America:
profoundly Olympian
As witnesses to Jesus, one mistake we make is thinking that American society is
secular. It isn’t. It is profoundly religious—but definitely not Christian.
By far the dominant religion in America is Olympianity.
Olympianity is the religion of power. It is the world’s oldest, most popular,
yet least recognized religion. Like all Olympian societies, America is structured
in terms of six false yet conventional gods: (1) Jupiter, god of politics; (2)
Mars, god of war; (3) Vulcan, god of technology; (4) Venus, goddess of sex; (5)
Pluto, god of money; and (6) Bacchus, god of consumption.
From a strictly sociological point of view, we can easily
verify this. The gods served by any society are those who provide two essential
services. One, they provide us with security, happiness, importance,
justification, and meaning. Two, they protect us from insecurity, misery,
unimportance, guilt, and meaninglessness. Because of their significance to us,
the gods, and the people who serve them best, are the objects of our devotion
and the subjects of our conversations.
Our devotion to
Vulcan
Vulcan, god of technology, is one such god. You can
easily understand how he meets all of our criteria for a god. From the Global
Technological System and its myriad component technologies, Vulcan’s finest
creations, we certainly feel provided for and protected!
Jesus values truth, freedom, love, and vitality the most.
Vulcan doesn’t. As god of technology, he is all about efficiency: obtaining the
best possible result with the least possible means. We might also think of
efficiency in terms of effectiveness or success.
Football as an
important example of such devotion
One important way we Americans express our devotion to
Vulcan is through organized sports. Today we will look at organized sports as religious
experience using football as an example.
Rigorous methods of
training
Certainly football is a fine example of sports
technology. Becoming a successful player in the National Football League takes
years of methodical training. Nothing is left to chance. Diet and exercise are
strictly controlled. Plays are endlessly practiced. Films are studied to
rationally develop more effective actions against particular upcoming
opponents. Statistics are kept on every important movement made by every
player. Players and teams are rated in terms of those statistics.
Emotional intensity
One sign of professional football as religious experience
is the emotional intensity associated with it. People experience happiness when
they speak about football games casually during the week. It grows in intensity
while watching a game and, even more so, when one’s team wins that game. It
reaches its peak with a Super Bowl win. After that achievement, there’s enough
positive emotional glow to cheer fans for seven months until the next season of
football begins.
The opposite, of course, is also true. If one’s team
loses, the result is an abiding unhappiness. If one’s team loses a championship
game, the loss is profound. If one’s team loses because of a bad call by a
referee or a bad play called by a coach, intense anger is the result. These
feelings of misery and anger are intense enough to adversely affect one’s
relationships with one’s family and colleagues.
Regular Sunday
worship
Americans enthusiastically attend Sunday worship, whether
physically or virtually through TV, at various large temples (stadiums) of
Vulcan where his player-priests perform their Sunday rituals in honor of him.
At the temple, we may join our priests in singing the “Star-Spangled Banner”—their
opening prayer to Jupiter, the god of politics and chief god of Olympianity.
Sometimes Sunday worship is also opened by a flyover by military jets—an
awesome if brief sign of the presence of Mars, the god of war. We may appreciate
the ministries of cheerleaders who represent Venus, goddess of sex. We may
enjoy communion with our fellow believers either before worship, at tailgate
parties, or during it, sharing the bread of hotdog buns and the cup of beer,
thereby honoring Bacchus, god of consumption. To be complete, we include Pluto,
god of money, by betting on the outcome of the game. All the gods are in this
together and we celebrate their presence in our lives by immersing ourselves in
their crowd. Rarely is Christian worship so emotionally satisfying.
These temples of Vulcan, by the way, are enormously expensive. Why would we as taxpayers spend so much money on constructing them if they were secular and not religious in significance?
Football players as
saints
As with all gods, Vulcan has his saints or heroes. In
professional football, these are the most successful players and coaches. The
best of these are permanently honored in what is called a hall of fame where
they live as immortals. Men so honored are said to be enshrined. To “enshrine”
means “to cherish as sacred” (American
Heritage Dictionary).
Like all good religions, Olympianity provides ways for us
mere mortals to enjoy some of the glory of our saints.
Sometimes we get close to them by going to public charity
events where they will be present. One current set of commercials shows one
professional football saint surprising ordinary mortals by suddenly appearing at
their athletic practices. They’re thrilled to see him!
We buy and wear replicas of their uniforms. By wearing
the replica of a shirt worn by a football player, we publicly proclaim our
personal identification with that player and his team. This increases our own
personal importance, gives greater meaning to our lives, and allows us to
experience the happiness which comes with the approval of others and
association with our chosen team’s success. We’re winners!
We fantasize about them. That makes us happy, strengthens
feelings of importance, allows us to bond better with our co-religionists, and
gives meaning to our lives.
We have our children join organized football leagues at
increasing younger ages. In the not-so-distant past, children created and
played imaginary games or spontaneously organized existing types of sport. We
demonstrate our bondage to Vulcan by regarding such activities as boring. Now,
if we don’t play football with others outdoors, we do it indoors as a video
game.
Special calendar
All religions have their own special calendars. Olympianity
is no different. Of course the Super Bowl is a major holyday in America.
Sundays too are special—Sabbath days for football. Watching the games is so
important, especially during playoffs, that oftentimes we Christians abandon
worship of Jesus for devotion to Vulcan and conviviality with his
community of fans. Even Fridays now are being claimed by Vulcan as people don
their team shirts, sweaters, and hats on that day to enjoy solidarity with
other believers, honor their team of priests, and show their devotion to
Vulcan. Roman Catholics once affirmed their devotion to Jesus and solidarity
with one another by not eating meat on that day.
Other organized
sports as devotion to Vulcan
What we have said of professional football applies as
well to other sports such as basketball, baseball, soccer, and hockey. It also
applies to the physical activities recognized as important in the Olympics. We
would do well to remember that the ancient Hellenians understood
their Olympic games to be of profound religious significance.
Copyright © 2015
by Steven Farsaci. All rights reserved.
