The Lombardi Trophy and American Civil Religion

This Sunday I was fascinated by the presentation of the Lombardi Trophy at the Super Bowl, and how it becomes the final sacrament at one of the High Holy Days of American Civil Religion. As a scholar of religion, it was a particularly vivid example of how American Values can be concretized into a set of rituals and even in a central sacramental object. As a Christian pastor, it also kinda horrified me as an act of explicit idol worship. As many have pointed out, sports have become a functional form of religion in our culture, even if they may lack an explicit religious hierarchy or creed.

So, I decided to put all of this into a blog with a series of links for us to think about. 

For instance, is sport a form of idolatry?

Or is it rather another form of authentic religion?

For instance, we know that all religions have sacramental objects which are worshipped with very concrete forms of reverence, touching, and even kissing. The Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition has a fairly advanced form of theology and explanation for how we worship the Divine THROUGH the material means provided by icons and rituals.

This kind of worship is on display in the Roman Catholic act of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament: the Wafer of Bread that is said to contain and convey Christ's presence.

We see similar acts of reverence in Jewish Communities when they process the Torah Scroll in the Synagogue service.

Hindu worshippers often use similar acts in the adoration of God through the Murti-- Divine Images-- which are said to convey the presence of the Infinite through a finite statue of Krishna or Rama or another deity. Often, this adoration extends to symbolic feeding, bathing, and clothing rituals for the Murti of their God.

Even in Buddhism, which has no explicit Ultimate Deity, the relics and statues of the Buddha and other Buddhist saints are reverenced, venerated, and even touched and kissed.

And finally, in a religion as iconoclastic as Islam, we can still find types of sacramental adoration. Tombs of Muslim holy men, and even the prophet Muhammad, are frequently reverenced in very visceral and bodily ways. And relics, such as Muhammad's drinking bowl, can elicit very physical, emotional acts of worship.

And thus we come to the presentation of the Lombardi Trophy, which is every bit as religious (and/or idolatrous) as any other sacramental ritual found on the planet.

Or this:

As a parting thought, it is worth noting that every sacramental act, every liturgy of worship, serves certain functions. It first of all seeks to connect us to an Ultimate Reality and Meaning that is greater than ourselves, whether that is conceived of as God or Nirvana or Final Purpose. Second, every liturgy seeks to solidify and unify a community of persons with a common identity and shared purpose. Third, every liturgy seeks to concretely embody the core values that guide and orient that community. 

Thus, it is worthwhile to listen to George Carlin as he talks about the images, stories, and values that various kinds of sports embody. In this case, his classic bit about football versus baseball. Enjoy pondering all of this...