"As a matter of conscience and my faith, I do not believe it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner."
-- From "Girl wrestler in Iowa wins state match by default" by Jim Halley, USA TODAY 2/17/11
"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cassy and Megan and their accomplishments," Northrup said in a statement. "However, wrestling is a combat sport and it can get violent at times. As a matter of conscience and my faith, I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner. It is unfortunate that I have been placed in a situation not seen in most of the high school sports in Iowa."
Northrup's father, Jamie, is pastor at Believers in Grace Fellowship, a non-denominational church in Marion.
In most states, girls wrestlers compete against boys. Hawaii, California and Texas have girls-only state wrestling tournaments.
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From "Iowa Teen Refuses to Wrestle Girl, Citing Faith" posted at CBNNews.com 2/18/11
Jamie Northrup, the boy's father, is a Pentecostal minister. He said the family knew ahead of time who his son would be wrestling against and left the decision up to him.
"There's certainly no scriptures that address this and nothing doctrinal or church based," the elder Northrup said. "I just believe this is a principled decision."
"Joel believes, based on his conscience and faith, that girls should be treated with dignity and respect--taking nothing away from those two female athletes -- but wrestling is a combat sport," he explained.
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