Nets Ignore Runner Disqualified for Wearing Bible Verse; Covered Hijab Case

Katie Yoder
November 16th, 2015 3:35 PM
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Was a teen runner disqualified for wearing a Bible verse? That’s the question Fox News commentator Todd Starnes is putting into the national spotlight.

On Nov. 7, West Forsyth High School runner John Green finished in 3rd place in the Georgia 5-A cross-country state championship. Immediately afterwards however, he was disqualified for wearing a white headband with a Bible verse on it. The three broadcast networks, ABC, NBC and CBS skipped the story during their morning and evening news shows – although they have covered controversy over religious head attire before.

Green’s headband read “Isaiah 40:30-31,” an appropriate Bible verse for a runner:

"Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; but those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

Forsyth County News reported that officials initially approved of the headband.

“According to West head coach Clayton Tillery and others involved in the West program,” sports reporter Michael Foster wrote, “two GHSA officials cleared Green’s headband before the race. Then, a third man who was not in an official uniform or credentialed made a comment about the headband at the starting line and walked away.”

Officials from GHSA, or the Georgia High School Association, cited a “uniform violation” to the coach after the race. In the GHSA’s cross country handbook, Foster reported, “beanies, toboggans, ear covers” of a solid color are allowed with only “one logo.” There is nothing about headbands.

Green also wore the same headband at last year’s meet without disqualification, Foster noted.

He continued to outline his problems with the disqualification:

"Dozens of runners had headbands on, and, according to Tillery, there were other runners in the race who wore headbands with Bible verses and the like written across them. There was also no manufacturer logo on Green’s headband because last year, Tillery says, he ripped it off. There’s also the glaring issue of the third official not communicating clearly to Green or the coaches.

Even if, let’s say, there was an explicit rule regarding headbands, Green was still cleared by two of three GHSA officials that met with him before the race. That’s a majority rule. Without explicit rules, or consistent enforcement, it’s absurd that the GHSA refused to budge and robbed Green of a podium finish in his final year with the Wolverines."

Assistant coach Scott Griffith also worried that if Green did not wear his headband he would run into safety issues because of his long hair and the wet weather, Fox News’ Starnes reported.

But both Green’s father and the GHSA denied the disqualification for religious reasons.

“The fact that it was of a religious nature did not enter the decision whatsoever,” the association said in a prepared statement.

“I’m not sure what to believe,” wrote Starnes, “but there is one indisputable fact - runners who did not have Bible verses on their headbands were not punished.” 

While the media remain silent, Green’s classmates and Christians across America have taken to social media in protest with “#FreetheFro.”

Georgia Congressman Douglas Collins also chimed in: 

It’s not like the broadcast networks have shied away from religious head attire before.

Earlier this year, ABC World News and CBS Evening News reported on the Supreme Court case of Samantha Elauf, a Muslim woman who said that clothing store Abercrombie & Fitch refused to hire her because she wore a hijab for religious reasons (although, ABC and CBS used the word “headscarf” instead of “hijab”).

While a Supreme Court case naturally garners more media attention, John Green's story is also worth investigating. 

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