at least not it's traditional side. (I don't do TKD so i dont know a lot about that). BUT, I just can't see what's so wrong about it. I knew of a church who meet like each wednesday to play volleyball. They prayed at the beginning and the end and what not. Pretty much the same feeling to me. Some people with the same interests wanna meet to practice a sport they like. No one forces them to join (except maybe the parents, but that's another point). Being a christian (or muslim or buddhist or whatever) is not something you can just leave at home when you feel like it (or when others feel like it...). It is a big part of who you are.
So should you be doing maths homework while you are at rugby training? Religion and Ma should be kept very far apart.
if it's a privately owned dojang, I don't see the big deal. If they wanna pray or burn incense or hump goats, for that matter, it's a privately owned organization with a clearly marked exit door. Some of the other stuff yall are saying I find fairly nauseating, but I'll leave it at that.
Isn`t it a bit of a contradiction to teach Religion next to "violence"? At this moment in time I don`t want religion anywhere near me so I personally think its a bad idea to mix it with Sport/MA. But, I guess if you are into that kind of thing then its no harm done, is it?
they would see it as TKD not being violence, but self defense and improving yourself, not as a way to become violent. i do think its privatley owned so they do have the right do to it this way, even though it has no interest to me.
I think that you will find that most MA's have some form of religious affiliation. So to say that religion and MA's should be kept apart could be a bit difficult. Also I found some of the previous posts quite disturbing in their views of islam. So what if some woman chooses to cover her head in regards to her religious beliefs, from what some of you were saying you would take away her human right to hold and adhere to a set of beliefs just because you are in some way offended. So what if someone doesn't shake hands with you, is that such a bad thing? Sure it would seem to be a bit rude but that is the way his culture and religion expect him to behave.
Only if you view religion as utterly unimportant and trivial. However, if you really do believe in a God, then religion should be central to everything in your life. It should be more a part of you than anything else you do. After all, isn't all of eternity more important than TKD? Do you believe your character and integrity should be kept far from sports too?
As far as wearing her head covering, what is the big deal? She is the one that is going to have to suffer with it. We make all sorts of other changes to the rules for religious and disability reasons that I can't see what the big deal is. Wearing the head covering doesn't give any advantage, instead, it makes her suck wind harder. As far as not shaking hands, I think that is rude. But I have had people refuse to shake hands and I am a man. On the other hand, would you respect a man that believes it is wrong to do something (shake a woman's hand) and does it anyway because it would be popular? Did you ever see the movie Chariot's of Fire?
If you are in a country, you should be expected to adhere to the beliefs and customs of that country. If you dont like it, well then go back home. I'm all for multiculturalism, but when it reduces the liberties of the other people in society, it should not be allowed. What if I wouldnt shake your hand because you are muslim, would you feel offended? Not shaking hands with women isnt just rude, its discrimination which is illegal in all western coutries. Covering her head is all well and good if it is allowed. It is not allowed in TKD, it is not part of the equipment allowed, so should not be worn.
I don't agree with mixing religion with TKD. Besides it distorts what TKD is. About this thing of that woman wearing her traditional clothing, I think that those people are still living in the middle ages. But anyway someday things might change for women in the middle east. People are free to believe in whatever they want, but when their beliefs go against the integrity of other people these beliefs should be restrained. We are no longer in the middle ages so a man won´t die if he shakes a woman's hand.
