Just How Much Is Sports Fandom Like Religion? - Michael Serazio. Pro sports teams are like what religion and sociology scholars call "totems"—symbols of greater entities that communities gather around for identity and unity.
Two San Diego fans perform the sacred ceremonial Chargers face-painting ritual before a game in 2011. (AP / Denis Poroy) The Super Bowl, professional sports' highest holy day, is again upon us. As fans paint their faces and torsos, pile on licensed apparel, and quixotically arrange beer cans in the shape of team logos, the question must, again, be asked: Why exactly do we do this for our teams? Why, in my own case, do I feel the need to sport a Chargers cap on fall Sundays sitting in front of the television when decades of futility, not to mention common sense, suggests it has little effect on outcome? The answer—and the secret of fandom—might just be found in a context far removed from professional football. Almost precisely a century ago, Emile Durkheim pondered along similar lines. Durkheim had a name for this, too. Losing Our Religion. Carl McColman: Would Thomas Merton Use an iPad? Contemplation, Technology and Discernment.
"Men have become the tools of their tools," wrote Henry David Thoreau in "Walden.
" He went on to say, "While civilization has been improving our houses, it has not equally improved the men who are to inhabit them. It has created palaces, but it was not so easy to create noblemen and kings. " A century and a half later, these words seem both prophetic and apt: our cultural fascination (some might say obsession) with ever-improving technology makes for rising standards of convenience and entertainment (for those who can afford it), nestled within ever-increasing systems of security -- but leaving human beings as susceptible as ever to our own brutality and rage, as events from the Sandy Hook massacre to the unceasing hostilities in places like Syria make all too clear.
The business cliché of "thinking outside the box" points to how sometimes we need a new or different perspective, in order to see possible solutions to a problem. What would such celestial heralds teach us? Daystar, TBN ready for Messiah in Jerusalem. JERUSALEM — If the Messiah descends from the Mount of Olives as foretold in the Bible, America's two biggest Christian broadcasters are well-positioned to cover it live thanks to recent acquisitions of adjacent Jerusalem studios on a hill overlooking the Old City.
Texas-based Daystar Television Network already beams a 24-hour-a-day live webcam from its terrace. Not to be outdone, Costa Mesa-based Trinity Broadcasting Network last month bought the building next door. The dueling studios are part of an aggressive push by U.S. evangelical broadcasters seeking to gain a stronger foothold in the holy city. Their presence not only offers boasting rights with American viewers and contributors, but also — and more controversially — a platform for spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to Jews in Israel.
In addition to its new multistory building, TBN is negotiating with Israel's Yes satellite television provider to secure a full-time home for its evangelical Shalom TV channel. What atheists can learn from religion. Alain de Botton says athiests are right to disbelieve religious dogmaBut he says they make the mistake of rejecting the benefits religion bringsDe Botton: Religion offers consolation, ritual, spirituality that atheists can adoptReligions have been the most successful educational movements, he says Editor's note: Alain de Botton is the author of a new book "Religion for Atheists" and of "How Proust Can Change Your Life.
" He is the founder of www.theschooloflife.com and of an architectural organisation called www.living-architecture.co.uk. He spoke at the TED Global conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, last year. TED is a nonprofit dedicated to "Ideas worth spreading" which it makes available through talks posted on its website. London (CNN) -- Probably the most boring question you can ask about religion is whether or not the whole thing is "true. " I prefer a different tack. TED.com: Karen Armstrong's wish for a charter of compassion. Alain de Botton: Atheism 2.0.
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