June 27, 2006
June 29, 2006

June 28, 2006

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE SOMETHING A RELIGION?

Have you been wondering in this World Cup time how soccer became a worldwide religion? Click here for some thoughts from the perspective of a citizen of India, where I learned to play soccer as a boy, though we called it football. Is this what the Ten Commandments is referring to when God says there to have "no other gods"?

* * *

ARCHBISHOP EGAN VS HOWARD STERN?

The Catholic Church in the U.S. is seeking a more prominent place in the media.

Sirius_logoSo it has worked out an agreement with Sirius satellite radio to create the Catholic Channel, which will be launched this fall.

The 24-hour a day, seven-days-a-week channel on the subscriber radio service will even feature regular appearances by Cardinal Edward M. Egan, archbishop of New York.

Listeners can even hear daily Mass from St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. But apparently the idea will be to rely a lot on a talk-show format.

It won't surprise you, probably, to learn that this is not the church's first effort to reach out to people through radio. Already such networks as EWTN are available for radio listeners. In fact, for a fairly crowdy list of Catholic radio offerings, click here.

But free radio is a little different from satellite subscriber-paid radio, so it will be interesting to see how the church does in this new format.

When Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel, you have to wonder whether he had satellite radio in mind.

To read my latest Kansas City Star work, click here.

P.S.: In response to yesterday's entry here about the recent death of William Sloane Coffin, a helpful and well-versed reader (well, that describes most of you, I'm learning) left a link to a story about the death in May of another great churchman, Jaroslav Pelikan, author of many important and insightful books. If you missed that link, click here. In fact, in my column this coming Saturday, I plan to mention a new book by Pelikan.

Comments

Scansion

Wow, they believe in satellites? Have they figured out how to get a satellite orbiting the earth from colliding with the sun which we also know orbits the earth? Oh that's right, they forgave Galileo not too long ago.

It's starting to get spooky ... the next thing you know priests will marry, people will stop calling earthly men their father, they'll start requiring bishops elders and pastors to have raised families, and they'll reinstate the commandment to not make graven images. Scary stuff.

SC in KC

Regarding World Cup religion...

You have a congregation, you have praise and worship, you have codified rules and orders, and you have different sects. Some people even believe that there are eternal consequences. I would qualify it as a religion, though not one I would choose to join (too much running).

Regarding Sirius Catholicism...

I think it's wonderful that the Catholic church is using the technology to reach out in obedience to the great commission. Obviously, this can't be their only outreach.

Just as important as the witness of the word is the witness of the deed. Seekers of truth must see us LIVING the gospel, not just espousing it. I genuinely feel that this is what keeps most people out of our churches, that they would hear us preaching but not see us practicing. Nobody likes a hypocrite.

Kansas Bob

Soccer is neither football or a religion. Just checkout Arrowhead on a Sunday morning in the fall ... now that is what I call football-style worship ... albeit a bit of idolatry :)

Scansion

It seems to me that it takes two things: a belief that you have absolute truth, and action that backs up that belief.

For many educated in science who don't know how science is constantly being corrected, science becomes religion. These poorly-educated scientists believe that science is absolute truth, and they put their faith in science. Most of us have at least some faith in science every time we hit the brakes in our car.

I saw that mathematics was a religion for many. They thought that somehow the system of mathematics was absolute in nature; and yet they did not understand that the choice of axioms for math is still actively debated and explored (much like the old example of the parallel line axion). And we don't (and can't know from inside the system) whether or not math is consistent.

Godel gave a theorem in logic that showed us that no finite system of truth was ever unique. We could always add to the system, and two people could do so in incompatible ways. This lead to "cultural relativism," a humanistic religion with the central theme that "there is no absolute truth." Of course, that statement is self-contradictory, the very kind of statement that Godel used to prove his point.

Christians believe in a absolute truth, one authority, and they prove that they believe in the promises therein by action known as acts of faith.

SC in KC

Scansion,

You've been listening to Ravi Zacharias, haven't you? I haven't heard as intelligent and succinct distinction between Christian faith and intellectual pseudo-religious ideology since the last time Ravi spoke of it. Thank you for you perspective, and your clarity. I think you hit the nail right on the head.

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