Why the Super Bowl and secular spirituality are so popular
The Daily Article
The Denison Forum
4.9 • 576 Ratings
🗓️ 1 February 2019
⏱️ 5 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Super Bowl is a metaphor for secular spirituality. Today's podcast explores reasons why both are popular and invites us to follow Jesus with a transforming commitment that will impact our culture. For more news discerned differently, or to receive the Daily Article via email, please visit denisonforum.org.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Why the Super Bowl and secular spirituality are so popular. This is Jim Denison's daily article for |
| 0:06.1 | Friday, February 1st, 2019. When Tom Brady played in his first Super Bowl, there was no iPhone or |
| 0:12.3 | Android. No Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Spotify, or Gmail, no Uber, Airbnb, or iTunes |
| 0:19.0 | store. Jared Goff, the quarterback who will oppose Brady in this Sunday's |
| 0:22.4 | game, doesn't remember watching Brady win his first Super Bowl. Golf can be forgiven. He was seven |
| 0:27.5 | years old at the time. If the Rams win, Sean McVeigh will become the youngest coach to win a Super Bowl. |
| 0:33.2 | If the Patriots win, Bill Belichick will become the oldest. It's likely that more than 100 million people will watch a Sunday's game. |
| 0:40.9 | Last year, Super Bowl was the most watched television event in the U.S., tripling the highest-rated |
| 0:45.1 | non-football program. |
| 0:46.7 | The Super Bowl was a metaphor for another very popular activity in the U.S. |
| 0:51.0 | Nearly 90% of Americans say they believe in some kind of deity or spiritual force. |
| 0:56.3 | However, more than a quarter of Americans say they are spiritual, but not religious. |
| 1:01.0 | Their number has grown by 42% in the last six years. |
| 1:04.8 | While 9 and 10 Americans claim to be spiritual, religious, or both, less than 20% regularly attend church services. Clearly, spirituality is |
| 1:12.7 | popular in America. Religion, less so. Why the difference? Let's examine the Super Bowl for |
| 1:18.5 | insights into secular spirituality today. The extravaganza that is the Super Bowl is a welcome |
| 1:23.6 | distraction from tragic problems that dominate the news. For example, while the U.S. |
| 1:28.1 | accounts for about 5% of the global population, our residents consume about 80% of the global |
| 1:33.5 | supply of prescription opioids. Virginia's governor came under fire this week for supporting |
| 1:38.4 | third trimester abortions in a way that seemed to advocate allowing a child who has been born |
| 1:42.7 | to die. And Catholic authorities in Texas have released the names of 298 clergy accused of sexually abusing children. |
| 1:50.0 | In such a chaotic culture, televised distractions like the Super Bowl are understandably popular. |
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