Disqualified, after taking third place in Georgia’s 5A cross-country finals, all because of a Bible verse on the inside of a headband. John Green, a high school runner from West Forsyth, wears a headband to hold back his shaggy mane while running.
He was asked to turn his headband outside in because of the verse that was on it, to which he complied. He has worn a headband at previous events and state finals, with no repercussion, but this time, in spite of having two officials approve his headband, the third official ruled it an “uniform violation”.
After crossing the finish line, Green should have celebrated his third place finish, but instead was faced with a disqualification because of his Bible verse adorned headband offended someone.
A statement was made by Green’s Assistant Coach Scott Griffith, “It is hard to understand how an unreadable, inside-out Bible verse is something harmful to our sport and worthy of a post-race disqualification of a student athlete.” There is really no other explanation that fits the reality.
There are no rules against headbands, two out of three officials approved the headband and Green complied with turning it outside in, thus the most obvious conclusion lends itself to disqualification due to religions persecution. Read more on the next page.
Shame Shame Shame Shame Shame Shame Shame Shame
Keep wearing it!
Stupid….what happened to freedom of religion?
I can almost answer every single post on fb this way, “What is wrong with people these days? They act like they have no sense and no morals”.
People need to get over it. God for s that person’s business. Petty. GTF over it!!
Lousy typist. God is for that person’s business. If that is a crisis to you, get a life!!! It is grossout. Democratic Republic. Doing.
That school needs to get a life
Um, the first thing I noticed from the photo was his shorts. Those should be banned, not the Bible verse.
Before I fully read it I saw banned and said it must be the shorts lol
“First, let’s be completely clear that this disqualification had nothing to do with what was written on the athlete’s headband. The fact that it was of a religious nature did not enter into the decision whatsoever.
“Also, despite published reports to the contrary, the athlete and his coach were informed before the start of the race that the headband in question was illegal and could not be wornduring the race.
“After being informed that the headband was illegal, the athlete removed the headband and the meet referee assumed he would run the race without it. However, at some point after that, the coach and the athlete made the decision to ignore the warning and the headband was put back on. Since the athlete then ran the race with apparel that had already been ruled illegal, there was no choice but to issue a disqualification.”