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Old 03-15-2006, 05:59 PM   #16
Chris Li
 
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Dojo: Aikido Sangenkai
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Join Date: Dec 2000
Posts: 3,313
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Re: Religious Restrictions on Training

Quote:
Michael O'Brien wrote:
It depends on the factors involved; For instance in the only class I'm able to attend right now in our dojo on Tuesday and Thursdays it averages between 2-4 people in the class. In that case, yes, it is a huge accomodation.

What happens when a girl comes in and says "I don't feel comfortable training with guys, I only want to train with girls and you let him train with only men so you have to let me train with only women."

Then someone else comes in and says "I want ..."

When you start making accomodations people will find a way to take advantage of it in most cases.

Just been my experience in life.
Since accomodations are already commonly made in dojos, the slippery slope argument made above is fairly weak. The key here is whether or not a request for an accomodation is accompanied by a reasonable explanation. Opinions may vary, but in my book it seems that adherence to the established beliefs of a well known religion is on a very different level of explanation than the one given by the girl. Even in a small class (and I train in some very small classes) I don't see it as that much of a problem, but I suppose that YMMV.

Best,

Chris

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