Ugly chants heard at BYU road games over the past few years, as recently as last week when the Cougars played football at Cincinnati, have been aimed not just at BYU, but at its sponsoring religion — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — and those who practice that faith.
And when a religion is verbally attacked with a chorus of “F--- the Mormons,” the more hard-hearted might say, “Hey, it’s no big thing,” or “Laugh it off,” or “No harm, no foul.” But to individual Latter-day Saints, it is or can be harmful and a foul.
Such was the case with Brandi Hicken and her husband, Jared. Brandi posted her story on social media, illustrating a perspective that might have dissuaded all but the cruelest of those who participated in the chant from doing so.
Hicken explained that she and her husband, big BYU fans and alums, decided to travel the distance from their home in Grand Blanc, Michigan, to Cincinnati’s Nippert Stadium to root for their Cougars and to reinstall a little fun in their lives after the trauma they had experienced at their Latter-day Saint church some eight weeks before.
They were worshipping that Sunday morning when a gunman rammed his truck into their chapel, shooting and killing congregants and burning the building to the ground. As she wrote in the post and in a message to Cincinnati’s athletic director: “As my family (me, my husband, and our three young children), ran for our lives, my husband and my 5-year-old daughter were both shot. I was also running with my 15-month-old baby and my 3-year-old in my arms as I was struck in my back with shrapnel. I will spare you any further details about the nightmare we lived through that day and the recovery that has followed, but miraculously me and my family all made it out alive.”
She added further: “The anxiety and fear we have felt since that day has been debilitating. We have put in a lot of work in [those] eight short weeks so we can try to feel some sort of safety and normalcy again and enjoy the things we used to, including football games.”
Hicken went on to say that she and Jared, since the attack, were still somewhat scared and overwhelmed to get out and do something in public, but they realized they couldn’t live in fear, allowing it to prevent them from experiencing things that “used to make us happy.” She said she hesitated to don the BYU gear that would identify her at the game as a “Mormon.” She did it, anyway.
“We came. We smiled. We cheered. We enjoyed ourselves,” she wrote. “… Until the University of Cincinnati fans began to chant ‘F--- the Mormons.’” She said she had heard the chant at games before, calling it “disheartening.” But she continued: “Now that we Mormons have been quite literally targeted, attacked, chased, shot at, and some of us have been killed simply for being ‘Mormon,’ this chant is no longer just disheartening. It’s crippling. It’s personal. It’s unacceptable. Period.”
Whew.
Brandi Hicken called for action. Cincinnati officials have apologized.
But is that enough? The same boilerplate apology that has come from schools such as Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, Providence, among others, before? Is a fine coming from the Big 12 enough?
Latter-day Saints have no absolute control over what people say or chant about them. Realizing that such chants typically are hurled from college students who sometimes might have indulged in and enjoyed a little too much of their favorite beverage at the games, and that those voices aren’t necessarily indicative of comprehensive attitudes about the church everywhere, it might be a good idea for Latter-day Saint leadership to consider what’s prompting such noise.
What happened to the Hicken family and their fellow congregants in Michigan is abhorrent and the effect of a criminally sick mind. The chants? They’re neither clever nor funny. Without tolerating or excusing them in the slightest — they’re straight bigoted and should stop — the church, on its end, perhaps could reflect a bit to determine from where and why such nastiness emanates.
Nobody chants “F—- the Catholics” or “F—- the Methodists” at games involving teams at schools owned and operated by those religions.
What makes “Mormons” so different, as to be singled out in this manner?
I do not know, not with any exactness.
Is it because the church is wealthy? Is it because of the church’s position on certain social issues? Is it Satan stirring attacks on followers of God’s one true church? Is it the fact that the church fancies itself as God’s one true church? Is it because followers of the faith sign off on that kind of exclusivity? Is it specific tenets of the faith that offend? Is it due to certain practices in the church’s history, including now-abandoned racial policies? Is it because so many Latter-day Saints voted for Donald Trump, a president that often uses hateful speech, cruel words targeting groups of people who either disagree with or who aren’t like him, and Latter-day Saints continue to so often vote Republican?
That seems like an awfully deep dive for students — some of whom may not have ever heard of the church — looking to leave their studies behind for a few hours to party a little and have a good time at a sporting event.
Is it because BYU features visiting teams that, more often than not, beat the home team, and that kind of winning breeds contempt? Is it because one guy starts in on the chant and others join in, as a means of evidencing disgust at losing another game?
Whatever it is, one possible solution to the trend, other than counting on human decency to kick in or relying on heavy fines imposed by school or conference officials, is for the church and its university to do precisely what it’s been doing, only do it more. Namely, contribute to good causes that positively affect the lives of those with whom they compete.
Two examples of such charity were recently on display when 1) BYU fans noticed a call for contributions to Texas Tech’s team barber and his wife, who was hit and hospitalized by a drunk driver, and the family was in need of financial help. Cougar fans poured money into that account, and gained the praise not only of those directly affected by the tragedy, but also of Red Raider fans who thereafter likely did away with any negativity they might have previously felt toward Latter-day Saints. And 2) Prior to the Cougars’ game against the Bearcats, BYU and its sponsor donated 27,000 pounds of food for Cincinnati students who were suffering from food insecurity. Those aided by that generosity — and anyone who was made aware of it — likely weren’t among those participating in the ugly chant.
BYU and the church do a lot of good in the world, and they should continue doing good deeds, a whole lot of them, even more than they currently do, not as a means of buying anyone’s approval or love, but just as a means of doing what the holy figure highlighted in the church’s official name would do.
Pour it on and keep pouring it on, not just because it might ease the chants, ease the belligerence, but because they’re fully able to do so and because it’s the right thing to do, the pure Christian thing.
A counter to that might be that even Jesus Christ was held in antipathy, at least by some, when he walked the earth, working his wonders. Here’s to hoping for charity’s better, more enlightened outcomes now.
Many folks may never line up with all the church’s positions, may not believe its doctrines, may not believe that the church is God’s one true church or accept that it thinks it is — and that opposing point of view, that lack of acceptance is OK, to each his or her own. Many of them probably don’t agree with everything preached by Catholics or Methodists or Jews. But what they can believe and accept is that Latter-day Saints, while not perfect, mostly exemplify what God would want them to exemplify — charitable, kind, giving people. People willing to contribute to the betterment of those who stand in need, friends and foes alike. Most humans would smile on that, and so would the heavens.
Either way, Brandi Hicken should be able to go to a BYU road game without feeling threatened.
Keep spreading the goodness to the maximum, then, and when a group of students, inebriated or otherwise, start in on “F--- the Mormons,” even if BYU is up by four or five touchdowns, smarter people wearing their same colors, rooting for the same team, will tell them to knock it off or drown them out with their own voices, or both.