That’s Us in the Spot Light, Losing Our Religion

Whenever a friend finds out I attend church pretty regularly, I tend to get one of two looks. It’s either a, “I didn’t think anyone our age went to church every Sunday” look, or a, “that’s something I feel like I should be doing, I should get on that” sort of look.

I have to admit, I don’t get the looks very often because I’m not a very good Christian in the evangelical sense of the word. My faith is not something I talk about with others unless it’s brought up, and even if it is I don’t make judgments about others involvement, or lack thereof and don't say much about mine. It’s my opinion that religion is a very personal choice that should come from ones own feelings and convictions, not something rooted in pressure, guilt or any other motivation other than personal desire.

Yes, the irony of a blog about religion after those first three paragraphs is not lost on me. However, I write about it only to make a point. If only I could stop digressing, I’d get to that point.

It's important to make the distinction between religion and faith before I go any further. I used the term religion in the title only to quote REM, but religion to me refers to affiliation with a particular church, while faith can be had without a church.

I don’t have very many friends who practice religion in a traditional sense, or are religiously affiliated. However, most of them have faith, and I would be willing to guess at least 75% will return to regular church attendance once the kid explosion hits my circle of friends. I have a feeling it’s going to be a lot like when all of my friends were suddenly getting married, only with offspring this time.

An ABC News article from May of last year found that both Generation X and Y are claiming no religious affiliations a unprecedented levels. The number of “younger Americans” that do not claim an affiliation is between 30 and 40 percent, compared to between five and 10 percent for all Americans.

It’s not hard to confirm that, just go to any local church on any given Sunday. You’ll see pews filled with scores of quadra, quinqua, sexta, septua and octogenarians. What you wont see is an abundance of youth. Sure, you’ll see some, but they are always way outnumbered. I went to Ash Wednesday service last night and I had one young lady in front, one behind me, and three to my right, and that was it.

It’s also not hard to figure out why. We youngsters are products of instantaneous information, constant innovation and change, and millions of attention diversions. As I type this, I’m checking my Twitter account and my e-mail. So, the thought of sitting through a tradition-steeped church service that moves at a snails pace and hasn’t changed in many, many years is a bit contrasting to the way we live.

The truth is, I don’t care whether people go to church, it has no affect on how I view them. It would be hard for me to see eye to eye with an atheist or someone who worships on the opposite end of the spectrum. As I stated at the beginning, though, I’m not one to care about others' choices in this matter. It is, however, interesting to see this phenomenon taking place, and I’m curious as to whether our generation will end up attending church at the same rate as those before us. Perhaps only the big guy knows, err.. that is if you believe in that sort of thing.

Babies, Betty White, Doritos and Beer – The Stuff Commercials Are Made Of

Despite being a resident of Indianapolis, and an adopted Colt’s fan, I’ll admit I was pretty equally excited to see the commercials as I was the game. Call me a terrible sports fan, a “typical” American, or whatever else comes to mind, but the Super Bowl is the showcase of some of the best work of some of the best creative types in the business. Typically, they don’t let me down.

This year had its ups and downs, but some highlights included Snicker’s use of Betty White, the Doritos Dog, the “milkaholic” baby, Lebron and Kobe, and the High Life spot.

For the male demographic, the advertisers know they can never go wrong with a little physical humor, and seeing Betty White get tackled elicited some good laughs from the crowd in the room I was in. The Lebron and Kobe spot was actually just OK until Larry Legend came in at the end – that put a smile on my face. The Doritios commercial with the dog was the only Doritos spot to make me laugh, but it also made me wonder how many stupid American’s put their dogs’ shock collars on to see how it felt immediately following it (I know somebody did that). The High Life ad was one of the most creative, in my humble opinion, and I liked that they foreshadowed it before the Super Bowl. But, that one that made me laugh the most was the babies.

Somebody at my future mother-in-law’s place of work said you had to be an idiot to think those are funny. I think that person is an idiot for saying that. A large portion of comedy is pretty dumb stuff, but if it makes you laugh then it’s successful. I don’t know any other criteria for good comedy other than laughs. What got me is when the baby popped in at the end.

I won’t get into the ads that didn’t make me laugh, there were many, but the few that did make me laugh were pretty good. The rest of the Budweiser and Doritos commercials left me pretty straight faced, but I won’t call them dumb because I’m sure they made some people laugh, and I won’t make the same mistake as the aforementioned person.

Overall, I thought it was a pretty good showing. I wish ads the rest of the year were half as good as they are during the Super Bowl. Luckily for me, the invention of DVR has made it possible to skip ads the rest of the year. If I had to vote for my favorite inventions of the past decade, DVR would definitely make my top five.