Skateboarding Articles
Separation of Church and Skate » Jesus was a carpenter, but I doubt he built half pipes
The concept of separating "Church" and "State" was to prevent overzealous religious beliefs from dominating laws applicable to everyone - of all religions, beliefs and backgrounds. I think we need some of this division in skateboarding. If you want to skate for Jesus, go for it. Getting everyone to kick-flip for Christ isn't gonna cut it.
Everybody on the planet is unique - some more than others (and some of you are boring as all Hell) - so we often classify ourselves in ways that make us feel we align with something important to us. If you meet someone for the first time, what's the first thing you tell them about yourself? Think about it. The way you portray yourself to others tells a lot about yourself.
For example...
- When meeting the parents of a friend...
- Do you instantly tell them you hate Republicans or would you tell them you're a student or maybe tell them your profession?
- When pulled over for speeding...
- Do you instantly tell the cop that your taxes pay his/her salary or do you offer a plausible excuse and polite apology? (remember, cops have guns!)
- When meeting a blind-date...
- Do you instantly tell them about that hemorrhoid procedure you had last week or do you mention how much you like the food at the restaurant you're dining at?
- When You meet your friend's MILFie mom...
- Do you instantly tell her she's way hot or do you say, "Hi, nice to meet you"?
So why do religious people instantly want to tell us that Jesus died for our sins or that we too can be saved? Isn't having Jesus in YOUR life enough? Does he HAVE to be in mine too?
Small-talk among strangers is usually to establish some sort of commonality around whatever you happen to be doing. If I encounter someone in a church, go ahead knock yourself out and tell me you love Jesus. But if you're waiting your turn on a rollout deck, don't start telling me that the Lord will enable me to nail a 540 off the far wall. If you believe that, fine. Just don't share it with me.
Am I alone on this? Is anyone else wondering why religion is showing up in more and more skater interviews in the mags? From Lance Mountain to Forrest Kirby, I keep hearing about religious beliefs. OK, they aren't offering me salvation, but lets draw the line on too much info.
Very often innocuous mumblings about religion turn into outright born-again diatribes. Skateboarding is not a platform on which to erect your pulpit. If you have an opinion, swell. Please don't try to convert everyone you encounter.
Comic Relief
A comedian (whose name I've forgotten) summed up this scenario with an analogy to football. He noted that very often the winning team would thank God, Jesus, etc for winning a game. However, you don't hear the opposite when they lost... "Well, we were winning the game until Jesus made me fumble".
The other day I twisted my ankle trying to land a kick-flip... Jesus made me fall.
Convert This!
Just to assure you that I'm not the harsh asshole I appear to be...
I don't have problems with people being religious (or anything else). I get annoyed when they feel I should be like them. If you want to be religious, gay, republican or whatever... go for it. Don't expect that everyone wants to be the same as you. People are individuals. Everyone is different. If everyone was like you, the world would suck - no offense, diversity is cool.
Don't feel guilty if you skate in a church's parking lot and you're not religious. The priest inside doesn't feel guilty about wanting to molest you. But we can delve into that in another article...
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