No spelling on Sunday

Human Race: Championship bee prospects are no match for Sabbath observance | Lynn Vincent

Christians in Indiana are drawing parallels between spelling champ Elliot Huck, 14, and Eric Liddell, the Olympic runner who refused to compete on Sundays, and whose story is told in the movie Chariots of Fire. Elliot, who advanced to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 2005 and 2006, will not compete this year, his last year of eligibility. That's because the Herald-Times, the newspaper sponsoring Bloomington's regional feed-in bee, scheduled the contest on a Sunday.

Elliot, on his own, decided he would not compete: God commands Christians to keep the Sabbath holy, he said. "If I make exceptions to following God's rule, even if it is only once, there will be more exceptions that will follow," he said.

In past years, the Herald-Times held the Bloomington bee on a Saturday. But publisher E. Mayer Malone Jr. said that this year, Sunday, March 4, was the only date that fit "several considerations." Though several citizens offered to help overcome obstacles related to venue (the public library) and filming logistics so that Elliot could compete, Maloney refused.