Inspired by the present sermon series at church, and aware of the League Cup Final (or whatever it is called these days) and the Six Nations matches and the Winter Olympics all being on at the moment, I can't help feeling that the Vicar missed a subject by not including "Sport" among his "Counterfeit Gods". Sport is, as we are always being told, a GOOD THING, but for too many people in modern society, it has pushed out the things of the Spirit, so that it has become the be all and end all of so many lives. And we all see, too often, the results of the tribalism that supporting a sports team engenders.
Celebrity is also a counterfeit god - particularly when one considers the storm in a teacup engendered by the revelations about one John Terry. Leaving aside, for the moment, the sin alleged, it has brought out the worst in the supposedly wronged former team mate, the media and the public at large. If the media shut up about the subject, the public would soon lose interest, but the other player involved needs take a reality check. Not to shake hands at the beginning of the match shows him up as well. A handshake is a symbolic act to show that one is not carrying a weapon, so to decline to shake someone's hand in this situation shows continuing ill-will towards the other on the part of the refuser, or so it appears to me.
The other counterfeit god that is rampant at the moment, in my view, is party politics. The sooner a "none of the above" box is placed on the ballot paper, the better. I could support compulsory voting if that happened. The yah-boo-sucks behaviour, so prevalent in the House of Commons, and encouraged, in my view by television, as MPs queue up to grandstand for their constituents would disgrace a rowdy fourth-form in a sink comprehensive. It will only get worse in the next few weeks leading up to the General Election.
