Of Spiritual Apathy And Basketball Shoes
December 26th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
USA Today had an interesting article on the increase in the numbers of Americans to whom faith is not important. The piece quotes a couple of studies that indicate that almost half of people questioned have little interest in matters of faith. In fact, one person quoted in the article labels these people “apatheists”. It’s not that they don’t believe, it’s just that they don’t care.
“We live in a society today where it is acceptable now to say that they have no spiritual curiosity. At almost any other time in history, that would have been unacceptable,” Budde says.
She finds this “very sad because the whole purpose of faith is to be a source of guidance, strength and perspective in difficult times. To be human is to have a sense of purpose, an awareness that our life is an utterly unique expression of creation and we want to live it with meaning, grace and beauty.”
via Many say ‘So What?’ to God, religion, atheism – USATODAY.com.
Of course humans have an innate desire for devotion to something whether it’s to God or to something of our own creation. Before you reject my argument, consider this other story from USA Today about riots and other mayhem that was spawned by the release of a new version of Nike Air Jordan basketball shoes.
Scuffles broke out and police were brought in to quell unrest that nearly turned into riots across the United States on Friday following the release of Nike’s new Air Jordan basketball shoes — a retro model of one of the most popular Air Jordans ever made.
The frenzy over Air Jordans has been dangerous in the past. Some people were mugged or even killed for early versions of the shoe, created by Nike Inc. in 1984.
The Air Jordan has since been a consistent hit with sneaker fans, spawning a subculture of collectors willing to wait hours to buy the latest pair. Some collectors save the shoes for special occasions or never take them out of the box.
The sad fact is that we are replacing God with basketball shoes or some other equally trite talisman.
The challenge for us to whom our faith is important, is to make sure that we are communicating the relevance and importance of faith. We have to show that our faith practices matter, that they fill a need, that they make the world a better place.
I don’t know about you, but I imagine that I would find little comfort in a pair or Air Jordans at the gravesite of a loved one.
